All Papeete Tours & Excursions in 2026

Wow - what an incredible experience we had. In short, it was so incredible, we booked to go again! Communication with the whole team was great from the moment we booked. We booked this tour with Teiki and his captain for the end of September. We were picked up and dropped off from the Hilton dock, so we only had to walk 50 metres from our hotel room - very easy. Only ten minutes after collecting the other guests from Papeete town we were jumping into the sea and swimming towards a male humpback. The singing of the whale was such an emotional experience - the power and vibration shook your body. The whale then ascended up to the surface passing close by us before proceeding onwards. We had an excellent view. Teiki then took us to a coral reef and to eagle ray rock, where we saw a large group of eagle rays. It was so good, we booked to do it again a week later! The second time, it was like an investigation. We spent some time scouting for a whale, where we had seen two surface fairly close to us but unfortunately, as we were the fourth boat, we couldn’t stay or swim. Time was running out and we were happy that we had at least seen two whales. Teiki then saw a whale in the distance with two boats, meaning we could get in and snorkel. We joined the other boats and saw their tour leaders bring their groups into the sea and swim into the distance quite far away. As I grabbed my mask, Teiki said to stay on the boat and wait, as he felt the others were going the wrong way and that the whale would surface nearer to us. Once again, his experience showed itself, as a mere few metres away, the whale surfaced. Once it had settled back under, we hopped off and snorkelled toward it ensuring we kept a safe distance. It then surfaced again, but ascending extremely close to us giving an incredible view better than our wildest dreams. Definitely the highlight of our trip! Thanks again!