Dive Review of ORCA dive center/Manavai Hotel in
Chile/Easter Island

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ORCA dive center/Manavai Hotel, Jan, 2011, by Larry Schnabel, CA, US ( Contributor 15 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 5895.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Easter Island is about 1/2 way between Chile and Tahiti. The island is unspoiled. Diving, looking at stone statues and other remains of ancient inhabitants , surf and boogie boarding and horse back riding are the primary tourist offerings. Orca is very experienced and goes out of its way to assist divers in getting into/out of the small and uncovered boats used to ferry divers the 5-15 min rides to the dive sites. The largest pelagice I encountered was a pair of jack tuna. Tropical fish, lobsters, colorful yellow trumpet fish , speckled eels were fairly numerous, but not of the quantity you see in ,e.g., PNG. To me the most memorable aspect of Easter Island diving is the visibility- sometimes exceeding 175 feet, so clear that you feel you are flying through air. Ex -NYC chiropractor Kim owns the Manavai Hotel, about 500 yards walk form Orca Dive Center. Kim knows the island and can advise you of what is good/bad on it. Our land tour guide- Josie- was encyclopedic re the island and its history- her grandfather assited Thor Heyerdahl in investigating Easter Island's original inhabitants ( Heyerdahl believed they cam from the So. American mainland, Josie's father thought Polynesia and later DNA investigation proved her grandfather right).I found two very good restaurants near Orca Dive Center: La Kaleta and La Taverne Du Pecheur , the latter run by a Frenchman and offering truly gourmet food. Our dive group - five of us- were led by well known diver Ken Kurtis , who is a master at organizing dive trips.All in all it was a very good trip. But three plane flights consuming arond 19 hours in the air wore me out . If you can upgrade to biz class for the longest of the three flights- between U.S. and Santiago- do it Note an alternate route is Tahiti to Easter Island)..
Websites	ORCA dive center
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Palau, Yap, Thailand-Burma, PNG, Solomons, Great Barrier Reef , Viet-Nam, Fiji, Hawaii, Cozumel, La Paz, Socorros Islands, Cocos, Galapagos, Yucatan Peninsula, Cook Islands, all over Caribbean, Greece, Italy, Maldives, Southern California
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, surge
Water Temp	73-75°F / 23-24°C	Wetsuit Thickness	7
Water Visibility	60-175 Ft/ 18-53 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Don't go lower than the Orca divemaster leading the dive.End dive with around 500 PSI.Once Orca sees you know how to dive, it lets you pretty much dive your own profile and is not martinet re , e.g., ending dive with X PSI or staying glued to a buddy, etc.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of ORCA dive center/Manavai Hotel in Chile/Easter Island

ORCA dive center/Manavai Hotel, Jan, 2011,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of ORCA dive center/Manavai Hotel in
Chile/Easter Island