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Fakarava was the 2nd stop of our 3 island trip to French Polynesia. The other 2 islands on this trip were Manihi (trip report here) and Bora Bora.
We had an awesome time in Fakarava and it was our best diving of the trip (mainly for all the sharks)!
We dove with Te Ava Nui. Their prices were great and so was their location (near the village). They offer pickup and dropoff but often you have to specifically request it. They use heavy steel tanks (which we had to load/offload onto the boat ourselves), but on the plus side you don’t need too much extra weight. They offered 2 dives a day, one around 8am and one around 2pm. During our stay we rotated around 3 dive sites, all on the northern side of the island.
Ohotu – Easy dive site where we saw several sharks (whitetips and greys) and other cool fish, including this helmet gurnard.
Also one of my favorites, a guineafowl puffer:
Maiuru – Another easy dive site. Saw huge schools of fish and schools of barracuda too.
Garuae Pass – Best diving of the trip! You start in the big blue. Drop down to 30-40 meters, where you hang on to dead coral and watch for sharks. On our last dive, we saw about 40 gray sharks!
Here's a silvertip we got pretty close to:
Then, depending on the current, you can go for a fun drift dive! The dive ends at “Ali Baba’s Cave”, where there is little to no current and plenty of fish hanging out. Here's a checkerboard wrasse:
We would have liked to dive the South Pass too but unfortunately, the conditions weren't right when we were there.
We stayed at Pension Havaiki which was nicely located near the dive shop (about 15 minute walk), plus the food here (breakfast and dinner included) was very tasty. Unfortunately there were lots of mosquitoes around, but the pension is a beautiful spot for sunset pics after diving.
You went to Fakarava and did only two dives a day?????...What?...That is a three tank a dive location....LOL....I dove with Top dive...Fakarava is one of the best spots I have ever dove....Up there with Palau and Raja!
That silvertip looks more like a nurse shark or a white tip. Must of been pretty small.
You went to Fakarava and did only two dives a day?????
I'm glad it was only 2 dives a day, our days were full of diving already and this gave us the opportunity to explore new places for lunch and take other topside photos we probably wouldn't have otherwise. We like diving, but it's also important to us to get a good amount of topside in too. (Those pics coming soon! We're busy sorting through them.)
As for the silvertip -- we weren't that sure either, but one of my colleagues is an ex-shark researcher and independently believes it to be a silvertip. The nose is too pointed to be a whitetip, although it's head is broader than you'd expect of a silvertip. When he started rattling off the latin names to all the sharks we saw on the trip, I started to believe him, but what do I know!
I have been to Moorea, Tahiti, Rangiroa and Fakarava. Not been to Bora Bora where I heard the topside is the best....But Rangiora was out of this world. Loved the colors of the water and the layout of the atoll.
Here is a pic of a silvertip. Notice the fin and mouth taken in Rangiroa. Your pic looks like a nurse or most likely a white tip...but...unless I want to spend a bit of time on it...LOL...great pic!
Not been to Bora Bora where I heard the topside is the best....But Rangiora was out of this world. Loved the colors of the water and the layout of the atoll.
Here is a pic of a silvertip. Notice the fin and mouth taken in Rangiroa. Your pic looks like a nurse or most likely a white tip...but...unless I want to spend a bit of time on it...LOL...great pic!
Rangi is a nice island, but none of the other FP islands we've been to (Tahiti, Moorea, Rangiroa, Tikehau, Manihi, Fakarava) come close to the beauty of Bora Bora's water. This trip was our 2nd time to Bora Bora and it lived up to the memories. You'll have to see it next time you go!
Whitetip reef sharks don't have white on the bottom tail lobe. Last time I checked, nurse sharks don't have white tips anywhere. You're probably thinking nurse because the shark is on the bottom, but we watched him swim around and settle on the bottom for about 2 minutes max before swimming off again.
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Originally Posted by Travelnsj
