Fakarava vs Rangiroa

[pennylane]

Am planning a trip for the last 2 weeks in November and have about 5 days planned to dive either Rangiroa or Fakarava. We are both AOW with about 125+ dives and comfortable with currents/buoyancy, but it seems as if Rangiroa might be a little more difficult diving and many folks have mentioned that the deeper dives are that much better (and know AOW doesn't mean much to CMAS!). IF we do Fakarava, definitely would like to dive both north and south pass-- thus aiming to have at least 5 days to ensure we have time to venture south.

If you could only pick one island to dive-- Fakarava or Rangiroa?? And any feedback on diving the area in November?

Thanks for any advice and recommendations!!

 

[Cali_diver]

In my opinion Fakarava. Do both passes, but if you want to be guaranteed to do south then you need to stay at the south end. We were also deeper in Fakarava then Rangiroa.

 

[pennylane]

Thanks so much! Will aim to stay both north and south to ensure we get to do both! Much appreciated.

 

[wico6768]

5 days is fast to move between north and south

We've dove Rangi 3 trips, Fakarava 1 trip

Both were extraordinary, and no need for super deep in Rangi. Everything cool we saw was at about 80-100 (briefly) and then shallower.

And, what we saw that was amazing i Fakarava was about 60-80, and up.

Fakarava is prettier, rangi is more options

What do you want while there, and where do you want to stay?

I personally think you can NOT go wrong with either.

 

[kneptoon]

We dove both Rangiroa and Fakarava north and south last spring, each for 5 days. They were both superb.The north pass in Fakarava has the best hard coral anywhere I've seen and plenty of fish of every type. The south pass has the resident population of 300 white tips you will see every dive which were mind blowing. Rangiroa has a more varied population, with chances to dive close to mantas and dolphins and plenty of sharks. The best dive was in the pass with the tide running out at 150'. A school of shad numbering in the 100s of thousands were heading out of the lagoon with every possible predator feeding on the school. It was a short dive but one of the best. I would say it's a toss up. However I am headed back for just a week later this month and couldn't fit both islands into the schedule. We're headed back to Fakarava.

 

[Boiler_81]

I agree, of the two, I would go with Fakarava. Here is a trip report from when I did Rangiroa and Fakarava in 2013 http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/pa...eport-rangiroa-fakarava-french-polynesia.html

 

[Freewillow]

I am planning 4 days in Tikehau, Rangiroa, Fakarava North and Fakarava South in October/november. First time there! Too far in order not to stay for a long time. ....

Will let you know what got my preference, but this will be tooo late for you.

 

[jonnierowe]

Rangiroa is famous ofr its shark dive at the Tiputa Pass. I have seen a lot of photos and videos from that. I think that would be hard to beat!

 

[Mike]

Rangiroa has a more varied population, with chances to dive close to mantas and dolphins and plenty of sharks. The best dive was in the pass with the tide running out at 150'. A school of shad numbering in the 100s of thousands were heading out of the lagoon with every possible predator feeding on the school. It was a short dive but one of the best.

Agreed, there may be plenty to see in Rangiroa while not diving deep, but there is also much that will be missed by not diving deep. The french like to dive deep, there was deco diving on every trip. Had we not dived deep we would have missed what you described, as well as the tiger shark and the great hammer head that showed up deep.

One tip to any American diving there, is that you need your Rescue Cert to qualify for the deep diving, PADI's AOW does not transfer equally to the French CMAS they recognize to qualify you for deep diving deeper than 100 ft/ 30 meters

 

[Freewillow]

How deep Mike and for how long. Minutes of deco? Did you have deco tanks with you? Please help. We are going there in two weeks