Fakarava Advice?

[Butch Fries]

We're planning a trip to Fakarava, still a few months out. Any advice on diving there? We haven't been underwater for a while so want to get in a good number of dives but have the feeling there isn't a big variety of sites. Any advice on diving and dive centers, as well as any other good things to know, is appreciated.

 

[Divebooker.com]

To be honest, we've got not too much bookings for diving in Fakarava. But since you've got no response yet from the entire community, here are some thoughts.
It's true that local dive shops offer just a few dive sites to explore. But almost all of them are bloody awesome! You can meet hundreds of sharks there on a single dive! Fakarava dive sites give much more emotion and excitement than dozens of dive sites in other, less remote and more populated destinations. Schooling sharks, mantas, tuna and other pelagics, as well as good visibility and drift dives are worth of spending more time on less sites. We'd recommend not to worry about the variety of dive sites as sea life is incredibly abundant there.

 

[Butch Fries]

I really appreciate your response! By the time we get to Fakarava it will have been 2 years since we've been under water and at that point I think I would be happy with a kiddie pool. The dives sound great.
For what it's worth, on our last trip we weren't going to be able to do many dives so I rented equipment rather than try to bring my own gear. The dive shop used a brand of anti-fog that I had never seen before and I had an allergic reaction to it that caused my eyes to nearly swell shut.....so I not only couldn't do the second dive of the day, but I arrived at my wedding later that day (yes, my wedding) looking like I had lost a bar fight.

 

[wico6768]

While there are less dive sites (these are either near or in the passes, north or south depending where you stay) each dive is likely to be very different and never boring. We have been to Fakarava twice, and both times the dives were spectactular.

 

[Butch Fries]

We're staying at Raimiti; we've been to Tahiti before but never to Fakarava. I'm really looking forward to the dives there. Thanks for the response!

 

[Cali_diver]

I wouldn't call the dives easy but you can probably ease into them. The outer reefs are beautiful but the passes are amazing. They usually won't take you to the passes until they vet you a bit no matter how many dives you have.