Rangiroa, Fakarava and somewhere else?

[fish80]

I meant The quality of the dives was increasing from Tikehau to Fakarava.

wow! thanks for your input! so Fakarava is better than Rangiroa? Why?

What about snorkeling? Is there any?

If also snorkeling is good it sounds like I will do Rangirona + Fak N + Fak S...

 

[Freewillow]

Do not get me wrong: Rangiroa is great also. As I said I would do both in 2 weeks.

Snorkeling, I do not do it but my guess is that it should be possible, either outside or in the lagoon in Rangiroa and Fakarava.

The calmest place would be in The pension Tetamanu in South Fakarava where all the dives finish in front of the room and restaurants. There, with a basic snorkel you will see thousands of fishes ranging from small to lagoon sharks and giant Napoleon wrasse.

 

[fish80]

The calmest place would be in The pension Tetamanu in South Fakarava where all the dives finish in front of the room and restaurants. There, with a basic snorkel you will see thousands of fishes ranging from small to lagoon sharks and giant Napoleon wrasse.

sounds like I will pay a visit to that pension then... :-D

 

[fish80]

So I am going 5/6 days to Rangiroa, 4 days to fakarava north and 3 days to fakarava south. Thanks for your advice! Anybody can recommend operators? I would like to see sharks and big pelagics, but I really do not want to do / see shark feeding and that sort of things.

 

[Wingy]

Anyone BUT top dive. I like Rangiroa Plongee.

 

[fish80]

In Fakarava south, is Tetamanu village the only accomodation? Seems quite expensive... :-(

Also, what time do you take the boat to get there? Just trying to maximize the number of diving days I have and understand if I should go first south or north...

 

[fish80]

Oh and do you know if anybody rent a tank and let you go for a shore dive just by yourself (with a buddy)?

 

[Freewillow]

So many questions .

In Rangiroa, I went with Six Passengers. Pretty OK, but a bit "factory" to me. You are diving almost each tim with another dive guide. I do not believe it is a good idea. Next time I would try to choose a "smaller " structure. They have one dive where the "attract" sharks with a small box with food. But they do not feed them. Just attract them. It allows you to see sharks @ 20 meters that are normally WAY DEEPER USUALLY.

For Fakarava North, I dived with Dive Spirit. Would go back there without hesitation.


For FAkarava South, Tetamanu is not cheap. I believe that ther is another one, but I doubd that this would be better or much less expensive. You have to realise that their degree of isolation is TOTAL. They practically have a monopoly on the pass. They are ideally located. Expensive yes, vey much so but I would get back here in a second.

When it comes to rental, this may be possible but I am not aware of it. Importantly, the interesting bits are the passes and the aouter reef. There is just no way one can do this with no security at the surgace. In the ragiroa main pass, there are up to 7 different currents that can push you, in a few minutes, very far at various places. I really doubd, that anyone will let you do this.