Where to dive in the Tuamotus?

[Liberty01]

Hi,
I am planning a dive trip to Tahiti with about 2 weeks time for diving in the Tuamotus.
I do not want to spend too much time travelling between location, and I am OWA, thus max. 30m depth allowed in Tahiti.
I am considering Tetamanu Village for the location at the (highly rated) South Pass, maybe for relaxing and snorkelling at the end of the trip.
Toau is also recommend, but the Teavanui, who seem to offer longer trips there, does not have a good reputation, and FDC need enough customers for the trip. I could do some diving in Fakarava North which is the starting point for Toau.
Finally, there is Rangiroa...
Which are the 2 best dive locations ? Fakarava South or Fakarava North (with the option of Toau or Rangirao?
All advice (including places to stay and to eat) will be appreciated.
Cheers,
Liberty

 

[Manuel Sam]

I think that all of them are good so it depends on what you are looking for. But it's been 4 years since I was there so hopefully it is still as good.

The southern Pass of Fakarava is much narrower than the northern pass. If it is sharks that you are looking to see, you will probably find the densest pack of Grey Reef sharks here. You may also see Black Tip sharks (C. Limbatus) swimming with the Grey Reefs, and definitely Black Tip Reef sharks swimming right outside your bungalow. The reef at the resort is very pretty. There is just the one resort and the accommodations are a bit Spartan - not much lighting, no hot water, and mosquitoes. But your hosts, Sane and Annabel, are really nice people. They used to have a resident Napoleon Wrasse called Calein-Calein that was very friendly with divers.

The northern channel at Fakarava is much wider and the sharks are more spread out. But the northern channel also has what Serge at FDC calls The Valley, which is an area well inside the mouth of the channel. This is a beautiful area with big schools of fish of different kinds and Grey Reefs circling around. In the north, you have more choices of accommodations and dive operations. I dove with Serge and Carinne at FDC and they are superb. I dove once with Te Ava Nui and I thought they were a bit impersonal. I believe there is now also Top Dive at the Hotel Maitai - I don't know what they are like. In terms of lodgings, I stayed at one of the many pensions. This one is called Tokerau, and you can buy the meal plan from them. The Maitai Hotel is quite nice but it is $$$$$. Serge and Carinne can help you with the accommodations.

As you probably know, Serge will do trips to both the southern pass and to Toau, based on having enough people. Toau has two passes and I have seen mantas and silvertips there - which I have never seen in Fakarava. Not to say that Fakarava doesn't have them, but I have not been lucky to see other big stuff.

Lastly, Rangiroa, I've only done on liveaboard when the Aggressor was stationed in the Tuamotos. There are also two channels here. There are lots of Grey Reefs here too, but they seemed to stay deep. Early in the year, you can see lots of eagle rays and the Great Hammerheads that hunt them. I've seen mantas, silvertips, lemons, and dolphins here. Since I did this on liveaboard, I can't help you as far as lodging and food but I do know that there are a few hotels and many pensions.

I know that you said that you don't want to spend too much time travelling between locations, but every site has its pluses and minuses. If I had your two weeks I would do them all.

 

[laurenceh]

you must dive taputa pass on rangiroa its world class. we were there in november and thought it just as good as wolf or darwin in the galapagos. thousands of sharks including enormous great hammerheads (5m-6m long), mantas, super fast drift dives and lots of dolphins. we dived with a company called six passengers and thought they were great, they're the real experts on diving tuputa pass.
manihi is also a great dive destination and the lagoon there has lots of mantas, the high speed drift from the ocean into the lagoon was a blast.

 

[Radish]

The only place I've dived was Rangiroa, but that was some of the best diving I've done anywhere in the world (and I've done a lot of places). We saw incredible numbers of reef fish, and the healthiest and most colorful coral reefs ever. There were huge schools of jacks and other predator fish, and black-tipped sharks, and we swam with a pod of dolphins underwater, which was a dream of mine. We had a manta swim right through our group, and we drifted Tiputa Pass, which was devoid of sharks but still fun. I would give my eyeteeth to be able to get back and dive there again.

 

[h20_kat]

I completely agree with all of the above! Rangiroa was definitely some of the best diving I have had anywhere in the world. 9 out of 10 dives on the Tiputa pass side had dolphins plus there were schools of eagle rays, several mantas, turtles, and loads of grey reefs. In Avatoru Pass we had a dive with 4 manta rays feeding. Definitely head to Rangiroa. Fakarava was also good diving and I particularly enjoyed the south pass with the concentration of sharks. I wasn't able to make it to Toua as there weren't enough divers at the time (in fact, for 2 days I was the only diver with Serge!). I wouldn't spend as much time there though. In retrospect, after talking to people in FP, I would have spent less days in Fakarava and also gone to Tikehau which apparently offers close encounters with manta rays.