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Fakarava South Pass

Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia · 10–35m · advanced · exposed

Tidal pass into Fakarava's lagoon, dived on the incoming current for the wall of grey reef sharks holding in the channel.

Conditions today

Retrieved · refreshed hourly

poor

Poor — 1.5m effective waves in the morning window.

Limiting factor: waves

Wave height
1.4–1.6m
Wave period
11.4–12s
Wind chop
0–0.2m
Sea temp
26.6–27.2°C

Ranges span today's hours. Wave height here is the raw sea state — the rating scales it for how exposed the site is. Exposed — open water with nothing to block the swell, so it is scored at full height.

Next few days

  • TodayPoor — 1.5m effective waves in the morning window.poor
  • SundayPoor — 1.6m effective waves in the morning window.poor
  • MondayPoor — 2.0m effective waves in the morning window.poor

Each day is scored over its morning dive window, the same as today's rating.

Dive briefing

AI-generated

This tidal pass delivers the pelagics that make it famous — divers commonly log grey reef sharks, blacktip reef sharks, and whitetips holding in the channel on the incoming current. Napoleon wrasse, groupers, and parrotfish are often recorded in the pass as well. Depths run from 10 to 35 metres, and this is an advanced site.

Conditions today rate poor due to waves. The morning window shows 1.5m effective wave height, which will be the limiting factor for entry and work in the pass. Raw sea state is 1.4–1.6m swell with a 11.4–12 second period and minimal wind wave. Water temperature sits at 26.6–27.2°C.

Written by Claude (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) from the rating, forecast, and sightings on this page — it has no other source and cannot look anything up. Treat it as a summary, not as local knowledge.

Commonly seen here

Most-recorded species near this site, ranked by research-grade iNaturalist sightings from divers, snorkelers, and naturalists.

Species come from iNaturalist — research-grade sightings logged by divers, snorkelers, and naturalists nearby. The ranking reflects what people photograph most, not guaranteed abundance. Ask a local operator what's actually being seen. Species names link to iNaturalist for range maps, seasonality and more photos. Photos by iNaturalist contributors under Creative Commons licences — individual credit on hover.