Scuba Season
Underwater reef at South Pass
Stable

South Pass

French Polynesia · Tuamotu Archipelago

Fakarava's South Pass is the wall of sharks — 700+ grey reef sharks aggregate in the narrow channel, drifting in formation in the current. Add schooling marbled groupers (June–July spawning), Napoleon wrasse, and clear lagoon water and you have one of the planet's elite drift dives.

How this reef is doing

ⓘ How we measure this

Reef state

Stable

South Pass shark wall is still the densest grey reef shark aggregation in the Pacific. Reef structure largely unchanged in a decade — what you book is what you get.

Coral cover

44%
LowHealthy
Healthy

Fish life

healthy reef of its kind ▾
SparseRich

More fish than a healthy reef of its kind.

Rich

Heat

SafeBleaching

No unusual heat right now.

Safe now

Fishing

QuietBusy

Quiet water, and the protection is actively patrolled.

Patrolled

Sources · Reef Check surveys · Reef Life Survey · NOAA Coral Reef Watch · Global Fishing Watch and reef gravity

Coral cover over time

Live coral cover, by survey year

Across surveys in 2014 and 2024, live coral cover here has fallen from 46% to 44%. Every point is a real survey reading, never a projection.

Live coral cover, percent by year

50%0%region avg 31%20142024
Two surveys
Pacific average (GCRMN)
Reef Check surveys

What you will see

11 species across the dive sites here

Dive sites

What divers say

Hanging in the current with 500 sharks below me was the most peaceful I've ever felt underwater.
— Guest review

Good to know

Two passes

North Pass (Garuae) is wider and easier; South Pass (Tetamanu) is the famous one. Pick a lodge accordingly.

Gear & getting wet

  • Basic kit

    • Mask and fins
    • BCD and regulator
    • 3mm full wetsuit · warm water
    • Dive computer

  • For specific sites

    • SMB · Tumakohua (South Pass)
    • Reef hook · Tumakohua (South Pass)