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Approximately
an hour flight from Tahiti, Rangiroa is the largest atoll in the South
Pacific and one of the largest in the world.
Its lagoon is gigantic (40 miles long and 20
miles wide, a depth up to 150 feet), communicating with the pacific ocean
by the Avatoru and Tiputa channels. Through these flows a phenomenal
quantity of water from the ocean into the lagoon and vice versa; following
the tides are hordes of fish, jacks, tuna, barracuda, manta rays and eagle
rays, turtles, dolphins etc. A short distance out, the reef drops to a
depth of 1200 meters.
During six hours, the incoming current carries
the clear water of the ocean into the lagoon. Ideal for a drift dive, one
can see schools of sharks, squadrons of eagle rays, or maybe a great
hammerhead cruising with the schools of fish. Six
hours later, the lagoon empties itself through the passes to the ocean.
For a better visibility, one may dive on the outside reef next to the
pass. You will find small and big fauna: schools of jacks, barracudas,
manta rays, as well as several species of sharks, and numerous pelagic
fish.
Although Rangiroa always has divable sites in any
weather, the average conditions are not for the inexperienced. The ocean
normally has a moderate swell near the passes with a 5 knot current
entering in rhythm with the rise and fall of the tide.
Rangiroa has become, without a doubt, one of the
special places in the world where the extraordinary meets the ordinary.
Dive Sites
- Avatoru
Pass: This area has at least 5 dive
spots: Napoleon, Sharks & Manta point, Tuna point, small caves,
small channels.
- Motu
Fara: Moray eels point, Mahuta point: convergence of two
submarine channels where considerable sea life aggregates:
barracuda, jack, surgeons, grouper, etc.
- Tiputa
Pass, 3 different areas: 1) The wall, 2) Barracudas point, 3)
Sharks point.
- The
Nuhi Nuhi motu or the Aquarium: Snappers, barracudas, rays,
nurse sharks, multicolored corals.
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