Quick update. Fakarava south pass. 21 June 14

Tashi Delek
Mike & Carol Kefford
Sat 21 Jun 2014 02:23
16:30.35S 145:27.4W

This is the south pass in and out of the atoll of Fakarava and has been high
on the list of 'Must Sees' for us because the snorkelling and diving is
reputed to be amazing. Very clear water. A lot of living corals, amazing
selection of fish and sharks, sharks, sharks.

We took a few days to reach here from the village in the north because we
stopped overnight in a couple of anchorages on the way down and are pleased
that we did so but I can only repeat everything about palm trees, white
beaches and lovely people to describe why. An additional plus was that the
lady in the one and only house had a television and was watching the world
cup so Mike was made very welcome along with a couple of others to watch the
England - Uruguay match. Mmmm. Veil drawn over that one.

After the match we sailed for a couple of hours to reach the south pass
anchorage and hook up with many familiar boats. Carol saw the first shark
before we got the anchor down. Black tip reef sharks and not apparently
dangerous to humans. Jonathon and Kerry came straight over to tell us that
slack water was around 1430 and that was the time to snorkel so we quickly
got organised to do just that and dingied round to the beach and jetty. The
assembled children then told us exactly where to go and how many sharks they
had seen and how fabulous it all was as we piled into the water and set off.
Quick swim through a coral channel over white sand and then sudden deep blue
with a coral wall and bright, bright fishes on one side and sharks ambling
up and down in the deep water on the other. Hopefully the camera will have
captured a picture or two but mostly we just looked.

This morning we did the drift dive through the pass with Harry and several
others. The clearest water we have seen in our albeit short history as
divers, this was number five since completing the course. And sharks, this
time hundreds (I stopped counting after the first hundred) of silver tip
sharks and we were lucky enough to see a couple of grey sharks plus the
black tips that seem almost commonplace now. We all held onto some dead
coral while we watched this world go by for some time then we let the
current take us past more corals and fishes back to the dive centre where we
surfaced. It was fabulous indeed and we were very lucky to have clear water
and great light so we could see everything really well. Once we had taken
our kit off and rinsed everything there was coffee and pancakes ready for us
on the terrace over the water. Bliss! We have booked another dive in the
morning.