Pass Tumakohua, Fakarava, South Entrance
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Fri 11 Apr 2014 07:45
An hour and a half after we left the dock we were there, in paradise! Clear, blue water, and strips of white sand. It might sound a bit strange, but despite the Tuamtous being sandy atolls, there aren't many beaches at all, the guidebooks say this area is not a beach resort area at all, obviously there are some places, but nowhere near as many as you might think.
I know I am repeating myself, but what an amazing dive! The entry and descent here were much slower and calmer as the current is not as strong as in the north. Once we were all ready we descended again, drifting with the current. About half an hour later we were all hanging onto the corals watching 300-500 sharks swimming around in from of us - how cool is that?? I think this was our best dive ever!
The second dive started at the wall of sharks where the other one finished, so after another look at them, we headed off along the reef where again we saw an amazing array of sea life!
The good news is that John got some great photos but I actually managed to get some as well with the go-pro rather than just loads of footage of coral - still more practice needed, but I am getting there! The go-pro is great, but as you can't see what you are filming at the time, you need to wait until you download the film to see what you managed to get, then remember what you did and try and correct it for next time.
When we stopped for lunch, we were in a small bay where the local children were happily swimming, totally unconcerned by the fact that there were at least ten black tip reef sharks swimming within a few feet of them! We are still a bit wary of the sharks, so we stayed on the beach. The funniest thing we saw was a Napoleon wrasse trying to get across the reef, the water was so shallow that half of his body was above the waterline!
The whole day was one amazing event after another, we were so glad we managed to do the dive. The two passes are very different, and although the southern pass is by far the most famous, the northern pass has to go on the list of 'must do' dives!
Another Napoleon wrasse
A Titan triggerfish
A mean looking barracuda!
A solitary shark
To give an idea of size - the sharks are quite big here!
This is what we had come to see - the famous 'Wall of Sharks'
Sent from my iPad