Scuba Diving Fakarava South Pass vs North Pass (Shark Heaven)

What are the differences between Fakarava South Pass vs North pass

Fakarava South Pass vs North Pass, which are the two main channels into and out of the Fakarava Atoll lagoon. There’s one channel or pass on the north side of the Atoll ‘Garuae pass‘ and one channel to the south ‘Tumakohua pass‘.

Scuba Diving Fakarava South Pass vs North Pass. The differences and similarities between the south pass vs the north pass of Fakarava Atoll in the French Polynesia Pacific region. Both are known for shark diving and for large numbers of grouper.

The best way to dive the Fakarava is by a scuba diving liveaboard. You can check the latest and best deals on a Polynesia liveaboard using the following window:

What are the differences and similarities between Fakarava South Pass vs North Pass?

I thought the best way to show the similarities and differences between the South Pass vs North Pass into the lagoon of Fakarava Atoll was as a table, as below:

Differences vs similarities	South Pass	North Pass
Local name of the pass or channel	Tumakohua pass	Garuae pass
Pass width	200 metres (656 feet)	1,600 metres (5,249 feet)
Pass depth	18 metres (60 feet)	15 to 30 meters (50-100 feet)
Pass known for	Spawning of Marbled Grouper in June	Largest of all French Polynesian passes
Type of dive	Can be a mild drift dive	Mild to strong current drift dive
What to see just outside the pass	Hundreds of grey reef sharks on the 'Shark Wall'	Mantas
What to see in the pass	Grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, blacktip reef sharks	Grey reef sharks, white tip reef sharks, blacktip reef sharks

Two of the main differences between the South Pass and the North Pass of Fakarava are the size and strength of the currents.

The North Pass is not only the largest pass into the lagoon of Fakarava Atoll, but it is also the largest pass in the Tuamotus region. The north pass is 1,600 metres wide (5,249 feet), compared to the South pass which is only 200 metres (656 feet) wide.

The second difference is the strength of the currents, with the strongest being in the north pass by far. To dive Fakarava by liveaboard, follow this link to Polynesia liveaboards.

I hope you enjoyed this article about scuba Diving Fakarava South Pass vs North Pass

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