Fakarava

16 km² • Approx. 900 residents

Sixty kilometres long, with just two passes and a lagoon so pristine that UNESCO has designated it a biosphere reserve. Divers come from all over the world to explore the southern pass of Tumakohua, where hundreds of grey reef sharks hover motionless against the current. The rest of the atoll moves at the pace of two villages and a handful of pearl farms.

Access

1h25 flight from Tahiti / 2h30 flight from Bora Bora

Lagoon

60 km long and 21 km wide, the second-largest atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago

Good to know

In June and July, thousands of groupers gather to spawn in the southern pass, attracting several hundred sharks.

Ideal for

Technical diving, cruising, underwater photography, culture.

Not to be missed 

• The southern pass of Tumakohua and its wall of sharks
• Garuae North Pass, the widest in French Polynesia
• The historic village of Tetamanu and its coral church
• Rotoava
• The pink-sand beaches in the south
• Motu Hirairo
• The pearl farms

Image credits
1, 3, 8 – ©TAHITI TOURISME/Jim Winter
2 – ©TAHITI TOURISME/Michael Runkel
4 – ©TAHITI TOURISME/Frédérique Legrand
5, 6, – ©TAHITI TOURISME/Grégoire Le Bacon
7 – ©TAHITI TOURISME/ Bernard Beaussier