My feelings and perception of sharks has certainly changed over the last month as we have daily encountered the big fish in the water through our travels in the Tuamotus. But, diving with literally hundreds of sharks in the south pass of Fakarava has had the biggest impact. (They estimate 700 sharks live in the pass!)
Our friends on Kini Popo had arrived a few days before us, as we were still playing around in Tahanea. When we arrived, they all raved about diving with the sharks in the pass and excitedly told us about their night dive when the sharks are feeding and often bump into you during the frenzy underwater. Mike & I weren’t too sure about the night diving, but we were eager to see them during daylight hours.
Sharks get a bad rap. They’ve been portrayed as monsters on tv and in the movies. That isn’t to say that there haven’t been horrible encounters between humans and sharks. They are wild animals after all and can be dangerous. But, that doesn’t mean that we have to be fearful of them, just cautious. I’ve decided that the sharks are a bit like stray dogs – they are curious and may approach you, certain ones are dangerous, you should keep you eye on them, and you definitely should not provoke them. Somehow picturing the sharks as stray dogs has put it in perspective for me. Stray dogs have mauled people to death, but that is pretty rare and the exception rather than the rule. It is the same with sharks. When you think of the sharks as big dogs, they seem a lot less scary.
I was a little nervous before our first dive in the pass. We timed it to hit the very end of the flood, so there was just a little current taking us back inside the pass. We attached to a buoy just outside the pass to finish putting on our scuba gear and descend about 60 feet down. We had snorkelers up top to follow above us towing the dinghies. Thankfully for my nerves, the sharks were not immediately below us when we initially descended. Once we got to the bottom and looked around, all the nervousness disappeared and was replaced by the awe of my surroundings.
The visibility was easily 100 feet, and as far as you could see was a beautiful coral covered ocean floor full of sea life. I was glad we were almost at the slack tide so that we could stop periodically to look in and under the coral at the various reef fish. I have a fish identification book of reef fish of the South Pacific, but there were so many to remember that it didn’t do me much good to try and look them up when we returned to the boat. There was every color and shape of fish. But, the thing that amazed me the most was how docile they were. The fish didn’t scurry and hide as you approached, they would swim right up to you, sometimes inches from your mask. It was as though they were studying you as much as you were studying them.
As we swam further inside the pass, we started seeing the sharks. First, there were just a couple of grey reef sharks, but as we progressed we approached the “wall of sharks.” There were hundreds of sharks in the trench in the middle of the pass. They were all very docile, facing the incoming current and looked as though they were suspended in mid-air. A few swam toward us, mainly because we happened to be in their path. But, as they got closer, they changed paths and swam away. It is a little strange to play chicken with a shark coming toward you, but they always blinked first. When you see these sharks just hanging out, not attacking fish or looking menacing in anyway, it is easy to relax around them. Apparently at night is when their behavior changes and they are on the hunt. During the day, they are just resting. In fact, there were a few white tip reef sharks that were resting directly on the sand, and a couple were laying inside a cave. It is contrary to what I understood that sharks had to always keep moving. Clearly these sharks had other ideas.
The sharks weren’t the only stars of the dive, of course. Probably my favorite part of the dive was when I was able to swim right next to a large spotted eagle ray for several minutes, as he just glided a couple feet away from me. A thrilling experience. And, we got to see the famous Napoleon fish, which are these 2-3 foot long green fish that are shaped a bit like a giant parrot fish.
At the end of the dive, you come across a half mile long reef that is only about 15 feet deep. The current usually picks up over the shallow area, so you just fly above it. It also drops you off right outside the anchorage by the boats. Mike and I both said this was easily the best dive we have ever done. So, of course we had to do it again…and again. In all, we dove the pass four times over the next few days. The conditions were perfect, and we couldn’t pass it up. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to do some more dives in the Tuamotus that are just as incredible.
We shot a bunch of GoPro video, which I will work on editing. But, as much as we like the GoPro, it is no substitute for professional video. Another boat gave us a copy of a documentary called “The Grouper Mystery.” It is a program about the Fakarava South Pass, and the video footage is incredible. If you can find it, I highly recommend watching it.
In the video, a group of French scientists are studying a phenomenon that happens once a year only in the Fakarava South Pass where thousands of grouper congregate to spawn. It happens around the full moon in July every year, so we are going to miss it by about a month. But, we did see lots of grouper in the pass that look just like the ones in the video. The incredible thing in the video is that one of the scientists does a 24 hour dive in the pass to view the sea life for an entire day. It was certainly a big feat, and I don’t believe it had been done before. They get some amazing photos and videos of the sharks at night feeding on the grouper. We also heard that the May issue of National Geographic also features the pass, so check it out.
If diving is one of your passions, and you make it to French Polynesia, don’t miss diving the Fakarava South Pass. It is definitely worth it! Or, if you don’t dive, just watch the movie…
We’re still in Fakarava now, and we’re trying to learn to Kitesurf! More about those adventures next time.
~katie