Tomakohua, My Heart is Full of Sharks

Introduction: One of the aspects that I find most interesting about underwater exploration, is the people that I meet during my travels. I met Solène Binet the author of this article on the southern part of the atoll known as Fakarava, in French Polynesia. She was the dive leader for our group of divers who wanted to explore the reef, the current and the dive sites that were available to us. She did a masterful job of leading our group and I have asked her to share some of her insights into diving in Fakarava.

Tomakohua, my heart is full of sharks.

Diving in Fakarava South, is first and foremost, an experience of the senses. The sun is not always shining in French Polynesia, but when it is, you can realize that the color of the water I like to call « Tuamotu blue », is actually not blue, nor aqua : it is transparent above multicolor reef or pristine sand. The beauty of this site is another level.

Tomakohua pass, like any other pass of the Tuamotu, lives at the rhythm of the tides and currents. Like any other atoll pass, you need to anticipate the current through tide charts (45 min before the Garuae pass in the north), and then, once on site, you get to learn from the people who were there before you the signs that will allow you to assess the current in real time, mainly depending on the swell. For incoming current, there will be a small tidal bore after the diving centers, and also, a small wake after two poles marking boomies next to the « jail » where you can finish an incoming current dive. This is what you are looking for when you want to have THE wall of sharks at the observatory, because they need a slight incoming current to organise their circling motion on the east side of the pass. Once you have seen these two signs, you know you are about to experience a fantastic time underwater. It might be your first time in Fakarava South, or the sixtieth if you are a diving instructor there, every immersion is different : the light, the strength of the current, the number of sharks, the contrasts revealing the relief of the coral and the geography of the pass, the life you meet underwater.

The regular incoming current dive starts at the snow track, you can spot it easily on a satellite picture : it is making a white Z on the south eastern part of Tomakohua. Again, the senses are mobilized here, because when you enter the water, it is not mild nor cold. It is chill. It is a light slap on your body and spirit, making sure you are fully awake to experience the most incredible visibility in the most infinite hues of blue, from light to dark. First, you land on the healthy multicolor coral reef, then you can descend toward the snow track you follow until you find on your right hand, reef side, a track that is going right. Take the track and you are on your way to a place called the observatory, the perfect spot from where you can contemplate the sharks sleeping in the current, going back, starting over, in 21 meters deep. Sometimes, they are hundreds. Sometimes, less. Always hypnotizing. Sometimes, some are circling behind you, and when you stop moving at the right spot and control your breathing, they can come really close. This is not the only wall of sharks in this pass. There is a big one next to the observatory, but if you choose to do the dive along the east side, you’ll find two other spots where sharks circle in their sleep, and after the diving center Tetamanu, there is a last special place called the shark circus, maybe the spot where the current is at its strongest, on the left hand side before you engage in the shallow part to reach the « jail » where you come out and find the diving boat waiting for you. So in the end, there are four different spots from where you can observe sharks upclose sleeping in the current.

But, you can also choose to cross the pass, after the observatory and the first famous wall of sharks. This means going up a little, reaching 15 meters depth and then, crossing the pass in mild current, enjoying the view on the sharks swimming underneath and on the geography of the pass itself because Tomakohua is a tiny passage and you can see it all in almost one sliding glance from one side to another. The crossing is always fantastic, always new and if you’re lucky, you land right into massive schools of « ature » or big eye red that are slit open by hunting napoleons and hungry grey sharks in amazing group motion on the opposite reef.

When it is time to enter the garden of coral for the end of the dive, you can let yourself go in the current in shallow waters in never ending hills of multicolored colonies where lots of live awaits for you there also : coral sharks, blacktip, triggerfishes, napoleons and so many colorful reef fishes…

You need not to forget that if you are an experienced diver and have a sturdy use of your fins, you can do the march with the roses of coral in 35 meters deep that you meet after going down into the blue. So you can really go through the entire pass, from the outer reef to the diving center Tetamanu. You need to ask the guides and instructors for this one. Also if you are certified, you can ask the guides for the « cave dive » at 28 meters deep. Starting from the snowtrack this time you won’t take the path on the right to the observatory but continue straight forward, a little bit on the left of the sand patch to leave the wall of shark on your right hand side. Then, slit open in the reef, you’ll find the cave where you can line up with the divers of your group. Sometimes you need to cross the actual wall to get in, and then, remaining still and controlling your breathing, the sharks will be so close to you that you’ll be able to really details them and have a proper look at that shark skin.

Eventually, you can also experience Tomakohua with an outgoing current, and this is a dive many think can’t compete with the incoming one. But I disagree. For this one, you will start in the garden of coral on the north. It is called « garden », but to my knowledge it is more of a meadow since it just never ends. After ten minutes of good speed drifting in the current, you are thrown into the pass where you can go down until 20 meters depth, reef right hand side. On the left, in the pass, plenty of grey sharks are sleeping in the current just like they do at the observatory in incoming current. The visibility for outgoing current is milky since the sediments and the sand are taken out from the lagoon. But, the vision of the sharks in the pass, like shadows over you is something I will not forget. Also, you can get to spend almost a whole dive with a school of previously mentioned « ature », big eye red and snappers, always remaining on the border of it, enjoying marine life like you’re at the movie theater. Because Tomakohua is not only about sharks : it is about marine life, so vibrant you can tell at the end when you come out of the water, this might just be the best dive of your life. And I told myself so many times, in Fakarava South.