Tiputa Pass
A tidal pass into the world’s second-largest atoll, where bottlenose dolphins meet divers on the incoming flow.
- Depth
- 5–40 m16–131 ft
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Entry
- Boat
- Typical current
- Strong
- Coordinates
- 14°57.534′S 147°37.764′W
- Activities
- Scuba
Everything that lives in open water uses Tiputa, because it is one of only two ways in and out of Rangiroa’s lagoon. The dive is a drift on the incoming tide: in at the outer corner, down the slope, and then a ride through the pass with whatever is riding it too. A resident pod of bottlenose dolphins is unusually willing to come and look at divers here, which is not something that can be promised anywhere. Great hammerheads show between December and March, manta rays feed where the lagoon empties, and grey reef sharks patrol the drop-off year round. On the outgoing tide the pass runs out into open ocean and is left alone.
One hour by air from Papeete to Rangiroa; every dive centre on the atoll is a few minutes from the pass.
Best season
- ExcellentDec–Mar
- ExcellentJul–Aug
- GoodApr–Jun
- GoodSep–Nov
Before you get in
- Past 30 m, where no-stop time and gas both go quickly and nitrogen narcosis starts to show.
- Recorded as a site with strong current. Settle your gas reserve, when you would call the dive, and your surface signal before you get in.
- A drift dive: you do not come back to where you went in, so boat pickup and an SMB are part of the plan rather than extras.
Taken from this site’s recorded depth, type and current, and nothing else. An empty list is not a safe site — the sea on the day, the local geography and the boat traffic are not in it. The briefing on the spot comes first.
Conditions
No live conditions for this site yet.
We only show numbers we can attribute to a source.
Sea state and tide
Marine life you may see
- Grey reef sharkCarcharhinus amblyrhynchosCommon
- Giant trevallyCaranx ignobilisCommon
- Whitetip reef sharkTriaenodon obesusCommon
- Scalloped hammerheadSphyrna lewiniDec–MarSeasonal
- Reef manta rayMobula alfrediSeasonal
- Spotted eagle rayAetobatus narinariSeasonal
- Bottlenose dolphinTursiops truncatusCommon
- Humpback whaleMegaptera novaeangliaeAug–OctSeasonal
- Moorish idolZanclus cornutusCommon
- Marbled stingrayTaeniura meyeniRare
From divers
What people who were in the water reported. Not a forecast, and not a judgement about whether the site is safe to dive.
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