Tiputa Pass

Tiputa Pass is one of two navigable channels connecting Rangiroa's vast lagoon to the open Pacific, and it is known as a premier drift dive built around tidal flow. Divers ride the incoming current through the pass, often drifting past schools of grey reef sharks, silvertips, dolphins, and large pelagics that gather to feed in the moving water. Depths in the pass generally run from about 10 to 35 metres, with divers typically dropping to a sandy area known as the aquarium before being swept further into the lagoon. Because the dive depends on strong, sometimes unpredictable currents, it is considered an advanced dive best timed to the incoming tide. Rangiroa's dive operators run this site frequently, and it is regarded as one of the signature drift and shark dives in French Polynesia.

Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.

• Common Bottlenose DolphinTursiops truncatusReported here · unconfirmed
• Paletail UnicornfishNaso brevirostrisReported here · unconfirmed
• Titan TriggerfishBalistoides viridescensReported here · unconfirmed
• Napoleon WrasseCheilinus undulatusReported here · unconfirmed
• Giant MorayGymnothorax javanicusReported here · unconfirmed
• Humpback SnapperLutjanus gibbusReported here · unconfirmed
• Moorish IdolZanclus cornutusReported here · unconfirmed
• Scissortail SergeantAbudefduf sexfasciatusReported here · unconfirmed
• Raccoon ButterflyfishChaetodon lunulaReported here · unconfirmed
• Bignose UnicornfishNaso vlamingiiReported here · unconfirmed