The Tuamotu
atolls.

01 · The short answer

Three atolls,
then a long tail.

Most visitors go to three. Rangiroa for Tiputa pass, the dolphins and the most services; Fakarava for the sharks of the south pass and the biosphere reserve; Tikehau for a small, quiet lagoon with manta rays. All three have Air Tahiti flights from Tahiti, dive centres and family pensions⁶.

Behind them comes a tail of atolls with an airstrip and a few guesthouses — Manihi, Ahe, Mataiva, Arutua, Takapoto and Takaroa among them — and then the majority, which are working places first: copra, fish parks, pearl farms and a supply ship every week or two. Air Tahiti flies to 13 atolls in the northern Tuamotu alone⁶.

Two atolls in the far south-east, Moruroa and Fangataufa, were France's nuclear test sites from 1966 to 1996⁷. They are not part of anyone's itinerary.

03 · Atoll realities

Flat, bright
and short of things.

Nothing on an atoll stands more than a few metres above the sea. Rangiroa's rim is flat coral with no viewpoints⁴, there is little shade between the villages¹⁸, and the glare off white sand and shallow water is constant. Bring a hat, a rash vest, reef shoes and more sunscreen than you think you need.

Cash. Rangiroa has two ATMs, at the airport and in the village⁴; Tikehau has one, at the post office, which keeps short morning hours¹⁰. Tahiti Tourisme advises bringing cash even to Rangiroa¹⁹. On the smaller atolls, plan as if there were no machine at all.

Water and food. Don't count on drinkable tap water: on Tikehau the village drinking-water point was out of service in 2025 and water was sold by the litre¹⁰. On Fakarava, supply ships come every 7 to 10 days and fresh produce runs short in between²⁰. That is why pensions sell half board, and why it makes sense to take it.

Health. Rangiroa has a medical centre with two doctors and a pharmacy (2024)⁴; Tikehau has an infirmary with one nurse and no doctor (2025)¹⁰. Bring the medicines you need and insurance that covers evacuation to Tahiti.

Getting around. One road on the main motu, if that: about 10 km on Rangiroa¹⁸, about 15 km south from Fakarava's airport²¹, a few miles on Tikehau²². Bikes do most jobs. Everything else — the far motu, the pink sand, the passes — is a boat your host books, and the airports on Rangiroa, Fakarava and Tikehau have no shuttle: arrange the transfer when you book the room¹²²³¹¹.

05 · Diving

The pass
is the point.

Atoll lagoons fill and empty through their passes. On the incoming tide, clear ocean water pours in, and the boats drop divers outside the reef to ride it in with grey reef sharks and schooling fish. On the outgoing tide the current reverses and can run hard: Garuae, Fakarava's 1.6 km north pass, can reach 8 knots in the south-east trade winds of June to September²⁰. The tide table, not you, sets the day.

The headline sites: Tiputa on Rangiroa, with the Shark Cave at about 35 m and great hammerheads from January to March at 45–55 m³⁰; Tumakohua, Fakarava's south pass, quota-limited and dived only with an approved club³¹; and Tuheiava, Tikehau's single pass, with morays, Napoleon wrasse, barracuda and the occasional manta²⁷.

Prices for 2026: an introductory dive costs 14,000 XPF (approximately US$137) at Rangiroa Diving Center and 15,000 XPF (approximately US$147) at O2 Fakarava; a single dive for certified divers 10,900–12,000 XPF (approximately US$107–118)¹⁶³². Snorkelers get much of the show: Tikehau's mantas at a cleaning station inside the lagoon³³, the calm Aquarium just inside Tiputa³⁴, and Fakarava's south pass from the surface on an incoming tide²⁰.

06 · The Fakarava biosphere reserve

Seven atolls,
almost all of it sea.

UNESCO's Commune de Fakarava biosphere reserve covers seven atolls — Aratika, Fakarava, Kauehi, Niau, Raraka, Taiaro and Toau — and 1,986,735 hectares, of which only 8,204 are land²⁹. UNESCO gives 1977 as its year of nomination²⁹; Air Tahiti dates the present seven-atoll reserve to 2006¹⁴.

What it protects: coral formations and seagrass beds, kopara ponds built by living cyanobacteria and algae, primary forest of puatea (Pisonia grandis), and on Niau an endemic kingfisher, the koteuteu. UNESCO counts 1,581 people inside it, most of them in Fakarava's villages; pearl farming was once the leading activity, but several farms have closed²⁹.

For visitors the reserve means rules. The pink sands near Fakarava's south end are a strict nature reserve — no anchoring, no camping, no fires, access only by dinghy or with an operator²⁰. The south pass, where some 700 grey reef sharks were estimated in 2014 and up to 900 during the June–July grouper spawning in a 2016 study, is dived only with approved clubs³¹.

09 · Pearls, copra, fish parks

Working atolls
first.

Tourism is the newcomer. Pearl farming in French Polynesia began on Manihi, with the first farm in 1968⁶, and the Tuamotu and Gambier now hold almost all the pearl farms outside Taha'a¹⁷. Copra, dried coconut, still pays: Rangiroa produced 334 tonnes in 2023⁴ and Tikehau 105, where four fish parks also work the lagoon¹⁰.

The pearl business has shrunk. Rangiroa had only two pearl farmers left in 2024⁴, Tikehau had no pearl farms¹⁰, and UNESCO notes the closure of several farms inside the Fakarava reserve²⁹. A farm visit is the best way to understand the graft and the grading; compare prices with Papeete before spending seriously.

10 · When to go

Dry from June,
wet from November.

June to October is the dry season on the atolls: 65–122 mm of rain a month at Takaroa, the station nearest Fakarava with published normals⁴², and about 45 mm in August at the Tikehau rain gauge. November to February is wet, 180–240 mm a month on Tikehau⁴³.

Wildlife keeps its own calendar. Groupers spawn in Fakarava's south pass around the June and July full moons, when shark numbers peak³¹; great hammerheads appear at Tiputa from January to March³⁰. Between June and October, book dives and boat trips with the room³⁴. For the month-by-month view, see when to go.