Dive Review of Te Ava Nui/Havaiki Pension in
French Polynesia/Fakarava atoll

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Te Ava Nui/Havaiki Pension, Sep, 2003, by Laura Todd, CA, USA . Report 791.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This is the biggest pass in all of Polynesia, and I was ready for just about anything to swim up beside me. What I mostly got was sharks - the mantas, whales and hammerheads did not make an appearance. But the shark wallpaper is pretty impressive with literally dozens of blacktips (5-6'), smaller white tips and the occasional big lemon. They get really close; be sure to look behind you. We also could count on the big Napoleon wrasses, barracuda and dogtooth tuna. Not much in the way of small stuff. The coral is much nicer than say Rangiroa, in the same vicinity. The weather was beautiful and the sea was utterly flat. Be ready for the ripping current. On the last day, there was an especially nice vertical swirling bait ball of hundreds of sennet-looking fish with baby black tip sharks cruising through. Overall, the diving was good with the potential to be great. The same can't be said of the dive operation, however. There is no bathroom at the shop - guys are encouraged to pee off the dock and the back of the boat, women wherever. There are two hard bottom inflatable boats with safety gear and drinking water. The lagoon is often rougher than the ocean due to wind and the local driver is a maniac who goes at full throttle no matter what the conditions; count on getting beat up and bounced around. I found sitting down in the bottom of the boat with my back up against the stern minimally painful. They offer only 2 dives per day, one each morning and afternoon. After each, there is an inexplicable hour alotted to drinking tea and hanging around. As is typical here, they do transport you to and from your lodging. They use large steel tanks, which means most folks won't need a weight belt (very cool), but the things are sooo heavy and the staff acted like it was an imposition to have to carry them. There is a little bit of anti-French discrimination going on. Each morning the owner would give the briefing in French, adding "current more than yesterday" in English, then ask in English, "you understand?" The staff encouraged divers to hang on to and pull themselves along the coral. Now there's a bunch of Japanese beginners who think that's how it's supposed to go. There was also the constant promise of a day trip to dive and picnic around some uninhabited motus that never materialized. The owner did choose to take a group of (mostly) beginners whose skill level he had no idea about (it became clear) to one of those shallow crevice/tunnel type sites with skylights, etc. that can be quite pretty. However, even in calm seas the surge put this site completely beyond this group. One person repeatedly hit her head on the ceiling of the tunnels, and everybody crashed into something or somebody at least once. The owner led this bunch into more than one dead end and pointed out absolutely nothing. I found a nudibranch, some cool shells and a few little sharks on my own. If Havaiki were to add a solar hot water heater, they would easily be the best small pension in all of Polynesia. The setting is exquisite on a small white sand beach. Your bungalow is within arm's reach of the gorgeous turquoise water. The fabulous view faces the pass and the sunset. Each bungalow has a small and large bed, porch, private cold water bath and is simply but lovingly decorated. We had no bug problems but mosquito nets are provided. Kayaks and bikes are free to guests. Snorkeling right out the door is decent. There are nice touches like a drying rack on each porch. I could go on for days about the food: whole mahi mahi, roast lamb, fresh parrot fish, all with exquisite sauces, pasta carbonara, homemade soup, each meal better than the last. Desserts were on the simple side. Clothilde and Joachim run a pearl farm and will let you watch whatever process is underway. When we were there, they had tons of "D" quality pearls for $6 each, and good prices on very high quality ones, but not much to choose from in the middle. Night life consists of the sunset accompanied by Clothilde's potent rum punch. Word to the wise: rinse off your beach chair first thing - thier adorable boxer "Cassis" is a sweetie but has the unfortunate habit of peeing on them. Re getting there: Don't take the weekly Hawaiian Air flight from Honolulu. They stranded us for FOUR DAYS on the return. On day #2, they actually woke up a planeful of people at 2am, put them on the aircraft for a 5am "departure" only to announce that the part was not yet in Tahiti and probably wouldn't be for two more days!! I got my self out of there on the next Air Tahiti Nui flight (night flights meant I was only awake for 48 hours unlike alot of my fellow strandees) and am eagerly awaiting the many first class round trip tickets Hawaiian is no doubt busily printing.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Palau, Fiji, Tonga, Hawaii, Bahamas, Bay Islands, Sea of Cortez
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	78-80°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	80-100 Ft/ 24-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Due to very strong currents, the drift dives are a group thing, with DM signaling where and when to be. Wall dives are limited to 1 hour.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Am not a UWP, but........... there are no accomodations on either boat or shore for photographers aside from a big set of shelves that could be used to work on cameras. The boat ride could be fatal to your camera; the driver only knows 2 speeds - full stop and full out, which means that with the slightest wind in the lagoon, both you and your camera will spend most of the 20 minute trip airborne, only occasionally crashing down into the boat.

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Dive Review of Te Ava Nui/Havaiki Pension in French Polynesia/Fakarava atoll

Te Ava Nui/Havaiki Pension, Sep, 2003,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Te Ava Nui/Havaiki Pension in
French Polynesia/Fakarava atoll