We Found Paradise in FAKARAVA 🇵🇫 French Polynesia’s Hidden Gem

After exploring the iconic island of Bora Bora, our next island in French Polynesia took us somewhere a bit more remote, Fakarava. A remote atoll known for its untouched beauty, relaxed pace of life and some of the best diving in the world. Join me as we explore this island over the next few days. Our journey to Fakarava started in Bora Bora, boarding our flight and it would take us about two and a half hours in total to reach the atoll. We had a quick stopover on the other popular atoll of Rangiroa and then we were on the final stretch to Fakarava. Even through the cabin window the views and the colours just looked unreal. We then arrived on the atoll and then made our way to our accommodation where we'll be for the next three nights. And then just as the sun was setting we headed out on the bikes provided at our accommodation and found a peaceful spot to watch the sun go down. So early next morning I cycled to the bakery to grab some breakfast. It's worth mentioning that the only real way of getting around this island, as a tourist anyway, is by simply walking, cycling or using a moped which really adds to the laid-back charm of Fakarava. We had a big day planned with two scuba dives in Fakarava's world-renowned South Pass. This place is often considered one of the best dive sites in the world for observing sharks in their natural habitat. Famous for its wall of sharks where hundreds of grey reef sharks gather in the strong current of the pass. It's a designated UNESCO biosphere reserve so the marine life here is thriving. Not just sharks but big schools of fish and incredible coral formations which makes this place feel like something straight out of a documentary. Between dives we stopped for lunch on a nearby motu. The setting was stunning and we even spotted some small blacktip reef sharks swimming the shallow waters. The first dive was already incredible and we were told the second would be even more special. Just an unforgettable experience. We then made the journey back to North Fakarava. We just got back from an incredible day. We did two dives in the Fakarava South Pass aka the wall of sharks and yeah just such an amazing experience. Just the density of sharks was just unbelievable. They were above you, to the side of you, down below, probably behind you as well. Had high expectations for that but totally lived up to them. It's about an hour's speedboat ride to the south where you do the first dive. The first one was in the lagoon and then going out to sea and then the second dive was getting in at the sea end and then the current sort of drags you into the lagoon. You kind of get down to like 18 meters and there's this kind of ledge area which you can just you know park up at and just watch the sharks kind of go by which is just incredible. To think I wasn't even diving you know three months ago and be able to do that after getting qualified. It's hard to think how it gets any better than that to be honest. You know it's kind of heralded as one of the best dives in the world and you can certainly see why. That evening we revisited the pontoon we discovered a couple of nights before and incredibly we saw some nurse sharks in the shallows capping off what was a very shark filled day. The next day I got up early to see another beautiful sunrise. We had another big day planned with a full day boat tour to explore some beautiful remote lagoons and some of the area's best snorkeling locations. Shortly after setting off we arrived at the snorkeling location where we probably saw some of the healthiest coral from our whole trip to French Polynesia. It looked incredible. Next we reached a sandbank and with a drink in hand we admired the incredible views. Lunchtime brought us to yet another incredible spot. After another unforgettable day on the water we made our way back. The next day started with another ride to the bakery for breakfast. All right so it's our last day here in Fakarava and we've got an afternoon flight back to the main island of Tahiti. It's about 4pm today so we've got a little bit of time left to explore this island and we're going to go down to a beach called it's called PK9 and yeah this is apparently a very beautiful beach. Lots of palm trees which are hanging very low over the ocean. So yeah overall impressions of Fakarava is it's been absolutely brilliant. To be honest wish we could have a little bit more time here. It's been a real nice change of pace compared to some of the other islands that we've explored. You know just being on one of the atolls and just experiencing a different kind of landscape has been brilliant. After quite some time cycling we arrived at one of the most beautiful stretches of beach in all of Fakarava. All right so we've made the journey out to PK9 and this place is absolutely phenomenal. Been here a couple of hours and yeah just it is breathtaking. Definitely worth the trip out here. There's kind of various like spots along this this area. We've just kind of come to the spot where the palm tree sort of stretches over the ocean. It's been a really fantastic end to our time in Fakarava. Just had a brilliant brilliant few days. It's just everything's aligned. Had great weather. We had a great boat tour yesterday and diving the shark wall. Just so glad that we were able to do it and just so lucky as well. We soaked in every last moment before it was then time to head to the airport and catch a short flight back to Tahiti. We arrived fairly late so we quickly picked up the rental car and headed to our accommodation. The next morning now in the daylight we could see the lovely views from our accommodation. Wanting to make the most of our final day in French Polynesia, we set off early to explore Tahiti. Our first stop was Tahiru beach where we saw the volcanic black sand for the first time on this trip. We then drove all the way to the eastern edge of the island right to the end of the road. This spot is home to one of the heaviest and most dangerous waves in the world. It's also where the surfing events were held for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. From there we completed a full loop around the island stopping at various viewpoints. After all the activities on this trip, it was quite nice to just cruise around in the car and enjoy the views. All right so it's our final day here in French Polynesia and we're spending it on the island of Tahiti and we've spent today just exploring the island. Pretty much did a full loop around the island just stopping at various viewpoints and beaches. It's just been sort of the perfect end to what has been a really epic couple of weeks. Obviously starting in Morea, definitely worthwhile spending a bit more time there. There's just so many great activities to do, so many great hikes. So many great viewpoints. Huahine was a real nice change of pace. So remote, very authentic, very local. So that was a really nice few days. And then moving on to Bora Bora. And I think to be honest it was probably what I expected it to be like to be honest. Kind of feels like 80 to 90 percent of the photos and videos that you see of Bora Bora is from the very expensive resorts there. And I kind of think that you get such a different experience staying at the very expensive resort compared to staying on the main island as you would expect. You know you're paying a lot of money. You kind of expect to have perfect sand beaches and perfect views and things like that. It didn't help that in Bora Bora we didn't quite have the weather. That being said we did have the most epic tour in the morning to see a manta ray, eagle rays, stingrays and sharks just in one morning was just unbelievable. And I can't think of anywhere else in the world you can do that so easily. And then moving on to Fakarava which was I think for both of us probably the highlight of the trip. It was just an absolutely brilliant few days. Just a great combination of like really good activities, really nice people, great weather. Kind of had everything and it just felt like everything clicked together really nicely. I think the highlight was certainly doing the wall of sharks dive. Which I think on reflection is just an incredible experience and kind of feels like one of those bucket list items. You know as a new diver I only started learning a couple of months ago. For me it was just a big sense of accomplishment to even do something like that. For the remainder of the afternoon we sat by the pool and enjoyed the sun. And then the next morning we caught our flight home. Wrapping up an amazing adventure through some of French Polynesia's most beautiful islands. Thanks so much for watching and hopefully see you in the next one.