hammerheads??? Fakarava???? manta rays??

Hello,

did you see hammerheads in FP? In Fakarava??? Bora Bora??

Did you dive in Sipadan (Borneo)? How would you compare it with Bora Bora and Fakarava??
Is FP as good as Sipadan?

What about Taveuni in Fiji? Any hammerheads? Could you compare the dives?

Thank you in advance for any inputs.

I have not seen hammerheads in Tahiti or Fiji, however my friend saw one in Beqa, Fiji. Fakarava has a lot of grey reef sharks. Heaps. Bora Bora has these as well but more black-tip and lemon. You can also see the occasional tiger in Fakarava (I have an amazing poster from a dive shop in Rangiroa of a tiger eating a grey shark). Taveuni is more for soft coral. Beqa is where they have the shark dive where you will see lots of bulls and others. Do not go in November though as the bulls are up stream mating. Visit http://www.aquatrek.com for more details.

I have not been to Borneo, but have been to many other dive areas and think that Fiji is great for the macro (minus the shark dive), while the Tuamotus and even Bora Bora are amazing for pelagics.

Enjoy!!!

Thank you very much for your reply!!!

Did you see hammerheads elsewhere?

In case you haven't been to the Philippines yet, I'd advise you to go to Cebu.
From there you can reach Apo Island. Fantastic for the corals.
You can also reach Malapascua. Fantastic late afternoon/night dive (mandarin
fish, lots of octopi, etc) and fantastic for the thresher shark. You really see it.
I've done the dives three or four times and I've only not seen the thresher once.
YOu also see pigmy seahorse. Awesome. Gato island is a must! Photos on my site:

http://www.geocities.com/dimagens

Another great spot is Sipadan (Malaysia, Borneo). You see lots of sharks. I've
seen tens of white tips, one grey reef shark and a gorgeous zebra shark. Plus
fish soup: barracudas by the thousands! Absolutely fantastic!

thank you again for your help.

If hammerheads are your goal Wolf and Darwin in the Galapagos Islands is the place -schools of them. The islands are remote and accessible by limited (expensive) dive cruise only. Some chances off the central Islands (Gordon Rocks).

For sheer shark numbers, Fakarava is a great experience (hundreds per dive). There and Rangi have some hammerheads, also mantas. Moreea has good reef shark numbers and lemons too. Manta numbers are great off Hawaii big island, but the other dives are so-so

Not done Sidipan at all, so can't comment; I'll be in the Maldives in April so can compare then

Thank you hfl1!

I've heard of Galapagos for the hammerheads and we'll sure go there, eventually. Not on this trip, though. Looking forward to it.

I've also heard of Baja California as a good place to see hammerheads.
Any comment on that?

Looking forward to know how it was in the Maldives.

Thank you again for your contribution!!!

We have swum and snorkeled with hammerheads many times just off the shore at the Hilton beach in Waikiki.
The pups are between the shore and the reef, heaps in Kaneohe Bay as well.
Most of the tourists don't know they are in the murky water below, fun to see when the occasional tourist spots one and panics.

Viaja- Not sure where in Baja, have dove there, seen none. Maybe a specific location (or luck)?
Aside from Galapagos, Cocos Islands are supposed to be good

Wow!!! Gotta go to Waikiki!!! How big are they? Only small pups? What about their moms??

I've heard they locate them with sonar. Don't know exactly where.

Thank you for your inputs!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to dive the Galapagos, you better do it fast. I'm told there are discussions to try to end diving there for the environment. Has anyone heard more about this?

The ones we see in Waikiki are just pups but their mom has to be there somewhere.
Have seen up to six at a time, up to about 3 ft long eating crabs hidden in the mud on the bottom.
My wife got to touch one once as it went past.
They study them at Kaneohe Bay Marine Center.

#8 yes much discussion (and confusion) on this from the Ecuadorian government. Check before booking for the ever changing landscape! Hopefully this will be sorted in the best way.

Last year they suspended diving permits to all not compliant cruises (ie most cruise boats going between islands) and preventing all mixed dive/land cruises. 2 boats incl the Peter Hughes Sky Dancer were permitted to continue operating dive-only cruises. These are good but very expensive (3-4K/week) and you will forgo other land visits.

Dedicated dive trips including the hammerhead schools go to the remote islands of Wolf and Darwin (other cruises do not, land visits were prohibited these islands a while), but used to permit landing on other islands during the 8-10 day cruise. These itineraries were never the norm but are now booked solid more than ever (a year at least in advance). Incidentally Wolf and Darwin are very remote and the province of the illegal shark fishermen- as the GNPS is often too broke to patrol it was the dive operators that often chased the illegal fishers away (a fact not exactly disconnected to those trying to prevent diving there)

Some operators have had trips suspended,and some suspensions have been lifted due to protests from the tourism industry, but its hit and miss for cruises trying to operate diving.

Day trip dives are still permitted from inhabited islands, while there is a chance to see the occasional hammerhead at Gordon Rocks; its not the National Geographic stuff of Galapagos diving (or shark schools). Illegal fishing/finning decimated those more accessible areas 5 years ago.

I am huge on conservation (this comes from a biologist who worked there 9 months). The problem is not really divers- its the dive boats reporting illegal activities to the National Park rangers (most of whom dedicate their asses and literally lives to patrol these remaining remote areas).
The problem is the corrupt government that is in the pocket of the illegal fishing industry- they don't want the 'assistance patrol' from any dive boats in the remote areas where the sharks still frequent.