Crossing the Pass
06 February 2021 | Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Graham Walker
Today we took the dinghy across the pass the short distance to the next motu, where there is another small village. There is a water taxi running back and forward across the gap, and we have seen people taking bikes and scooters on the water taxi. It is only a quarter of a mile away but it had quite a different feel to it – very relaxed and quiet.
The gap of water between these two motus is what is referred to as the pass. This particular atoll only has two deep passes; all the other gaps between the motus are shallow, impassable hoas. The passes allow the tidal waters to flow in and out. When high winds are blowing in the ocean there can be a lot of excess water in the atoll, pushed over the reef by the big waves into the lagoon, and all this needs to leave by the two passes as well. The flow in the passes can run at 4-6 kts during peak inflow and outflow. As we have mentioned before, the passes are also where you get the best diving in the atolls, as the bigger beasties love the faster flows.
Today’s picture shows us looking across the nearby pass with water flowing from right to left, with one of the dive boats drifting along sideways waiting for its clients to surface. You can see the shallow rocky edge of the reef, from which it drops sharply to 20 m in the bottom of the channel.