Fakarava Grouper Spawn Trip Report
By Mark B. Hatter
On 10 June 2025, before daybreak, 14 intrepid Bluewater Dive Travel guests and I rolled from two Motu Aito Lodge dive skiffs into the dark waters of Tetamanu Pass at the south end of Fakarava Atoll. The moon settled into the western ocean, pulling up pastel shades from the eastern horizon as we began working our way down a coral-lined slope, toward the center channel just inside the mouth of the pass. The bore of a full moon tide tugged at our bodies and camera/video kits with the clear intent of sweeping us to the sea should we give in to its pull.
But we hold fast to the rocky lining of the pass and find refuge from the swift current behind and between large bommies on the pass floor. Only now, as dawn’s light begins to replace the din of the gloaming, do we see a miracle of life unfolding around us at a frenetic pace. Hundreds, no, thousands of camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion), are engaged in their once, maybe twice a year, ritual of spawning as the tide delivers possibly billions of future progeny to the open ocean. We are humbled and privileged witnesses of Fakarava’s annual grouper spawn!
For over a decade, Bluewater Dive Travel has hosted trips to Fakarava coinciding with the annual grouper spawn, which typically occurs around the full moon in June. But the spawn can even occur as late as July, depending on the June full moon cycle. Almost always, the event occurs on a single night on the outgoing tide, and when it’s over, it's done for another year, with thousands of grouper riding the next incoming tide back into the lagoon en masse.
With regard to timing the spawning, “typically around” is the operative word, as the exact timing of the spawn is only known to the grouper. Indeed, on my first trip to Fakarava in 2015 as a Bluewater Travel guest, the grouper decided to spawn two days before the June full moon. And while the diving was excellent otherwise, we’d missed the mark for the main event, leaving me with an urgent desire to return to Fakarava to give it a second go.
Fast forward to 2025. Over the last decade, the professional travel planners at Bluewater Travel have pretty much triangulated on a trip package that provides the best opportunity to witness the grouper spawn while also adding a bit of diversity to the diving on the remote Polynesian atoll. In our case, we spent three days diving the north pass out of Havaiki Village, a beautiful lagoon-front resort with superb dining and glamorous digs where we rested our bones in air-conditioned bungalows after three hearty dives each day around the north pass.
Havaiki Village is a great starting point for Bluewater Travel’s Fakarava Grouper Spawn adventure, allowing guests to get comfortable and dialed in on negotiating the strong currents found in the pass on the moon tides. Over three days, we dived both the reef just outside of the pass as well as the pass itself, riding the strong current into the lagoon past scores of schooling gray reef sharks, humpback snapper, several species of surgeonfish, and at least 10 different species of colorful butterflyfish.
After entering a nice groove up north, at trip midpoint, we journeyed south by boat to more rustic surroundings at Motu Aito Lodge, where the ocean breeze replaces air-conditioning in open bungalows. The south end of Fakarava is remote by any standard, with any and all supplies, from building materials to food, having to be delivered via small boats. Thus, our expectations for high-end elegance were replaced by more utilitarian accommodations. But what the southern end of Fakarava may lack in lodging and dining luxury, it more than makes up for it when it comes to diving. The grouper aggregation and spawning can only be witnessed at Tetemanu Pass.
In the weeks before the spawn, camouflage grouper arrive at Tetemanu Pass, building in numbers as the days approach the June (or July) full moon. Consequently, early arriving divers to Motu Aito are always treated to thousands of grouper congregating on the pass floor, making for some stunning video and photo opportunities. And, the gathering biomass of grouper also draws hundreds of gray reef sharks, which parade back and forth in the current at three separate locations in the pass channel closer toward the inner lagoon. In fact, every dive in Tetemanu Pass is epic, from the aggregating grouper to the schooling sharks, from the omnipresent schools of snapper, soldierfish, and surgeonfish to the colorful reef fish.
Of course, the icing on the cake is witnessing the spawn itself, which has longer odds than a 50/50 coin toss. However, in our case, Bluewater Travel could not have given us better odds with regard to our travel and dive dates. We hit the lottery not once, but twice during our diving out of Motu Aito. Apparently, on very rare occasions, the grouper spawn twice around the full moon in June. Indeed, our epic dawn dive on 10 June was a prelude to the main event the following day. We learned of this on the second dive on 10 June when we discovered that thousands of grouper had remained in the pass on the incoming tide, giving us an indication that lightning might strike twice. So the following morning we suited up again in the dark, made the predawn plunge, and discovered that the 10 June spawn was nothing more than a prelude to the main event on 11 June!
If you are interested in experiencing shoals of grouper, sharks, and a plethora of other reef species in a Polynesian paradise, look no further than Bluewater Travel’s next planned grouper spawn adventure to Fakarava Atoll.
Want to experience the grouper spawning? Join us on our 2027 Fakarava Grouper Spawning Trip!
Check out these amazing images from Trip Leader, Mark Hatter!
