Boat access, depth band, guide ratio, wildlife, and season notes.
French Polynesia · Tahiti
West-coast Tahiti wall dive with turtles and sharks.
West-coast Tahiti wall dive with turtles and sharks.
The site is presented as a guided boat dive from Punaauia.
La Faille St Etienne is a west-coast Tahiti reef wall where a shallow opening gives way to a dramatic drop-off. The upper reef is the easier section, while the deeper wall rewards slow exploration with gorgonians, black coral, turtles, and regular shark encounters. It works best as a guided boat dive, with the clearest water in the dry season and a stronger sense of exposure once you leave the reef top.
Site Conditions
Safety Notes
Stay with the guide, keep a respectful distance from sharks, and treat the wall as a more exposed profile than the reef top.
Access Restrictions
Best approached by boat with a local guide; the shallow hoa are more forgiving than the drop-off, which is better for confident divers.
Legal Notes
Follow local marine-life protection rules and operator instructions; do not touch, feed, or chase wildlife.
Community notes to help plan your visit.
Scuba Diving
The shallow hoa suits an easier start before the dive drops into the main wall and deeper fish life.
Freediving
Competent freedivers can work the shallow hoa and reef-top line on calm days, but the wall itself is a scuba-first profile.
Snorkeling
Snorkeling is only realistic on the calm shallow top section; the main wall is not a snorkel target.
Conservative baseline from public research. No community dives logged yet.
Last Updated
Research Sources
Boat access, depth band, guide ratio, wildlife, and season notes.
Year-round diving and dry-season visibility baseline for French Polynesia.

Deep Tahiti boat dive with a gorgonian-covered pinnacle.

Boat-accessed wall dive off Punaauia with drift potential.

Plateau aux tortues is a boat-based Tahiti reef dive for intermediate divers.