Landmark· Fakarava· French Polynesia: Tuamotus, Marquesas, Gambier & Australs
Tetamanu Village and Church (Fakarava)
16° 30.9′ S · 145° 27.7′ W
The near-empty former capital of Fakarava at the south pass: a Catholic church from 1874 that still holds Sunday Mass, a graveyard and a scatter of houses where about 40 people once lived beside the shark-filled pass.
Practical
The church (Notre-Dame-de-Paix on OSM) was built in 1874 and is described as the first church of the Tuamotus (Tetamanu Diving). Tetamanu was the island's 19th-century capital and the seat of the Tuamotu administrator (Wikipedia). Jacaranda (2016) says it declined after a cyclone destroyed the main village, and lists a church, school, jail and graveyard. Dress respectfully for Sunday service. Do not enter the fish parks, which are private. Land at the Tetamanu Village dinghy dock.
Best for
Sunday Mass and a walk between dives
Nearby
- Pension Teramanu (Fakarava)0.1 NM away
- Tetamanu Coral Garden Snorkel (South Pass)0.1 NM away
- Tetamanu Dive Center Shack Meals (South Pass)0.1 NM away
- Tetamanu Shark Shallows (South Pass)0.1 NM away
- Tetamanu Village Dive Center0.1 NM away
- Fakarava Marbled Grouper Spawning (South Pass)0.2 NM away
- Shark Cave Observatory (Tumakohua Pass)0.2 NM away
- Tumakohua Pass Wall of Sharks Dive (Fakarava South)0.2 NM away