Snorkel· Tahiti· French Polynesia — Society Islands
Aquarium Coral Garden & Cessna Wreck (Faa'a lagoon)
17° 33.9′ S · 149° 37.6′ W
Tahiti's classic lagoon snorkel: coral boulders scattered over white sand beside the Faa'a channel, with a Cessna 172 lying in 6–10 m that snorkellers can see from the surface on a clear day.
Practical
Coordinates are Eleuthera Tahiti Diving Center's 'Aquarium' site marker. Eleuthera describes it as ideal for shallow intro and training dives, with damsels, parrotfish, clownfish, surgeonfish and cowfish; the Cessna crash-landed near the runway on 16 April 1995 and was moved here (6–10 m). Tahiti Heritage gives the Cessna at about 5 m and plots it closer to the Catalina wreck (-17.54306, -149.60890), so expect tour-boat moorings to mark the spot. A cruiser report (Sugar Shack, Sept 2019) places it 'just north of the last green/red buoys', 25–30 ft, easiest found by the tour boats on moorings. It is beside the airport regulated zone and the lagoon channel: call Vigie on VHF 12 before moving through the runway-axis zone, never transit at night, and anchoring is banned in the area (only approved mooring zones P0, P1, P3–P5 since the July 2026 port notice). Go by dinghy from Marina Taina in daylight, fly a diver-down flag and keep out of the marked channel.
Best for
Easy snorkel and first scuba dive close to Marina Taina
Nearby
- Papa Whisky Amphitheatre (Faa'a outer reef)0.4 NM away
- InterContinental Tahiti Lagoonarium (Faa'a)0.5 NM away
- Parc Vairai, Punaauia (former anchorage, now prohibited)0.9 NM away
- Faa'a / Punaauia Authorized Mooring Zones P3–P5 (Motu Tahiri)1 NM away
- Faa'a International Airport (PPT)1.1 NM away
- Marina Taina Mooring Field & Anchorage (Zones P0 / P1)1.1 NM away
- Papeete Port of Entry – Border Police (STPAF, Faa'a Airport)1.1 NM away
- L'Atlantide & Les Éboulis (Taina lagoon)1.2 NM away