McKean Pass
Dive site
McKean Island is a seabird nesting sanctuary at the western edge of the Phoenix Islands group. Its submerged pass is only accessible by liveaboard and sees perhaps a handful of dive groups per year. Incoming tidal surges funnel through a gap in the reef, concentrating plankton and triggering a cascade of predation — circling whitetip sharks, massed jacks, and occasional encounters with oceanic whitetips in the blue water just beyond the pass mouth.
Conditions
Depth
8 to 40 m
Advanced depths
Current
Usually gentle
Can pick up on the edge
Visibility
30 to 40 m
Clearest in the calm season
Water
26 to 30°C
Tropical wetsuit
Month by month
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water (°C) | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 27 |
| Vis (m) | 20 | 20 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| Current | Strong | Strong | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Moderate | Moderate | Strong | Strong |
Your chances of seeing each animal
Whitetip reef shark
Photo: Craig Fujii · CC BY-NC-ND
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Giant trevally
Photo: Nikolai Vladimirov · CC BY-NC
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Spinner dolphin
Photo: martinmoscovich · CC BY-NC
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Oceanic whitetip shark
Photo: Lesley Clements · © all rights reserved
Rare
Now and then
Field journal
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