Rawaki Seamount
Dive site
Rawaki (formerly Phoenix Island) is uninhabited, rarely visited, and ringed by a seamount system that attracts every pelagic species in the central Pacific. Spinner dolphins use the underwater pinnacles as cleaning stations. Schools of scalloped hammerheads have been documented by research expeditions. The reef itself was bleached severely in 2002 and again in 2010 but has regenerated faster than almost anywhere in the Pacific — a rare recovery story divers can witness firsthand.
Conditions
Depth
10 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 | 25 | 20 | 20 |
| Current | Strong | Strong | Moderate | Moderate | Gentle | Gentle | Gentle | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Strong |
Your chances of seeing each animal
Spinner dolphin
Photo: martinmoscovich · CC BY-NC
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Grey reef shark
Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC
Sometimes
About 1 in 3 dives
Scalloped hammerhead shark
Photo: Kris Mikael Krister · CC BY
Rare
Now and then
Reef manta ray
Photo: Luis P. B. · CC BY-NC
Rare
Now and then
Field journal
No sightings recorded here yet.
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