Mauritius Diving Centres - Diving in Mauritius

		Queen Coris		Stag Horn coral

Crown of Thorn starfish		Lionfish - careful !!		Bouletangue on the defensive !

The Northern part of Mauritius offers a variety of short and long range dives in different coral formations and marine fauna with multitude of fish species; lobsters, unusual rock outcrops and remains of historical ships. Most often, diving is done on rocky outcrops or along the barrier reef. Large fan corals, flat corals and soft corals add to exquisite beauty of the marine life. Great for beginner's diving in Mauritius lessons.

Shipwrecks have been home to an array of tropical fish including angelfish, batfish, soldier fish and squirrel fish. Large shoals of Blacktongue unicorn fish can also be found in the area. Giant moray eels, turtles, Tiger sharks and White-Tip sharks are quite common as well.

Starting from Pointe aux Piments in the North West, including the offshore islands of Coin de Mire, Flat Island, Gabriel Island in the North, to Grand Gaube, in the East, diving in the North is possible all year round, as the area is well protected from the prevailing winds. Slight currents thus enable a good visibility and night dives are also possible. Water temperatures are pleasant at 26-30 degrees celsius in summer (October to April) and 19-22 degrees celsius in winter (May to September).

Refresher Course - pool check for the divers with no proof of qualification.

Resort Course - pool lesson and one shallow boat dive

Certification courses

CMAS Star One - full course (4 days) including equipment rental, 6 compulsory dives, log book and CMAS international card.

CMAS Star Two - full course (6 days) as above inclusive of 10 compulsory dives

PADI Open Water Diver - 5 pool lessons, 4 sea dives, theory classes, open water diver and log book, dive table, registration, rental of equipment (duration approx. 5 days).

Equipment

2 diving boats 24" and 21" with 2x115 HP and 2x60 HP Mariner Engines. 2 x Bauer and Drager compressors 24 x diving regulators with pressure gauge 24 x Buoyancy Compensator's 40 x wet suits 3mm and 5 mm long leg and sleeves masks, fins, weight belts etc.

Tariffs

Beginner's Course = 1 Pool Training + Theory + 1 Open Sea Dive Rs. 1,200

Single Dive - Open Sea with Instructor Rs. 750

Package of 5 Dives - 1 Person Rs. 3,500

Old Rocks (10-21m) extremely beautiful with unusual rock formations where moray eels, trigger and other tropical fish follow you throughout the dive. One of Mauritius diving favourite spots.

Grand Baie and Pereybere Aquarium (8-14m) wide variety of tropical fish with differently colored moray eels and many scorpion fish. Ideal for the night dive.

Wrecks of Water Lily (25m), Stella Maru (25m) and Silver Star (38m) covered with soft and hard coral provide hiding for small tropical fish, scorpion fish and moray eels with large game fish passing by very often.

Merville Patches (12-15m) cluster of reefs with large plate and branch coral hiding moray eels, triggerfish and small shrimps. The best of Mauritius diving spot in Grand Baie.

Coral Garden (17-19m) with many species of coral, large red anemones, lobsters and moray eels.

Anemone and Coral Head (18-21m) with a large concentration of one of the most beautiful soft coral species with their usual companions: a clown fish and schools of carandine ad snapper.

Cathedral (30m) interesting underwater cave surrounded by black coral sea funs with large fish around such as: king fish, groupers, barracudas. Diving in Mauritius Flic en Flac at this spot.

Black Forest (40m) - known for its spectacular green coral and large game fish, one can even spot a dorado.

Whale Rock (30-40m) - one of the most spectacular dives for experienced divers, rocky area provides a base for the most interesting concentration of typical island's coral. One can find green coral "bushes" up to 1 meter high and samples of rare black coral. Many sea fans and green moray eels can be seen in surrounding canyons.

Anchor (12-20m) spectacular site with two sunken anchors, one on the reef and the other on sand. They are surrounded by some fine examples of gigantic b rain coral. There are many reefs and sand guillies with virtually all the types of marine life of the island congregating there.

Gunner's Quoin Island - north island off Mauritius (10-35m) many dive sites among others: Drop off, Jabeda Wreck, up to 30m, usually very clear visibility and opportunity to see turtles, large rays, tunas; garupas, snappers and schools of small barracudas together with a usual display of all islands coral species.

Flat Island - north island off Mauritius diving (15-25m) the whole day trip, depending on the weather - the biggest attraction there is a 25m deep dive next to Pigeon Rock, a large concentration of sharks.

Boxfish on fan coral

Popular dive sites include Blue Bay, Le Sirius Wreck, Purple Cave, Colorado and Roches Zozo. Striped eels catfish, octopus and tropical fishes - cornetfish, trumpet fish, flutemouths and anemone fishes often weave around plate corals, brain corals, staghorns, and cabbage corals.

Diving conditions are relatively good in the West, with mild currents and satisfactory visibility. Popular dive sites include Japanese Garden, Cliff, Casiers and La Passe.

Night dives are highly recommended as pretty Spanish dancers come out in search of food, polyps open and corals take on a magnificent shade. Night Mauritius diving is completely different. Worth a try.

For those of you who have limited time and no access to remote parts of the island, we would recommend you to dive on one of the artificial reefs, which have been created by the Marine Conservation Society at various parts of the island. Mauritius Diving is so great.