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The Mauritius Scuba Diving Association regulates the island's dive centers,
which must all be run by qualified, experienced dive masters, who have been
trained to International standards.
Mauritius regulations require that visitors
dive accompanied by an instructor and escorted by a boat. All centers are
managed by CMAS or PADI international diving instructors who can give courses
from beginners up to experts and additionally organise snorkeling excursions.
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Dive sites of Mauritius:
Attractive dive sites can be found all around the island, (not just
exclusively behind the coral reefs). The diving conditions vary around
the island, for example the east coast is colder than the west both on land and in
the water.
The east coast however has some of the best dives sites of the
island. The islands of the North offer particularly attractive diving and
surprisingly, are rarely visited by the clubs due to their distant location.
The sea temperature is generally pleasant throughout the year ranging from 28c in
summer to 23/24c in winter. Strong anticyclones in winter may occasionally
cause the sea temperature to fall by 2 or 3c but with the exception of the cyclonic period (January - February) and during July
and August for the east coast, good diving conditions exist all year round.
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The North coast offers particularly
attractive diving such as the:
- Whale Rock which is famous for the
huge rocks, sea fan, huge stone corals, sometimes hammerhead sharks and other different
species of fish .
- Flat Island, which is renowned for its 'Shark pit' shark dive.
- The Silver star wreck where an old
fishing boat sank in 1990.
- Grand Bay and Pereybere
offer about 6 diving sites along the coast ranging in depth from 11-18m. You
can see a large variety of coloured fish and corals of all sorts in the clear
water. The place names are: Grand Bay Aquarium, Coral Head, Island Reef,
Pereybere Aquarium and Merville Patche.
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The East coast is
famous for its beautiful
beaches and magnificent lagoons bordering the coasts and is scattered with many
channels that allow easy access to the open sea.
- There is one nice dive into
the current of the Belle Mare lagoon (12-30m). There are sharks, rays, barracuda,
tuna fish and kingfish.
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The South East Coast allows divers to swim in a
decor made up of caves, canyons, arches, tunnels and peaks. The interesting
diving sites are:
- Roche Zozo
- Colorado
- The remnants of the historical wreckage of the Sirius,
which was sunk in 1810 during the naval battle of Grand Port between the
British and French.
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The West Coast offers:
- An impressive underwater cave known as
"Cathedrale" which starts as an underwater cliff just
close to Flic en Flac and offers a spectacular beauty due to the
topography of the place (caves, arches and cavities). The cave is
populated by a variety of fish and various crustaceans.
- Another site close
to Flic en Flac is Rempart Serpent; this site has a large
concentration of several species of morays, Lionfish, stone fishes. An
excellent place to observe dolphins is near Tamarin Bay in the southwest,
where a large group of dolphins can be found.
| Our strong advice is to dive with the best
professionals, we therefore highly recommend the following recognized diving centers in Mauritius. The prices are per person and in Mauritian
Rupees (MUR):
|
| Dives |
A |
C |
E |
ET |
P |
| MSDA Certification |
100 |
|
100 |
50 |
100 |
| Single Dive (with equipment) |
950 |
|
900 |
850 |
900 |
| Single Dive (No equipment) |
850 |
|
800 |
750 |
700 |
| Night Dive (No equipment) |
950 |
|
1100 |
1050 |
1200 |
| 5 Dives package (with equipment) |
4480 |
|
3900 |
3000 |
- |
| 6 Dives package (with equipment) |
- |
|
- |
- |
4500 |
| 10 Dives package (with equipment) |
8475 |
|
7500 |
6000 |
7000 |
| Shark point (Minimum 4 pax) |
- |
|
1900 |
1600 |
- |
| PADI Bubblemaker |
1000 |
|
1000 |
- |
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| PADI Open Water Diver |
8320 |
|
9900 |
8000 |
7800 |
| PADI Scuba Diver |
6020 |
|
5500 |
- |
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| Key to the centers: |
A = Aquarius Diving center
C = Coral Dive center
E = Emperator Diving center
ET = Evasion Turquoise Diving center
P = Punto Blue Diving center |
Contact www.dtour.co.za for shark diving in South Africa.
Click here to access the official web site of the Mauritius Marine Conservation Society
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