We did a 10 day diving liveaboard trip around Galapagos in April of 2023 with Galapagos Master. The video has some of the highlights – schools of hammerheads, other sharks, mola mola, marine iguanas and lots of fish.
While on the surface we were always surrounded by wild life. Frigate birds and various boobies were everywhere and some really liked hanging on the bow of the boat and hitch-hiking with us when we sailed from island to island
boobies on a bow of the ship, Galapagos
While sailing from island to island we saw dolphins, whales, sea lions, mobula rays jumping out and all sorts of other fish jumping out chasing or being chased.
dolphin, Galapagos
Sea lions were on every island and we saw them fish and even got a picture of one with its catch.
Socorro diving is some of the best in the world. Socorro Island is one of the islands in the Revillagigedo archipelago in Eastern Pacific about 600 kilometers off the western coast of Mexico. The archipelago and waters around it are a marine park since 2017. Since Revillagigedo is not the most friendly word to pronounce, the three islands one can go diving around – Socorro, San Benedicto and Roca Partida – are often referred to as just Socorro islands. Isolated rocks in the middle of the ocean, they attract incredible variety and quantity of marine life on a marine highway with other stops including Galapagos, Cocos Islands and Malpelo. Socorro seems to have the most friendly huge oceanic mantas that stayed with us sometimes for the duration of the dive. Here are highlights from our 17 dives over 5 days in January 2023.
One can only dive Socorro on a liveaboard. Diving season is May through November. Several liveaboards go there, departing from Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Sur. We went with Solmar V which was great. Water temperature in January was C23-25. We dove in 5mil with a hood. We did not get the absolute crystal perfect visibility Socorro is famous for because there was a massive weather system impacting all of the northern Pacific at the time. But we still got 25m+ visibility on most sites. While the sea was not exactly flat and we had 5m swell and more, we still were able to dive safely every day. The liveaboard trip can also be combined with diving and top side activities in Baja. We went on a little road trip around the south of Baja California Sur and dove in La Paz and Cabo Pulmo before jumping on our liveaboard.
Cabo Pulmo Marine National Park in the sea of Cortez in the East Cape of Baja California Sur is a Unesco world heritage site. The national park was established in 1995, in the area that suffered from significant overfishing. Since then, conservation has been successful and Cabo Pulmo is a case study in what effective marine protection can do to restore reef and fish populations. Bull sharks, rays, big schools of fish, cool topography and corals – all make for a very nice diving. The video has highlights from our 4 dives in Cabo Pulmo in January of 2023.
Cabo Pulmo is a little village with a population of about 60 and a dozen dive shops. Diving is the main reason to visit. Accommodation is basic but comfortable. There are a couple of restaurants with good food. Any groceries or other supplies must be brought in. The nearest shops are in La Ribera 27km away, and those are small shops not big supermarkets. Cell signal is patchy. It is perfect for getting away from it all.
View on Cabo Pulmo from the road, Mexico
We drove down to Cabo Pulmo from La Paz via Los Barriles. It took about 3 hours. The last 10km or so are not paved but reasonably flat and we made it in a small 2 wheel drive car without any problems. You do not need to drive on sand at any point to get to the town. After Cabo Pulmo, we were heading to San Jose del Cabo. While google maps shows a road along the coast going south from Cabo Pulmo, that road is not paved. Advise from locals was to go back via La Ribera and onto route 1 and that’s what we did.
Downtown Cabo Pulmo with dive boats and a number of dive shops, Cabo Pulmo, Mexico
Dive sites are very close to shore – 10 min or less. Most dive shops do two dives out and may be coming back to shore in between the dives, depending on whether all divers do two dives. There is a possibility of afternoon dive depending on weather conditions. When we were there winds picked up in the afternoon and besides visibility was not fantastic so we only did two morning dives each day.
Tractor pulling out dive boat, Cabo Pulmo, Mexico
Even though Cabo Pulmo is known for its coral reef, it is not the tropical kind of reef one has in mind, understandably. There is some hard coral and a few areas with very pretty little fans and sponges. The rock formations are very cool. When we were there visibility dropped to less than 7m and water was pretty green. Water temperatures were about C21, diving in 5mil and with a hood. We hear that late summer and early fall has much warmer water, good vis and thats when one sees those huge schools of jacks Cabo Pulmo is famous for. For all we know, all sorts of schools of fish could have been around, and we saw some, but with poor vis we could not quite see that far. We did get very lucky with so many bull sharks. Was a very unique experience.
Definitely a repeat destination for when the vis is better and the water is warmer. It was a great addition to our La Paz diving and before we were getting on Socorro liveaboard.
Diving in La Paz on the shores of the Sea of Cortez in Baja California Sur, Mexico we had amazing interaction with sea lions, saw a big school of mobula rays and lots of fish. We were diving in late December 2022. Water was getting cool at C21 and visibility dropping to less than 10 meters on some sites. But it was still some of the best diving. Highlights from our three days of diving are in the video below.
Diving from La Paz is in the National Park Espiritu Santo – a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site. It covers more than 900 islands and islets in the Sea of Cortez. We dove with Cortez Club – a large and very well organized operator located at the southern edge of La Paz at La Concha beach. The dive sites are an hour or more by boat depending on the site and conditions. Brining a spray jacket for the drive on the boat is a very good idea.
Cortez Club and La Concha beach, La Paz, Mexico
Not only diving is fantastic, but there are whale sharks in the area and we went for a snorkel with them. Bay of La Paz is a protected area for whale sharks. Whale sharks are in the area all year round with the highest concentrations between November and April. There are strict rules in place to ensure wellbeing of whale sharks. There is no diving with whale sharks but snorkeling is permitted. No flash photography. No touching whale sharks and staying at least 3 meters from them when under water. There are limits on how many boats can be in the area at the time (14), duration they can spend with the whale sharks (3 hours) and the number of people in the water with a whale shark at a time (5). As a result, snorkeling with whale sharks in La Paz is a really great experience and whale sharks are comfortable staying with well behaving snorkelers.
Whale Shark, bay of La Paz, Mexico
We stayed downtown in the city of La Paz. It was around Christmas time and atmosphere was wonderful with Christmas market around the main square and the Cathedral. La Paz is a popular place for Mexican locals to visit for holidays so the city was quite busy but definitely much quieter than Cabo San Lucas area. Malecon is very nice with a promenade along the shore and many restaurants. People walk along it for exercise in the morning and come to enjoy sunset. Food and especially seafood were phenomenal.
Malecon at sunset, La Paz, MexicoStatues along Malecon at sunset, La Paz, MexicoStatues along Malecon in the morning, La Paz, MexicoChristmas installation at La Paz pier, La Paz, Mexico
It seems that driving along Malecon is also a popular pastime. Residents in their cars, some decorated for holidays, some with loudspeakers with elaborate neon lights drive around, or rather inch slowly along Malecon starting at around sunset. Not most environmentally friendly, but somehow adding to the cheerful vibe of La Paz.
Cars along Malecon, La Paz, Mexico
There are many beaches and coves along the shore of the Sea of Cortez around La Paz. There are day trips organized by travel operators to go to various beaches by boat, and some can be reached by car. We drove up to playa El Tecolote. A nice long white sand beach facing Isla Espiritu Santo. It was windy on the day we went but on a calmer day the place would have been perfect to spend time on the beach, swim and have some beers at one of the beach bars.
Road to El Tecoloto, La Paz, MexicoEl Tecoloto beach, La Paz, Mexico
We also drove over to Todos Santos for a day to have a look at the Pacific coast side. Todos Santos is a very nice little town that has many art galleries and restaurants. We hear it gets very crowded during the holiday season as many escape Cabo San Lucas area for a quieter Todos Santos. We were there on the morning of Christmas day and with most places closed we did not quite get to experience it. The town did look very nice and inviting, perhaps for the next time. We drove up to Cachora beach and lagoon instead.
Cachora beach and lagoon near Todos Santos, Baja California Sur, Mexico
The beach with crashing Pacific ocean waves was stunning. We could see whales breeching in the distance. Lots of birds flying. Climbing up on the hill one gets a great view of the ocean coast and mountains and town in the distance.
Pacific ocean waves on Cachora beach, Baja California Sur, Mexico
We then drove up to El Mirador restaurant with a spectacular view of the sea from the top of the hill. The road to the restaurant was not paved but it was a good gravel road and we easily drove it in our small rental car. We enjoyed great food and watched whales breeching in the ocean and birds flying around.
view from El Mirador restaurant near Todos Santos, Mexico
La Paz diving, the town and its great food and vibe, and trips around were a great stop on our Baja California Sur trip before heading to Cabo Pulmo and then jumping on Socorro liveaboard.
Bonaire is a Dutch island in the Caribbean sea close to the coast of Venezuela. It is known as a shore diving capital of the world. We dove around Bonair for a week in early August 2022 before heading for another week of diving in Curacao.
The video below has highlights of what we saw on our dives. We did 17 shore dives on Bonaire and 2 boat dives around Klein Bonaire – a smaller island next to Bonaire.
August is a hurricane season in the Caribbean, but Bonair, Curacao and Aruba (ABC islands) are located south of the hurricane belt, and generally do not get much rainfall all year round. During our trip the weather was good even though we had occasional short showers in the afternoon. We were able to dive every day and explore top side too. Visibility was excellent about 20-30m. Water temperature was C27-28.
Flydivi plane to depart from Curacao to Bonaire
Getting there.
There is no ferry service between ABC islands. We arrived to Bonaire by a small plane from Curacao. In 2022 two airlines operated flights between Curacao and Bonair. We flew on Dividivi air and there was also EZAir. Because of the small size of the plane there is a strict maximum 23 kg luggage weight limit. Water temperatures were warm C27-28 and we did not bring wetsuits with us. We were able to get our bags with full dive gear just under the limit.
Flamingo airport in Bonaire
Accommodation.
There are hotels, dive resorts and private rentals all around the small island. We stayed a bit out of the main town in one of the smaller private rentals where one could just walk out of from the door and shore dive.
Shore diving at doorstep on Bonaire
Scuba Diving.
Shore diving is the main attraction of Bonair. You hire a car (pickup truck), then hire the tanks, drive to the dive site, gear up, walk in, dive, finish a dive or two, go back to the dive shop to swap the tanks, repeat. The advise is not to leave anything in the car when going diving, not to lock it, and leave windows open. We followed the advise. Most of the time we would see at least another couple of cars parked with people diving, arriving or packing up and felt absolutely safe all around the island.
Getting ready to Dive at Margate site on Bonaire
There are quite a few dive shops on the island where diving seems to be the main tourist activity and tourism – the main industry. We rented our air from VIP diving. We dove on nitrox to extend bottom time and did 3 dives most of the days. There is an option to have a guide, but we dove without one. There are several books with very detailed descriptions of all Bonair dive sites. We have used a paperback version of 2018 addition of Reef Smart Guides Bonaire: Scuba Dive. Snorkel. Surf. The book has the most detailed and clear dive site descriptions we’ve ever seen, even with 3D drawings. Because entry points are rocky and have sharp reef areas, one needs to dive with booties (no open toe fins), and the thicker the sole on the booties the better.
Yellow rock marking Margate dive site on Bonaire
Sites are marked by yellow stones from the main road and there is also a yellow buoy in the water usually where the reef starts. Most dive sites are slopes covered with soft and hard corals. It is easy to just swim out to the marker, go in one direction along the reef and then turn around and come back. Definitely need compass. While some sights have easy entry and a sandy beach, most do not. Rocky shore, waves and swell can make entry a bit of a challenge. Most sites had clear marking on the best entry point – also with yellow stones. And then there are other divers coming in and getting out so it is good to observe before heading in.
Salt pier dive site entry point on Bonaire
Our top three dive sites were Salt Pier – for all the fish life and just really beautiful diving around pylons, HIlma Hooker wreck – for a cool reck and also lots of fish life and huge tarpans hanging around it, and Margate with beautiful reef and loads of fish life. But to be fair, all dives were good and each site was offering something different.
Salt pier, BonaireCorals on pylons of Salt pier, BonairePropeller on Hilma Hooker wreck, Bonaire
Bonaire National Marine Park includes all waters around Bonaire and Klein Bonaire down to the depth of 60 meters. It was established in 1979, is one of the oldest in the world and is considered one of the most successful. Fees paid by divers and other visitors finance the management of the park. Reefs are in very good condition with generally healthy soft and hard corals and huge sponges. Stony coral tissue loss disease unfortunately has reached Bonaire and at the time we were diving, two dive sites were closed off trying to contain the spread. All dive shops also were adding disinfectant when rinsing dive gear.
Coral reef, BonaireCorals impacted by stoney coral tissue loss disease, Bonaire
We saw a few lion fish while diving. These are invasive species without natural predators in the Caribbean. It is allowed to spear them to help protect the reef. The conditions for spearing are strict, requiring a license or diving with an authorized operator and only using marine park authorized spear (provided by a dive operator). Dive shops also require anyone wanting to spear to take PADI lion fish hunting specialty course.
Moray eel and invasive lionfish at Margate site, Bonaire
Reef renewal foundation of Bonaire is trying to find ways to improve coral growth around Bonaire. They have several nurseries where pieces of corals are grown and then transplanted to the reef.
Coral nursery at Something Special dive site, Bonaire
All manner of critters and other macro lens candidates were alive and well on the reef. We even found one little orange frog fish hiding in a sponge at appropriately named Something Special site.
Squat anemone shrimp (left) and Pedersen cleaner shrimp (right) on a pink anemone, BonairSun anemone shrimp, BonaireFrog fish
Exploring top side
There is plenty to see on the top side of Bonaire. There is cute little old town with a few bars and restaurants, scenic drives around the island, rum distillery, iguanas, flamingoes and other birds.
Kralendijk, the main town of Bonaire
On the last day before flying out we spent a day exploring the island driving all around it first heading down south, through the old town, past the salt pier, flamingo sanctuary (you can watch them from the road but cant go closer), then along the shore on the east side of the island, then inland via town and north towards Rincon (and its distillery), then loop through Washington Slagbaai National Park, and back to Rincon and back to town. The permit for diving in Marine National Park also includes the price of entry to the national park so you only have to pay once.
Salt mountains, BonaireFlamingoes with Red Slave in the background, BonaireFlamingoes, BonaireEntrance into Washington Slagbaai National Park, BonaireDriving in national park, BonaireCrested caracara, BonaireVenezuelan troupial. Bonaire Pelican, BonaireIguana, Bonaire
After a fantastic week in Bonaire we flew back to Curacao, for one more week of diving and exploring the Dutch Caribbean ABC islands.
Curacao is one of the three Dutch Caribbean islands close to the coast of Venezuela – Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao known together as ABC. We went diving in Curacao for a week in August 2022, combining with a week of diving in Bonaire.
The video below has diving highlights from 14 dives during our week in Curacao.
While it is possible to do shore diving in Curacao, it is not as easy as in Bonaire. The terrain of Curacao with little lagoons and rocky cliffs limits the number of sites one can easily reach from the shore. Diving is good though and a Curacao Bonaire combo trip worked out well for us since we in any case needed to fly to Curacao to get the small plane to Bonaire.
Westpunt, Curacao
We based ourselves on the western side of the island in Westpunt and were diving with Go West Diving. We mostly dove from a boat and only did a couple of shore dives near the jetty, at Lagun, and on Go West excellent house reef Alice in Wonderland. Westpunt is the quiet end of Curacao, without big resorts and is about 1 hour drive from the capital Willemstad. There are a couple of smaller dive resorts and private rentals in Westpunt. There is no big supermarket so all the major shopping must be done in Willemstad. There are a couple of ok restaurants in the area. We were in a self-catering accommodation right on the cliffs with beautiful sunset views and our own barbeque which worked out perfectly for us.
Lagun, Westpunt Curacao
When not diving we explored the island. The capital of Willemstad has many nice restaurants, the famous bridge and cute old town with colorful dutch style houses. There is the distillery that makes the famous Blue Curacao liqueur worth a visit. We also liked maritime museum in the old town.
Willemstad, Curacao
There are two national parks on the island in its northeastern part. On the last day before flying out when we could not dive, we did both parks in the morning and then had a nice late lunch and walked around Willemstad. Shete Boka park has trails along the barren sea cliffs with striking views over the rougher side of Caribbean coast.
Shete Boka national park, CuracaoNatural Bridge, Shete Boka national park, CuracaoIguana, Shete Boka national park, Curacao
Christoffel national park is next door and has both rugged coast and forested area with nice views. There is a loop drive with a fully paved road to see the park. It is possible to do the hikes in the park, but we were there in the warmer time of the year and were not tempted to hike.
Drive through Christoffel national park, Curacao
All in all Curacao was a nice trip. Good easy diving in warm water with good visibility, lots of things to explore on top side, good restaurants and friendly locals. Curacao Bonaire combo makes good sense if one makes it all the way down to this corner of the Caribbean.
We spent three days diving from Muscat, capital of Oman, in November 2019. It took a while to write it up with pandemic taking inspiration away.
Oman is a beautiful country: infrastructure is excellent, it is safe, people are friendly and food is delicious. More on our wonderings around Muscat top side is here.
Diving around Muscat was very good even though we were not very lucky with the weather. The first day was perfect around Daymaniyat islands which are about 20km offshore. Then the wind and waves picked up and visibility dropped. On the second day we made it to Daymaniyat islands but with pretty bad vis and a bumpy ride back. By the third day we could not make it that far out. We still were able to go to Fahal island though where we did some really nice diving. So, the good thing is that even if the weather is not cooperating, one is still likely to be able to dive because of the dive site locations and wind direction. Water was nice and warm 28C. Visibility varied depending on a site and a day between 7 to 20m. Here is the video from diving around Daymaniyat and Fahal.
Daymaniyat archipelago is a protected nature reserve consisting of limestone islands with perfect sandy beaches, and shallow waters with corals all around. Dive depth is up to 25m. Corals were good in deeper areas but one could see signs of bleaching in shallow areas. Seeing all the mating cuttlefish was quite special. Leopard shark was another great siting.
Daymaniyat Islands near Muscat, OmanLeopard shark at Daymaniyat islands near Muscat, Oman
Fahal island is on the other side of Muscat so getting to it involves cruising past the old part of the city which was nice. Here visibility was quite good again with lots of fish life and more mating cuttlefish.
Fahal Island near Muscat, OmanSchool of barracuda and soft coral at Fahal island near Musat, Oman
Logistics
We stayed in one of the hotels along the Qurum beach and dove with Mola Mola diving center. The dive boat departs from Al Mouj Marina. On the first day we brought our dive gear with us by car to the marina, parked and carried it to the boat. Because we dove multiple days the guys from Mola Mola kept the gear overnight which was great. Most other people were using hired dive gear. The boat had a mixed group of divers and snorkelers. The trips included two dives and a tasty bbq lunch.
The dive boat of Mola Mola diving center at El Mouj Marina in Muscat, Oman
Mouj Marina is a beautiful new development with several nice restaurants and coffee places.
El Mouj Marina, Muscat, OmanEl Mouj Marina, Muscat, Oman
All in all the diving was really good.This was a short trip though. We spent 3 days diving and went for a day trip to Wadi Shab. A longer trip is definitely worth it – after all there is a 2000km coast line to explore, and all the wadis and deserts to discover!
Sardine run off the coast of South Africa is one of the largest marine migrations in the world. Between May and July billions of sardines move along the coast of South Africa towards Mozambique. Dolphins, sharks, and birds that eat sardines move along with them. At the same time whales also migrate in the same direction. We spent 6 days chasing sardines based out of Port St John in July of 2019.
Port St. John is a small town at the mouth of the river with cliffs on both sides making it look like some spectacular Lord of the Rings place. We did sardine run with Blue Ocean Dive who we also dove Aliwal Shoal from Umkomaas. Most operators actually offer a day or two of Aliwal Shoal diving as part of the sardine run package. We flew to Durban, dove one day on Aliwal Shoal in Unkomaas and then went to Port St John – about 4 hour drive.
Mzimvubu river towards Port St John, South Africa
Wild coast is spectacularly beautiful and spending a day on the boat watching whales, dolphins and birds was great fun. After watching all the amazing videos with huge bait balls where all kinds of sharks attack thousands of sardines in crystal clear blue water we kind of expected to dive on bait balls every day of our sardine run trip. Turns out it is not quite like that. The experience is more like going on a safari. While one hopes to see a kill one kind of knows it is not certain at all. Same thing with the bait ball. We saw lots of dolphins, “raining birds”, and tried to chase scattering “micro bait balls” of sardines but did not find a big stable bait ball. Perhaps sardines were late or maybe water was a bit too warm and they were further out. There seems to be a lot of variability from year to year and every sardine run season is different we hear.
Wild coast near port St John, South Africa
There was lots of surface action though and in retrospect bringing the proper camera for surface photos would have been a good idea. The sea can be rough though so would definitely need a water proof bag for the camera to keep it dry. The dolphins, diving birds and all the breaching whales we saw would make for some fantastic pictures.
Sardine run boats, South Africa
There are several short hikes around Port St John that one can do after the day of sardine chasing. We also went for sun downers on top of the hill where landing strip is to enjoy stunning view of the river, ocean and the cliffs.
Sunset over Mzimvubu river and ocean, near Port St John, South Africa
After 6 days of chasing sardines we then went back to Unkomaas and did a couple more days of diving on Aliwal Shoal. There were lots of ragged tooth sharks on the shoal, we did a bated dive again and even here we saw whales breaching on the way to dive sites!
Nosy Be is an island off the north-west coast of Madagascar with incredible diving and a chance to see some of Madagascar’s unique wild life. We were there in the middle of September and got to snorkel with whale sharks, watch humpback whales, had fantastic dives in good visibility and reasonably warm water (26C). Topside is excellent as well and we saw lemurs and chameleons. Nosy Be is a volcanic island with several crater lakes – all of different color and reportedly full of crocodiles. There are white sand beaches, acceptable quality road, delicious food and friendly locals. We were there for a week and it felt too short.
Andilana beach, Nosy Be, Madagascar
Ambatoloaka is the main tourist beach with quite a few hotels and restaurants. It gets pretty busy but good to go for lunch or dinner on the beach. Andilana is a nice white sand beach in the northern part of the island – has fewer hotels and a couple of restaurants. Small islands around Nosy Be have beautiful white sand beaches and island hopping with snorkeling is one of the main tourist activities.
Nosy Tanikely beach, Madagascar
Nosy Tanikely is one of the small islands around Nosy Be – has a nice beach, excellent snorkeling and there is a view point at the top from where you can see Madagascar mainland and various surrounding islands.
Ambaro beach, Nosy Be, Madagascar
We stayed along the shore north of Dzamandzar town. The long stretch of the beach seems to be named Ambaro. There are a few resorts along the shore but the atmosphere is more quiet and relaxed than on the two main beaches. This is also where several dive shops are. We dove with Love Bubble which was absolutely wonderful. And not only did we have superb diving but also got to snorkel with whale sharks and watch humpback whales.
Humpback whales come to the waters of Madagascar from Antarctica to breed and usually can be seen between July and November. When we visited in September 2019 they were just arriving – much later than usual. At the same time whale sharks arrived earlier then usual at the beginning of September. So we got really lucky to see both whale sharks and humpback whales. We saw about 6-7 whales blowing water and flipping tails but did not manage to get a nice shot of a breaching whale this time. You can only watch them from the boat, no snorkeling allowed.
Humpback whales, Nosy Be, MadagascarHumpback whale tale, Nosy Be, Madagascar
In addition to diving, snorkeling and beach there is much to do inland on Nosy Be topside. Mont Passot is the highest point on the island and has an amazing view. You get to see the lakes, the surrounding islands and Madagascar mainland. The place is popular with locals for sunset especially on the weekend.
Sunset view from Mont Passot over lakes and Sakatia island, Nosy Be, Madagascar
There is a good paved road to the top of the Mont Passot. Importantly – google maps shows that there are two roads up to Mont Passot which is not exactly accurate. The good paved road starts not too far from Andilana and we took that one on the way to Mont Passot on our scooter. We then thought to take the road that goest to Dzamandzar on the way back. At the top it starts as a paved road but then progressively turns into a dirt track and then I am not even sure if one can call it a trail even (picture below). At some point we thought we would be lost as sun was setting but we made it back with the last rays of light.
Road from Mont Passot to Dzamandzar, Nosy Be, Madagascar
To see lemurs and chameleons we went to Lemuria Land. It is a plantation and distillery for ylang-ylang and other essential oils and a nature park. It borders Lokobe reserve. We were planning to go to Lokobe reserve but it was not possible to do it within an afternoon and with all the superb diving, whales and whale sharks we left Lokobe for the next time.
Black lemur female, Lemuria Land, Nosy Be, Madagascar
In Lemuria Land they have several species of lemurs. The park feeds lemurs and you can feed them too. It is not exactly full wilderness experience, but on another hand lemurs live around the island and even in our resort one morning a lemur came over expecting to get a banana treat.
Black lemur male, Lemuria Land, Nosy Be, MadagascarSifaka, Lemuria Land, Nosy Be, MdagascarRing tailed lemur, Lemuria Land, Nosy Be , Madagascar
They also have a collection of panther chameleons at Lemuria Land.
Panther chameleon, Lemuria Land, Nosy Be, MadagascarPanther chameleon, Lemuria Land, Nosy Be, MadagascarPanther chameleon, Lemuria Land, Nosy Be, Madagascar
All in all Nosy Be was a surprise. For some reason we totally did not expect diving to be so amazing. Corals look more like you would see in Red Sea than Kenya, Zanzibar or Mozambique. On some level it also looks a little like Philippines with its mountainous volcanic islands and outrigger boats. Nosy Be is about as far south of equator as Anilao is north of the equator at about 13″ latitude so maybe that has something to do with it too. Or maybe that it is still quiet and not overrun by industrial scale diving as in Thailand or Indonesia.
We are told August through November is the best time, December through March is cyclones, after that water is warm and fish life is excellent, but visibility not good. Go!
Praslin is the second biggest island in Seychelles and the home of coco de mer. It is a smaller and much quieter island than Mahe with beautiful beaches and lots of good dive sites nearby.
Coco de Mer in Vallee de Mai, Praslin, Seychelles
We were diving in April. Visibility was excellent with 20 plus meters on most sites and water warm at 28-29C. We dove with a very professionally run Octopus diving center. We went to most of the dive sites around Praslin and nearby islands. There are really cool rock formations, lots of reef fish and turtles, lots of eagle rays and ribbon tail rays, and a few sharks.
Seychelles corrals suffered a major damage during bleaching event in 1998 when an estimated 90% of coral died. There was also bleaching in 2016. We found that on many sites coral has been recovering well from 1998 events. It seems corals are doing better on the sites where current pushes cooler water through. Interestingly inside of the bay corals did not suffer as much bleaching. Coral garden site actually does have some reasonably healthy coral and fantastic fish life.
Turtle and damaged coral, near Praslin island, Seychelles
It is clear that coral is suffering with repeated bleaching events hitting it. In the picture below you can see the coral destroyed by 1998 bleaching, then some new coral growth (the brown on the left) and also new coral bleached in more recent time (the white one on the right)
damaged coral and new growth, near Praslin island, Seychelles
The diving is still spectacular especially due to the topography of the islands with huge boulders and all sorts of rocks covered in sponges and in many places recovering coral growth. Macro is very good and the night dive was excellent.
Leaf scorpion fish, near Praslin Island, Seychelles
Logistics
We flew to Mahe and then took a ferry boat Cat Cocos over to Praslin island which takes about an hour. On the way back we took the plane which takes about 10 minutes. Both are good ways to connect though if time is limited plane is definitely worth it. We stayed on the quieter western side of the island to enjoy the sunset and also because this is when the seaweed was supposed to be on the east side.
Sunset, Praslin Island, Seychelles
We had a rented car and it only took about 10 minutes to drive to the Cote D’Or beach side of the island which has more tourist accommodation and where the dive centers are. There are a few restaurants on the island but we mostly bought fresh fish from fishermen and cooked it at our self catering cottage. It was a great trip and a chance to see more of Seychelles archipelago following our exploration of Mahe earlier.
dive boats in the bay at Cote D’Or, Praslin Island, Seychelles
