Mauritius Diving 2008

[Scott Barton]

Spent two weeks on the East coast of Mauritius at 'Belle Mare' and also visited the North of the island to do an artificial reef shipwreck and some fantastic scenic dives. All in all a very good dive location, warm clear waters, helpful people and very cooperative airline that was Air Mauritius! A simple email to them prior to my trip and i got an extra 20kg baggage allowance on top of my standard 23kg. Showed the email at check in...no problems! Big thumbs up!
Check out some of these pics.

[Scott Barton]

[Mal Bridgeman]

Some nice pics there .... I went there in 1995 IIRC ..... would love to go back
Mal

[Darren A]

Did my OW in Mauritius. Saw lots of lionfish. Just checked my dive log and this is what I wrote:

"1.9.99 (Dive 6) Loads (hundreds!) of lionfish just hanging in the water. Very inquisitive, came right up to mask."

Dive site according to the instructor was Rempakt Suisse (although the writing is a bit scrambled - probably just like his brain!! Yeh mon!

[Ding Dang Doo]

Stunning pictures, thanks for posting.

I went to Mauritius just before Christmas, it was only a short visit, so didn't take my gear... doh!

Pete

[adrianwd75]

Scott, which hotel did you stay in, Looking at the Residence for March.
What was the weather like when you went?
Was it Windy ?
What was the water temp?

Thanks
Adrian

[Scott Barton]

All, i replied to Adrian via PM but thought i would post here as well for future info.

Hi Adrian,
I travelled to Mauritius last week in May for two weeks last year and it was pretty much the end of the summer for them. We had mostly sunny days but when it did rain, man did it rain!! Never underestimate the power of a tropical storm!

You will find that pretty much all the hotels have their own dive club associated with the hotel, and to be honest it looks like they vary greatly! I stayed at the Belle Mare Plage and the dive club there was first class. The owner, Jean Michel Langlois, is a member of MUGS (Mauritius Underwater Group) and is actually a BSAC club. The hotel dive club was called 'Blues Diving'.
~~ BLUES DIVING CENTRE ~~ Bienvenue sur le site ...
They were very professional, and once they realised i was a BSAC Dive Leader they were very relaxed and did not treat me as your average 'Try Dive Tourist'!

One trip i would recommend is to the 'Cap' with Cap Divers. It was approx 90 mins drive from my hotel and i went with Blues Diving. The wreck of a Japenese trawler was sunk there a few years ago and lots of fish have made it home, especially the massive leapord moray! A truely awesome dive which made the whole holiday worthwhile.

Water temp from what i recall was very comfortable. I wore a 5mm all in one Bodyglove suit and it was fine. In the warmer months you will be able to get away with a shortie no problem. It was windy there when i went but i think that was mainly down to the time of the year i went. March may be a bit better.

It may also pay to get in touch with the MUG
The Mauritius Underwater Group BSAC Scuba Diving Club - Home Page
This is how i found out about my dive club/school at the hotel, and i actually got in touch with Jean Michel before travelling.

Another useful bit of info. I took all my own diving equipment with me on my trip and i contacted our flight carrier, 'Air Mauritius'. I explained i was a qualified diver and they had no problem in doubling my weight allowance for the flight. I even got confirmation in writing so that i could show the check in desk in case there was any problems. I thought i would try and check it all in without the letter and sure enough they questioned it. As soon as i showed them the letter everything was ok. My dive bag weighed 25kg on its own!

So as a summary. Mauritius is not renowned for its Diving. If you are relatively inexperienced you will be limited on what you can dive as there are some very testing sites out there, with some incredible rip tides and currents. If you have experience though you will be fine.
Be prepared to pay the higher rate for the better dives! You pay for what you get! You should be able to also negotiate a package. I think i got a couple of free dives as i was diving every other day for two weeks.
There is a LOT of broken and dead coral out there, so wearing your fin shoes is a must at all times, even walking on the beach, so if you are going with your family i would invest in a set for everyone. The coral is VERY sharp.

Last but not least, there is a review of the diving in Mauritus here...but it is in French! Try Babelfish as a translator.

Avec les requins de l?île Maurice : Un Monde Ailleurs

Hope you find all the above useful. If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Would be good to hear from you when you get back to see what you thought. The people out there are very poor but at the same time very hospitable. One of the nicest race of people i have met.

One last thing...be prepared to be shafted by your hotel on EVERYTHING on price! They are VERY expensive! We found out a week into our holiday that there was a small supermarket where we could buy essentials such as water, beer, snacks etc for a fraction of the price than that of the hotel. For instance we were paying 5Euro for a 250ml bottle of water on the beach, but in the supermarket you could get the same bottle for 55Cents!
2 double Gin & Tonics worked out at £10 EACH!!!!! So we bought a bottle of Gordons Gin for 20Euro and some cans of Tonic and that lasted the rest of the holiday.

That said, it was a fantastic holiday!

Hope you enjoy

Kind regards

Scott