All activities / Scuba Diving / Mahe
Scuba Diving in Mahe
The largest Seychelles island and the country's gateway, ringed by granite headlands and calm bays. Beau Vallon on the northwest coast is the diving hub, a short boat ride from the Baie Ternay and Sainte Anne marine parks.
Why here
Mahe is where Seychelles diving is easiest to reach and hardest to tire of. The signature underwater feature is granite: house-sized boulders that tumble from the beaches into the sea and continue as pinnacles, swim-throughs and canyons draped in soft coral and fanning gorgonians. From the dive hub at Beau Vallon the boats run to the sheltered Baie Ternay Marine Park, to shallow reefs good for a first course, and to deeper sites and wrecks for logged divers. Whale sharks pass along this coast on their migration between roughly August and October, and eagle rays, hawksbill turtles and reef fish work the boulders year round. The water is warm enough that most people dive in a shorty.
Best months
The calmest, clearest water comes in the transition months of April to May and October to November, between the two monsoons. Whale sharks are most likely from August to October. Water temperature sits in the high 20s Celsius most of the year, so exposure protection is light. Visibility drops when the wind picks up during the June to August southeast monsoon.
Getting there & around
Both main centres sit on Beau Vallon Bay, a fifteen-minute drive from Victoria and the international airport, so you can dive on your arrival day. Sites are ten to forty minutes out by boat. Book a few days ahead in the April to May and October to November high season, when the calm water draws the most divers.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Big Blue Divers
SchoolBig Blue Divers has run out of Mare Anglaise on Beau Vallon Bay since 1997, a PADI 5 Star Dive Centre with its own Nitrox facility, dive school, retail shop and equipment servicing. Its boats reach more than seventy-five sites around Mahe, from granite pinnacles and coral reef to wrecks, and it runs a weekly day trip into the Baie Ternay Marine Park with a Creole barbecue on a secluded beach.
Blue Sea Divers
SchoolBlue Sea Divers has worked Beau Vallon Beach since 2002 and is the only centre in Seychelles certified across SSI, CMAS and PADI, with multilingual FFESSM and DAN Europe instructors teaching in French and English. It runs fun dives, wreck dives and full courses around Mahe, and gives guests staying in the Beau Vallon area a free equipment transfer on their first and last diving days.