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Scuba Diving in Nosy Be
Madagascar's main resort island, off the northwest coast, ringed by warm reefs and satellite islets from Nosy Sakatia and Nosy Komba to the Tanikely marine reserve and the outer Mitsio and Radama archipelagos. It is the country's leading scuba base, with whale sharks passing through late in the year.
Why here
Nosy Be sits at the centre of one of the richest dive regions in the western Indian Ocean, ringed by more than twenty-five sites across the Mitsio and Radama archipelagos, Nosy Sakatia, Nosy Komba and the Tanikely marine reserve. The water is warm and the reefs run from easy coral gardens for training dives to current-swept pinnacles and drop-offs for experienced divers, with turtles, reef sharks, rays and dense fish life throughout. The headline season is October to December, when whale sharks move through the plankton-rich channel and snorkellers and divers get in the water with the largest fish in the sea, while humpback whales and manta rays pass earlier in spring. Several long-standing centres on the island train and certify divers, so Nosy Be works equally as a place to learn from scratch and a place to log serious dives on remote reefs.
Best months
Diving runs most of the year, but the calmest seas and best visibility fall between about May and December, and the whale-shark aggregation peaks from October to December. The cyclone-prone months of January to March are the wettest and least reliable. Water is warm enough for a shorty or a thin wetsuit. Whale-shark encounters are snorkel-based and follow a code that limits swimmer numbers and keeps a respectful distance from the animals.
Getting there & around
Nosy Be has its own airport at Fascene, served by flights from Antananarivo and some international routes, with a road-and-ferry alternative from the mainland at Ankify. Dive centres cluster around Ambatoloaka and Madirokely on the west coast and run boat dives daily, with courses and nitrox available. The outer Mitsio and Radama sites are full-day or liveaboard trips, so build in time for them.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Blue Wave Diving
SchoolBlue Wave Diving is a PADI and SSI dive centre on Nosy Be that runs from three separate bases: Madirokely beach, the Amarina resort area and the private island of Tsarabanjina in the Mitsio archipelago. That spread lets it reach both the inshore reefs around Nosy Be and the remote Mitsio pinnacles. The multilingual team guides in English, French, Italian and Spanish and offers courses from first-timer to advanced, plus snorkelling and seasonal whale trips.
Scuba Nosy Be
SchoolScuba Nosy Be is a dive centre on Nosy Be with around twenty years of operation and status as an SSI instructor-training centre, a PADI dive centre and a CMAS instructor-training centre. Its fleet of four small boats lets it offer up to four destinations in a day across Nosy Sakatia, Nosy Komba, Tanikely, Nosy Iranja and the outer Radama and Mitsio islands. Training is kept to groups of no more than three students, and rental gear is replaced every two years.