Best diving in South West Indian Ocean (Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, etc.?)

[uwgreg]

Best diving in South West Indian Ocean (Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, etc.?)

Planning to go between April and July.
Haven’t been in the region.
I read in diving books and online that Reunion and Mauritius have great diving; however, saw a few people on this forum say it’s boring/bad..??

Would love help and opinions on the region! Thanks

 

[Luko]

Best diving in South West Indian Ocean (Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, etc.?)

Planning to go between April and July.
Haven’t been in the region.
I read in diving books and online that Reunion and Mauritius have great diving; however, saw a few people on this forum say it’s boring/bad..??

Don't read the books! and firstly this is not Asia anymore, rather post in Africa.
May-July can be quite wavy with big swells coming from the southern ocean.
Réunion is great for diving with whales but that starts from August, apart from that some macro and very few corals.
Topside scenery is much better than underwater.
Mauritius is boring underwater as well as above, unless you like frying your skin on a beach.
Madagascar is supposed to be better diving (Nosy Be area).

 

[uwgreg]

Don't read the books! and firstly this is not Asia anymore, rather post in Africa.
May-July can be quite wavy with big swells coming from the southern ocean.
Réunion is great for diving with whales but that starts from August, apart from that some macro and very few corals.
Topside scenery is much better than underwater.
Mauritius is boring underwater as well as above, unless you like frying your skin on a beach.
Madagascar is supposed to be better diving (Nosy Be area).

Thanks for some info! I posted in both, since I wasn't sure you folks considered Reunion, Mauritius, Maldives, Seychelles as Africa or Asia :\ Indian Ocean would be more appropriate

So Reunion as some good diving, if we are there anyway. You're saying it's no Maldives or Seychelles?
Also, for topside activities, are Maldives or Seychelles any good? I might consider going there instead.

Cheers

 

[diveUAE]

We loved Seychelles topside. Lots of nice things to do/see.

Our favorite was Praslin (also for the diving).
But diving was not amazing - just good. Would recommend anyway;-)

Maldives we’ve “only” done LOB, first was so-so, but our last in December was amazing! Corals were not the best, but fish life was really good. The night dive with mantas and the one with nurse sharks are bucket lists dives.
Not much to do topside I think.

For your time frame, you could also consider Oman/Muscat.

 

[Christian]

My picks in the ”area” (which is actually more Africa as pointed out) would be Tofo Mozambuique for whalesharks and mantas, Pemba/Tanzania for general reef life, color and diversity and Maldives (North Ari) for fishiness. November to March in general the best time for all of the above. Seychelles supposed to be nice if you get to the remoter atolls like Aldabra (have not been, but a friend was part of Nikon expedition a long time ago). But not sure how you get there the best way today. There are other spots I have only heard of that are a bit more diffucult to get to or/and expensive, like Vamizi in northern Moz and also a few reefs and atolls in the Madagascar channel (Bassas Da India).

 

[oira79]

I can't compare places in the region because we've only been to the Maldives, twice. (In fact I found this thread because I'm poking around for info on Mozambique and Madagascar in deciding our next trip.)

But I can answer your question about Maldives topside -- there is nothing to do. You read books, drink, and think about being underwater. We spent a couple days in Malé on one of our trips and there's really nothing to see. And the islands are all self-contained resorts, so you don't travel between them without a lot of effort and expense.

The diving in the Maldives is very, very good, which is why we have been twice, and would consider going again.