Seychelles Islands
The Seychelles comprise 115 granite and coral islands in the south of the equator situated in the western Indian Ocean.
40 islands and islets of granite formation form the heart of the archipelago (Mahé, Praslin, La Digue) and lie on the Seychelles plateau of a diameter of 60 nautical miles (111 km) in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Being granitic, the rock formations eroded over time, create unique landscapes on earth as well as under water.
The Seychelles islands are renowned for their beautiful pristine white sand beaches, magnificent granite boulders and coconut trees! There are plenty of pleasant mooring places thanks to the beautiful coves, inlets and bays with crystal clear waters, inhabited by abundant marine life.
We moor our boat in sheltered areas, protected from wind and waves for the night and also to enjoy snorkelling.
Diivng on the granite islands:
Our diving and snorkeling spots offer beautiful underwater topographies – caves, canyons, tunnels, granite towers, pinacles, mazzes, and coral gardens. There are also 5 wrecks ranging from 8 to 42 metres.
Abundance of marine life in the Seychelles is simply incredible with such variety. We even serve you freshly caught fish everyday.
Each dive is different but it is common to spot whale sharks, sharks (white tip, black tip, grey tip, nurse, guitar), rays (sting, eagle), turtles (nested, green). You will also receive a warm welcome from our regulars – a wide variety of tropical species: groupers, napoleons, humpback parrots fishes, moray eels, tuna, jacks, bonito, snapper, mackerel, octopus, stone and scorpion fishes, emperors, angels, butterflies, nudibranches, etc.
Away from crowd you will dive alone on remote spots out of the beaten tracks, before spending …
Outer Islands
As the last sanctuaries in the world, these preserved areas are very rarely visited , if ever, for some sites that remain to be discovered.
Long been banned, access to these atolls is still limited today to a privileged few of which we belong.
Nearly 70 remote islands, located to the south of the Seychelles Plateau and made up of banks and coral islands, are divided into five different groups:
- Amirante Islands : 250km from Mahé – Major atolls: Desroches, Poivre, St Joseph, D’Arros…
- Alphonse Group: 500 km from Mahé – 3 atolls: Alphonse , St. François and Bijoutier
- Southern Coral Group with Île Platte and Coëtivy Island
- Farquhar Group with Farquhar Atoll, Providence Atoll and St. Pierre Island
- Aldabra Group: more than 1000 km from Mahé – Major atolls: Aldabra (the world’s second-largest coral atoll, UNESCO World Heritage, the largest population of giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) in the world (150,000) , Assumption, Cosmoledo and Astove
All these islands are the result of volcanoes’ collapse and coral reefs’ formation of encircling a lagoon. They do not therefore rest on the granite plateau of the Seychelles but are scattered on the abyssal bottoms of the Indian Ocean.
The distance from these exceptional aeras limits the number of visitors to only a few divers per year.
Two very different kynds of diving and snorkeling are possible
- Inside the atoll, in the lagoon on coral bottom
- At the edge and along the walls that reach the great depths
An exceptional fauna is at the rendezvous: rays, turtles, grouper, huge sharks are often there and nowhere else! Not to mention the schools of tuna, jacks, fusiliers and many other inhabitants.
Underwater flora (especially in the Amirantes and Alphonse) did not suffer from the different climatic warminsg and offers magnificent coral plateau as well as giant gorgon forests on the vertical drop-offs, with trunks up to 50 cm in diameter.
Thanks to the autonomy of the Explorer I but also, its speed of movement and its electronic detection equipment, you may be able to dive on a wreck still unexplored…
Our job is also the discovery and referencing new dive spots, you can help us in our work if you wish!
