Considering diving in Mauritius

[Mike]

My partner and I are thinking of diving in Mauritius, has anyone any thoughts on the place, and is it to be recommended?

Mike

[Adrian Kelland]

Not been there myself Mike, but the BSAC Travel Club have a report here http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk/reports/mauritius1.htm

[David Tombs]

Dived there myself last year,to be honest I was dissapointed,and so was a buddy of mine who dived a couple of weeks later and at a different site. Most diving is on the west side,with a greater likelyhood of sharks up north. The outfit I went with,from LaPirogue were friendly and efficient,but there was just too wide a range of diver skills on some dives. The occasional reef and wreck was good. A place to dive when you are on holiday,rather than a place to go to to dive. Oh,my buddy and his wife were assaulted after they left their hotel(not LaPirogue).

[Paul Morris]

Dived there myself last year,to be honest I was dissapointed,and so was a buddy of mine who dived a couple of weeks later and at a different site.
...
Oh,my buddy and his wife were assaulted after they left their hotel(not LaPirogue).

Sorry to hear you did't enjoy yourselves too much, and shocked to hear about your buddys' incident.

I dived Mauritius in June 2002 (their winter), best time to go according to the locals is March/April (their hurricane season runs from around Nov-Feb). Don't underestimate the power of their hurricanes, in Feb 2002 just before I arrived the wreck of the Stella Maru (at 25m) was righted by the hurricane :eek: The local BSAC club were ecstatic about it, as when they sunk it as an artificial reef it settled on its side.

I agree the hotel dive centres aren't as organised as some other destinations, and are usually small affairs. I did have some issues with the hotel dive centre regarding safety. There were only two of us using computers (me and the dive guide), and with a few minutes deco and low on air, I decided to head up to complete stops. Dive guide disagreed, and after a few exchanges I waved bye and made for my deco. He did then ascend with me, but alarmingly left the rest of the group on the bottom. Bounced back down, continued for a few more minutes. They came up with 'something', but as for deco :eek: Hopefully things may have improved, but watch out.


Anyway, I would definitely recommend the West side of the island. The diving probably doesn't compare to the best of Thailand, or Ras Mohammed, but there are some great sites. Most of the sites are in the West and the Indian ocean sunsets are to die for :cool:

Any BSAC member considering diving on the island should definitely get in touch with the MUG (Mauritius Underwater Group), they're the local BSAC club! The most diverse, interesting, generous, and friendly group of people I've ever met. They totally enhanced our experience of the Island, and the Mauritian way.

They instantly considered me a member of their club so I was invited out on their club dives, and I have to say the diving they were doing was *far* more interesting than the hotels. Everything from 12m reefs to 50m ancient anchor sites. The weeks I was there, there were at least two or three expeditions on over the week. Some of the sites I was taken to were unknown sites on the strict instructions I say nothing to the hotel dive centres. As a result, the reefs I saw with them were amazing.

I desperately want to go back now, as my first visit as a new Sport diver many sites were out of reach for me.

The friends you will meet at the MUG will definitely enhance your stay, and will be able to show you the best of the island. Need a taxi, their DO at the time was a taxi driver. Want to hire a yacht/catamaran, they'll introduce you to someone, and from our experiences all at local prices :D

Made some great friends, their weekly club meetings are fantastic. Open air evening barbeques every week. The funniest thing about this is that its all so 'BSAC'. The training, the bi or tri-lingual SEEDS dive briefs. Great atmosphere.

Contact them before you go, if you can. Try to phone them on a club night when most people will be around.

Mauritius Underwater Group (http://pages.intnet.mu/mug/)