Where to Dive in the Seychelles on a Catamaran Cruise?

From a catamaran at anchor, scuba diving in the Seychelles is possible at dozens of sites around Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, coordinated with a dive club that comes to collect divers straight from the boat. The best season falls in April-May and October-November, when visibility passes 20 metres. The archipelago’s most famous sites, such as Aldabra, stay out of reach of a standard cruise departing from Mahe.

Why Does Diving on a Catamaran Cruise Change Everything Compared to a Shore-Based Trip?

A sailor who anchors for the night can be in the water before the day-trip excursions arrive, choose a site based on the wind of the moment rather than a fixed schedule, and be picked up by a dive club straight from the boat instead of meeting them at a jetty at a set time.

It is the difference between a dive scheduled around a shore centre’s timetable and one scheduled around the day’s weather. Our fleet of 30 catamarans, based at Eden Island, Mahe, regularly anchors close to the diving areas of the inner islands. Our team knows the spots that let you reach a site in a few minutes by dinghy, without depending on a group programme fixed days in advance. This freedom never replaces a dive club’s expertise on site selection or safety conditions: it simply changes the day’s starting point.

In practice, this means the same site can be dived in the morning rather than the afternoon depending on where you anchored the night before, and a stop can be extended by a night if visibility looks better the following day. A cruise itinerary built around diving always benefits from keeping some slack, rather than running from stop to stop on a fixed daily schedule.

What Is the Best Season for Diving in the Seychelles?

The best diving conditions fall in April-May and October-November, between the two monsoons, with visibility that can exceed 20 to 30 metres and water temperatures between 26 and 29°C year-round. These two windows correspond to the periods when the sea is calmest between the south-east and north-west monsoons, which limits both surface chop and depth current on the most exposed sites.

The rest of the year remains diveable: water temperature never drops sharply, and diving continues year-round at most of the inner-island sites. It is mainly visibility that varies more outside the two favourable windows, which leads some experienced divers to favour the shallower sites during peak monsoon season rather than demanding sites such as the Ennerdale wreck.

When Can You Spot Whale Sharks and Manta Rays?

The whale shark, a filter feeder harmless to humans, is present in the Seychelles generally from August to November according to monitoring by the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles, mostly along Mahe’s west coast, in the Beau Vallon area. Manta rays, meanwhile, frequent Sainte-Anne Marine Park from April to December. A sighting of either species always depends on season and the day’s luck, and is never guaranteed on a cruise itinerary.

Dive Sites Reachable from an Anchorage Around Mahe

Around Mahe, several scuba diving sites can be reached directly from a cruise anchorage, with no extra sailing needed to get there. They range from a protected marine park, open to most levels, to a wreck reserved for experienced divers. Here are the four main ones, from the most accessible to the most demanding.

Baie Ternay, a Protected Anchorage-and-Dive Spot

Baie Ternay Marine Park, north-west of Mahe, is also a scuba diving spot. Where snorkelling stays on the surface, over the shallow reefs covered in our article on snorkelling in the Seychelles, scuba diving goes further, down to 23 metres according to local sources, along the drop-offs that line the reserve. Whale sharks and dolphins passing offshore are sometimes reported here, with no guarantee of a sighting. The level required depends on the exact area, to be confirmed with the dive club on the day according to conditions.

Brissare Rocks, for Experienced Divers

North of Mahe, Brissare Rocks is reserved for experienced divers, at depths between 15 and 25 metres, with currents that can run strong depending on the tide. As with any demanding site, the exact state of the currents on the day is confirmed with the dive club before entering the water, rather than relying on fixed markers. It is a site best scheduled early in a stay, while the crew is still fresh and attentive to the club’s instructions.

The Ennerdale Wreck, the Only Wreck Dive in the Inner Islands

Off Mahe lies the Ennerdale wreck, a British oil tanker that sank in 1970 after hitting a reef. It is the only recorded wreck dive in the Seychelles’ inner islands, at depths between 27 and 30 metres, reserved for experienced divers. As with the other deep sites, visibility and conditions on the day are confirmed with the dive club at the time of booking, not several days in advance.

Beau Vallon, Sites Open to Beginners

On the Beau Vallon coast, two spots complement each other: a main reef open to beginner divers, and a more technical spot, sometimes called l’Ilot, where night diving is offered depending on conditions. This is also the area where whale shark monitoring is most active in season, a point covered earlier in this article. Beau Vallon anchorage is one of the busiest on Mahe, making it a convenient starting point at the very beginning or end of a cruise.

Dive Sites Reachable from an Anchorage Around Praslin and La Digue

Between Praslin and La Digue, dive sites are organised around two main anchorages, with different diver profiles from one site to the next. They naturally complement an itinerary that already includes a stop in this area for its beaches or nature reserves.

Ave Maria, Between Ile Soeur and Praslin

Between Ile Soeur and Praslin, the Ave Maria site goes down to 20 metres and suits divers with an easy to intermediate level. It is a spot regularly noted for its varied terrain and reef life, a good option to ease back into diving after several days of sailing between stops.

Shark Rock, a Location That Differs Depending on the Source

Shark Rock, also called Shark Bank in some sources, goes down between 18 and 30 metres, for an intermediate to advanced level. Its exact position differs: some sources place it south of Praslin, others between Mahe and Silhouette. It is best to confirm the precise location with a local dive club before planning a trip to this site. Its name reflects the regular presence of reef sharks in the area, which poses no particular danger to a diver who follows the club’s instructions. It is a site that calls for being comfortable with current, more than with depth itself.

South Marianne, off La Digue

Off La Digue, South Marianne offers granite formations and canyons typical of the Seychelles’ underwater relief, for an intermediate to technical level. It is a demanding site, not a first dive of the week, better kept for the end of a diving stay.

Saint-Pierre islet, already well known to snorkelling enthusiasts, can also be scuba dived down to 10 metres, for a beginner to intermediate level. We do not go into detail here: the mask-and-snorkel version is already covered at length in our dedicated article.

Comparison Table: Which Dive Site for Which Level?

This table brings together the eight sites presented above, with their area, depth and generally required level. The depths and levels sourced only once (Brissare Rocks, the Ennerdale wreck, Beau Vallon, South Marianne) are reference points to confirm with a local dive club, not absolute figures.

Site	Area	Depth	Level
Baie Ternay (diving section)	North-west Mahe	Up to 23 m	All levels, to confirm by area
Brissare Rocks	North Mahe	15 to 25 m	Experienced
Ennerdale wreck	Off Mahe	27 to 30 m	Experienced, advanced
Beau Vallon	Mahe	Not specified	Beginner to intermediate
Ave Maria	Between Ile Soeur and Praslin	Up to 20 m	Easy to intermediate
Shark Rock	Location varies by source	18 to 30 m	Intermediate to advanced
South Marianne	Off La Digue	Not specified	Intermediate to technical
Saint-Pierre islet (diving, see snorkelling)	Praslin	Up to 10 m	Beginner to intermediate

For a first diving stay in the Seychelles, it is common to start with Baie Ternay, Ave Maria or Beau Vallon, then move on to Brissare Rocks or Shark Rock once the crew feels comfortable with local conditions. The Ennerdale wreck and South Marianne are naturally kept for the end of the stay, once level has been confirmed on site by the club.

What Do the Protected Marine Parks Say About Diving from a Private Boat?

The marine parks of Sainte-Anne, Baie Ternay - Port Launay and Curieuse charge an entry fee per visitor and an overnight anchoring fee per yacht, with strict anchoring rules to protect the reefs. These amounts are set by the Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority (SPGA): Rs 200 per non-resident visitor over 12 years old for Sainte-Anne, Rs 200 for Baie Ternay - Port Launay, and Rs 300 for Curieuse, where our catamarans sometimes stop between two days of diving and where the giant tortoises featured in our dedicated article live. Overnight anchoring for a yacht in one of these parks is charged at Rs 250 per night (source: Seychelles Parks and Gardens Authority, accessed 5 August 2026).

Anchoring is only permitted in designated zones to avoid damaging the reef, fishing and taking coral or shells are prohibited, and motorised water sports have no place there. These park fees come on top of the other taxes and charges of a Seychelles cruise, which we cover in a dedicated article: here, we focus only on the fees for the parks crossed while diving.

How Do You Arrange a Dive with a Club from Your Own Catamaran?

Arranging a dive from your catamaran starts before departure: contacting a dive club to line up the days you want with the cruise itinerary, rather than booking a fixed day without knowing what the weather will be. Many local clubs come to collect divers directly at the anchorage by small boat, which avoids returning to a jetty between dives and leaves the catamaran anchored quietly during the outing.

The choice of evening anchorage directly affects access to the next morning’s site: our article on anchorages in the Seychelles details the spots our team favours depending on weather and season. To fit diving days into a programme without disrupting it, the typical 7-day Seychelles itinerary shows how to keep enough slack rather than a fixed schedule set in advance.

Diving equipment is not provided by our team: Sailoe charters catamarans, not diving equipment, and each club has its own gear and its own safety protocols. It is also the club, never the catamaran crew, that confirms the level required for a given site and decides, on the day, whether conditions allow diving there.

Aldabra, Desroches: Are the Legendary Sites Reachable on a Cruise from Mahe?

The Amirantes are reachable by catamaran, but not on the format of a standard week-long inner-islands cruise. Desroches atoll, in that archipelago, lies around 230 kilometres south-west of Mahe: a distance like that calls for a dedicated cruise project, with a duration, a boat and an itinerary built together with the Sailoe team. Any request for the Amirantes is handled case by case, the best way forward is to contact us directly to discuss it.

Aldabra, further still, stays out of the format of our standard cruises: around 1,150 kilometres from Mahe, the atoll requires three to four days of sailing by the direct route, with prior authorisation from the Seychelles Islands Foundation. It is not a destination that can be improvised over a week from Mahe.

What our catamarans serve on a standard itinerary are the inner islands, Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, where most of the sites described above are concentrated. Our 7-day inner islands itinerary gives a realistic idea of what combines well with diving over a week’s cruise.

Frequently Asked Questions About Diving in the Seychelles

The following questions come up regularly about diving in the Seychelles on a catamaran cruise.

Where Can You Dive in the Seychelles While on a Cruise?

Dive sites reachable on a catamaran cruise in the Seychelles fall into three areas: around Mahe (Baie Ternay, Brissare Rocks, the Ennerdale wreck, Beau Vallon), between Ile Soeur and Praslin (Ave Maria), and off La Digue (South Marianne). Saint-Pierre islet, on the Praslin side, completes the list. None of these sites require long sailing from an inner-island anchorage, which is exactly what makes diving compatible with a cruise programme.

What Is the Best Time to Dive in the Seychelles?

The best time falls in April-May and October-November, between the two monsoon seasons, when underwater visibility generally exceeds 20 to 30 metres and the sea is calmest. The water stays warm year-round, between 26 and 29°C.

What Diving Level Do You Need for the Seychelles?

The Seychelles suit several levels depending on the site chosen. Ave Maria and the Beau Vallon reef stay open to beginner to intermediate divers. At Baie Ternay, the level depends on the exact area and is confirmed on site. Brissare Rocks, the Ennerdale wreck and South Marianne demand an experienced level, with currents or depths that leave no room for improvisation. The exact level required is always confirmed with the local dive club before booking.

Are Sharks a Danger for Diving in the Seychelles?

The sharks regularly encountered while diving in the Seychelles, blacktip and grey reef sharks in particular, are harmless to humans as long as they are not disturbed. Their presence is part of the diving experience in a preserved ecosystem, alongside turtles and fish schools. For any safety question specific to a site, the local dive club remains the best source.

Can You See Whale Sharks in the Seychelles?

The whale shark is a filter feeder that is completely harmless to humans, present in the Seychelles generally from August to November according to monitoring by the Marine Conservation Society Seychelles, mainly along Mahe’s west coast, in the Beau Vallon area. A sighting is always a matter of luck and season, never a guarantee written into the programme.

Diving in the Seychelles is prepared like the rest of a catamaran cruise: through the choice of anchorages, coordination with a local club, and a good dose of honesty about what is really reachable in a week. Our team, based at Eden Island, Mahe, knows the anchorage areas that let you combine diving and sailing without compromising the itinerary. To build a tailor-made diving cruise in the Seychelles, our dedicated page presents the fleet and the packages available.