May 2005

The weather in general was calm, warm and sunny, the ocean still a very warm 29 degrees Celsius. And the visibility overall was good. But we also had a couple of days that there were high waves. The current from the south east came in a brought us bad visibility from the past dredging activities in Victoria at L'ilot  and Chuckles, but luckily this changed again.

Dredger Wreck

We really had some good visibility on a couple of the dives we made here this month. On a couple of dives there were Striped Jacks, and always a young Stingray was there. Lobsters were there, the Morays Eels, many Puffer Fish and Porcupine Fish, Sweet Lips and once we saw a Green Turtle. But as always the wreck is covered in Yellow Snappers which makes it a very attractive dive site.

Shark Bank

Visibility was excellent on some of the dives but on others we had a lot of plankton in the water. still we had wonderful dives, as there is always this huge amount of fish. On all dives we saw Feather-tail stingray or porcupine stingrays. There were also Scorpion Fish, Lobsters and Hump-head Parrotfish, and we saw a Peacock Mantis Shrimp on every dive.

 

 

Roche la Rai

As we had such big swell we were forced to dive on the sheltered side of Silhouette Island near the beach called Anse Mondon. We saw many Eagle Rays, Seychelles Anemone Fish, schooling Convict Surgeonfish. And I found a Snowflake Soapfish, which is rare around Mahe. There were also schooling Big Eye's, many Queen Helmets on the sandy area, and a I found a White Mouth Moray in between the rocks.

This is a truly beautiful island with a rich history and lot's of Tortoises. Babies of just 4 weeks old! A whole bunch of teenagers and kiddies in a pen (or else visitors will take them in their backpacks with them, shameful but true). And of course the big ones walking around almost freely nearly the Mausoleum of the Dauphin Family. We had our Creole BBQ Lunch on the veranda of the historical plantation house that belonged to the Dauphin's.

Brissare Rocks

We had good visibility and good sightings on all of the dives we made here. A Manta Ray came by on one of the dives as well as a Dolphin, there were probably more of them but this is what came into our sight. There were also White Tip Reef Sharks, Eagle Rays and Giant Moray Eels as well as big Bearded Scorpion Fish among others. The dive site as always is wonderful, we also noticed that the corals have grown so much, it is really getting back to what is was before the massive '98 bleaching.

Joker

The visibility was good during most of our dives here, but there were also a lot of suspended particles in the water. Found the huge big Stone Fish again on one of the patch reefs, once a was there and saw two of them right next to each other, this time I could find only one. There were also lots of other fish and many Lionfish. The Octopus were already gone, but we saw a Porcupine Stingray on several of the dives here. Also the big Queen Helmets, and on one occasion several were together in a group and one of them was laying with the bottom of the shell turned to the side as can be seen on the picture left. What were they doing there?

 

Fisherman's Cove Reef

We has some very enjoyable dives here. On one of them we saw a very big Barracuda. On others lobsters, lionfish, Hawksbill Turtles and lot's of pretty reef fishes, and the corals are pretty good too. We also saw schooling fusiliers, and in the sand the big Queen Helmets.

Anse du Riz in Bay Ternay Marine Park

On one of the full day trips with a BBQ on the beach we went to Anse du Riz in the Marine Park of Bay Ternay. It is one of our favorite places as there is a inland pool with fresh water on top and salt water at the bottom. But this time we were surprised by an unusual low tide. When looking at the picture far right you can see the markings on the rocks. the water level is usually at the top of the white mark of the rock in front.

Trompeuse Rocks

We had excellent visibility and a top notch dive. Couple of White Tip Reef Sharks were there right at the start. The water was teeming with life, fish everywhere. There was a large school of Yellowfin Barracuda's. And many big Snappers, big Black Jacks, Eagle Rays and Batfish following us through much of the dive.

Marianne

I wasn't sure if there were going to be Grey Reef Sharks around, as the season was ending. So I was in doubt weather I should go there or not, as this is not a very attractive dive site without the sharks. But in the end I counted up all factors and decided we had a good chance to see some Grey Reefs. And they were there, about 10 of them came around and stayed during the whole of the dive. We had the sun from behind the rocks and some suspended particles in the water, which played tricks on the visibility as can be seen on the picture left. We also saw 3 Barracuda's, a yellow Puffer fish, some lovely Red Snappers. And as I found out weeks later, it turned out that we saw juvenile Black Jacks, they have a distinguished head almost angelfish like.

La Digue

We had a beautiful sunny day, but really high seas and we made a stop on La Digue before we went off to the 2nd dive site. We had a tour of the island by Oxcart, it was really pleasant, as too much walking around in the sun after a dive is not the best thing to do. The harbor is pretty as always with the schooners laying on anchor in the turquoise water.