Anybody has info about diving in Madagascar?

[F UNit]

you might want to post your question in the Africa travel section Cartman - Madagascar is in Africa..

 

[hallboy]

the best is to do a small cruise 5 days from Nosybe. Sometimes visisbility is so so. Lot of fishes. best period May to oct.

 

[shafan1234]

Ok, I am booked to go to Madagascar in the last 2 weeks of November, I have been researching the diving in multiple places and this is the information i'm going on:

Nosy Be (& surronding islands) - This is considered to be the best diving in Madagascar, and from what I understand pretty good diving, loads of fish, coral is also pretty good! Oct - Dec is both Whaleshark & Manta season, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The South (Ifaty, Toilara) - Diving here is meant to be ok, very good for shark watching, but a lot of destroyed, dead coral.

The East (Ile De Saint Marie) - Probably the least attractive option in Madagascar, choppy seas and bad vis do not do much for the diving..although at certain times of the year this is the place for whale watching...

So my trip - i plan to spend 4/5 days in the jungle, checking out the lemurs followed by 10 days in Nosy Be....

I would be glad if anyone has any futher information regarding Madagascar diving...

 

[shafan1234]

This was a reply I recieved from Magnus S. :

On Nosy Bee I stayed at Ylang-Ylang in Ambatoloaka. Clean, ok, cost "nothing". I dived with "Tropical Diving" (http://www.tropical-diving.com), I brought my own kit, but they had ok Scubapro rental gear if you need... My Madagashi dive guide spoke some limited French and no English, I speak no French or Madagashi....

What I enjoyed most was the corals around Nosy Tanikelly, I have never seen anything as rich as the north side of the Island anywhere else I 've dived.... I was there in mid December (2003), a bit late for mantas and whale sharks. But I was still lucky to see quite a few mantas an a "juvenile" (6m) whale shark. (I had a full size manta doing somersaults an arms length away from me for several minutes...))

I saw from Your posting that You are in to the big stuff... You would probably be better off in SA + Mozambique, just check the seasons... Or Sudan, was there last year, they have plenty of big stuff....

Saying all this, I don't like "going back, but I will go back to Madagascar there are so much to explore on land and in the water...

 

[LadyP]

I couple months ago I read an article in some mainstream magazine (maybe Islands?) that talked about what sounded like great diving in Madagascar. Southeast coast someplace.

Maybe you can find it at your dentists office.

I'm off to South Eastern Madagascar in September with Blue Ventures (www.blueventures.org) and the diving is supposed to be incredible. I'll be working (diving 6 days a week!) alongside a variety of organisations and Scientists charting the reefs and populations of fish. Cannot wait!

And regarding the Malaria, yes it's everywhere and you need to take anti-malarials, I'm planning to take Malarone which is a new drug and has less side effects than the others.

Any other questions on Madagascar, let me know and I'll see if I can answer!

Lady P

 

[donncha]

In April 1998 I dived in Tulear, Ilse St Marie and Nosy Be. Best was definitely Nosy Be, with one exceptional dive (5 mantas, 3 whale sharks!).
We are going back there later this month and are considering the liveaboard with Oceane's Dream http://www.oceanesdream.com/en/accomodation-madagascar.htm

Has anyone done it?
D