A diver’s paradise

After falling in love with diving in Mauritius, Sam the Director of Sales UK & Ireland for Beachcomber Hotels returned to Mauritius again recently to discover more of the wonderful underwater world. 

In May, I spent a wonderful week on holiday in Mauritius, basing myself in the North, in order to be able to experience a few more of the dive sites in the area. I also wanted to complete a further qualification, the Speciality Deep Diver, which allows me to be certified to the depth of 40 meters, meaning I can dive to more of the wreck areas that interest me.

The first dive was at a site called Whale Rock, which had so much diversity. We saw tuna, juvenile barracuda, clownfish, sea-fans and feathered starfish which are stunning. It was a lovely 35-minute dive where the main objective was to observe the elimination of colours the deeper one descends. 

The second dive was a multi-level dive, diving to a maximum of 40 meters, whereas part of the course I had to calculate a long multiplication sum on the surface and a similar mathematical calculation at depth, which shows the effects of nitrogen narcosis on the brain and your reactions. It has to be said that I did feel elated and wasn't great at maths at that depth - a lot slower! 

The final qualifying dive was an amazing site called the Emily & Water Lily Wrecks. Basically, two purposely sunk barges that have been used, to create stunning reef areas. As well as seeing an incredible diversity of life including clownfish, crabs, lots of inquisitive lionfish, boxfish, moray eels, yellow sturgeon, tuna, hermit and angelfish. We also had to make sure that I was able to switch air-sources as the final part of the deep diver qualification. So another tank and breathing apparatus was lowered, from the dive boat above to a depth of six meters, and I had to switch air sources to show that I could if required after a deep dive if ever my own air became low. 

This experience was incredible and diving with the fabulous Christelle Besson (one of the Directors of Diving World Mauritius) is always such an education. So much so that I have now purchased an underwater camera housing and camera and plan on doing the digital underwater photography course next. So watch this space...

Are you feeling inspired by Sam's diving experiences in Mauritius? You too could take the Speciality Deep Diver course at the Diving World Mauritius PADI centres located at four of our Beachcomber hotels. Diving in Mauritius is incredible value, take a look at our diving guide and give our friendly reservation team a call to discuss your diving holiday.