Kenya Diving

A. Learn Diving

B. Continuing Your Diving Education

Diving Tips

We schedule three dives per day and sometimes more during busy seasons. We travel to all our sites by boat, most sites can be reached in twenty minutes. Each day there is a dive trip to a site within the lagoon, these trips are single dive trips and these sites are suitable for all levels of divers.

There is also an 'outside' trip, so named as these trips visit the sites outside the reef. 'Outside' trips are two dive excursions with the surface interval between dives being spent on the boat.

Diving Supervision

Each boat of divers is split into small groups which are led on the dive by one of our divemasters or instructors.

All our dives are guided, this ensures our divers don't miss points of interest and increases safety. Divers on courses will be supervised by their a PADI professional.

Dive Boats

All our boats are custom built dive boats. They are shaded with solid seats under which you can store you kit, cylinders are held securely behind the seats. All boats have a radio, first aid kit, emergency oxygen and a mobile phone on board in case of emergencies.

Boat Captains

Our boat captains are chosen for their experience and knowledge of the area. Each boat leaves with two captains aboard, one to assists and take over in the unlikely event that there is a problem with the primary captain.

Transportation Between Dive Bases

All non-resident divers are transported to and from the dive base of any dive they are booked on with us free of charge as long as they are staying within the Mombasa area.

Pre-Dive

All divers leaving on the same boat meet at the dive base the trip commences from. All rental equipment required will be set up and ready for you here. Those staying at other hotels will be transported to and back from that base free of charge both before and after the dive. You will be briefed about the dive before boarding the boat and will have a chance to ask questions.

Safety on Diving

We take safety very seriously and follow all guidelines for safe diving. These include steps such as: thorough pre-dive briefings, using surface marker buoys, listing divers, knowing our dive sites, thorough staff training, carrying radios, mobile phones, first aid and oxygen kits on our boats at all times and following all other safe diving practices. We will also always abort a dive if we feel the conditions are unsafe.

Many of our staff have additional first aid and oxygen administration qualifications taught by DAN (Divers Alert Network) in addition to the PADI Emergency First Response qualification and we have a fully functional action plan in the event of an emergency arising which includes contacts for medical professionals and other facilities.

Dive Sites

Tengezi - Depth: 10 - 27 metres: A shallow reef next to the Pinnacles and often used as a second dive after Pinnacles. Tengezi has a series of reef mounds with all manner of fish living on each mound, including several of the rare Clown Trigger fish. Tengezi is Swahili for Barracuda which are often seen in large numbers here.

The Lighter - Depth: 12 - 27 metres: The lighter is the remains of a small barge that sank whilst carrying items for work on the dredging operations carried out to deepen the Mombasa harbour in the late 1970s. This wreck is fantastic for macro photographers and divers wanting to do something different from the norm.

Book Now through our Reservations Desk at reservations@zanzibarquest.com

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More Dive Sites

The Pinnacles - Depth: 22 - 40 metres: A dive site that is proving to be possibly our very best dive, the Pinnacles are situated north of the marine park area. This site makes up a third reef at about 1 km from the barrier. Common sightings include: Barracuda, Jacks, Runners, groupers, Napoleon Wrasse, Large Moray eels, Reef Sharks & often Manta Ray.

The Wall 1 - Depth: 10 - 35 metres: The Wall 1 is a twenty minute boat ride south of the Marine Park. A sheer wall that drops from 12 metres to thirty metres, the wall is an ideal location to attain neutral buoyancy, and just drift dive. The sudden change of depth attracts both large and small fish which combined with the spectacular drop makes for an excellent dive.

The Wall 2 - Depth: 10 - 35 metres: This dive is similar to the Wall 1 but the wall drops off deeper and there is the added attraction of discovering an enormous sea anchor that is speculated to have been dropped by the huge ocean going dhows that plied the Mombasa- Middle East route during the earlier part of last century.

Vuma Coverns - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: An absolute must for any serious diver. Vuma is an hour boat trip North of Mombasa. As the name implies, Vuma's main attraction are the stunning caves & blow holes that can be explored at a relatively shallow depth. Large fish, reef sharks, turtles, groupers & occasionally even dolphins can be found here. The trip to Vuma is probably the best chance to see Whale sharks during the season.

Angies Place - Depth: 6 - 11 metres: Situated within the lagoon just north of Voyager Resort this increasingly popular site offers a good chance of seeing marine life rarely spotted at other sites. Common sightings include seahorses, leaf scorpion fish, cuttlefish and octopus. It is a great macro photography site and is also very interesting to dive at night.

Bamburi - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: Situated just south of a mlango (swahili for gate or opening in the reef) and only 50 metres from our spectacular wreck dive on the Dania, this is a good second dive site or a shallow dive for divers not qualified to dive on the Dania. Expect to see plenty of reef fish and nice coral.

Birthday Reef - Depth: 25+ metres: Starting at 25 metres & going down to well over 50 metres, Birthday reef is only 2 metres wide at its narrowest point. Turtles, White tip reef sharks, 100 + kilo groupers, leopard Morays, enormous shoals of grey and red snapper, surgeon fish sardines, and all manner of large pelagic fish are all prevalent at this reef.

Brain - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: Another site within the Marine Park, therefore full of life. Turtles and stingrays are often seen here. Nudibranchs, scorpion fish and octopus can also be found by the keen sighted. The shoals of juvenile fish around the large brain coral often attract trevally. An interesting site for all divers.

Coral Garden - Depth: 7 metres: Situated within the lagoon this dive spot is ideal for beginners, inexperienced divers and 'rusty' divers requiring a refresher. Flat calm and shallow, the dive spot still has an enormous amount of marine life. This combination of shallow water and fish often proves popular to the photographer.

Globe Star - Depth: 8 metres: The remains of a grain carrying cargo ship that hit a sand bank in the early seventies. Although most of the superstructure has been salvaged, below the waterline one can still see the engine block, masts, the lower deck and the propeller. This area teems with marine life such as moray eels, lionfish, parrot fish and pelagics. It is an ideal chance for less experienced divers to dive a wreck.

Kasa - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: Swahili for turtle, again this is a great spot to see these creatures. The reef here is covered in beautiful soft corals. Kasa is a great site with huge shoals of colourful fish both at shallow and deeper depths therefore makes a great first or second dive.

Likoni - Depth: 10 - 15 metres: South of the marine park the corals and marine life differ, this makes dive sites like Likoni very interesting. New divers can spend the whole at 5 metres enjoying the view of large amounts of staghorn coral & darting shoals of small jewel-like reef fish.

Lucky Chance - Depth: 10 - 35 metres: This is an ideal opportunity for less experienced divers to enjoy seeing large Pelagics, snappers turtles & an impressive drop off at only 18 metres (experienced divers may wish to follow the 30 metre + drop down).

Mtwapa Drop - Depth: 10 - 30 metres: The first dive site in the Mombasa Marine Park, the Mtwapa drop borders the Mtwapa channel. The tidal currents mean that the area has plenty of soft corals and small fish, which attracts the several large groupers and many varieties of Pelagics.

Mushroom - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: This buoyed marine park site is so named due to a huge mushroom shaped coral head that marks the start of the dive, this often houses scorpion fish and moray eels. Other reef fish are plentiful and you can never tell what may pass by. A nice site for long drift dives and great for photography.

MV Dania - Depth: 25 - 30 metres: Dania is undoubtedly the best wreck dive available in Kenya with depths ranging from 12 to 32 metres. Shallower diveable structures include the bridge, the hull and the massive upper deck, which will be ideal for less qualified divers. Dania is well colonized and is home to large groupers, batfish, barracuda, moray eels as well as many other fish.

Nyali - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: The Nyali dive spots are situated south of the Bamburi Strip, but are still within the Marine Park. These sites are similar to the Bamburi buoys in both depth and marine life.

Shark Point 1 - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: Further south of Mtwapa drop off than Shark Point 2, this fantastic dive site abounds with turtles, morays and throughout most of the year you are almost certain to see between one to ten whitetip reef sharks that patrol along a ridge that provides an ideal hunting ground due to its permanent slight current.

Shark Point 2 - Depth: 10 - 26 metres: Just south of Mtwapa drop off, this fantastic dive site abounds with turtles, morays and throughout most of the year you are almost certain to see between one to ten whitetip reef sharks that patrol along a ridge that provides an ideal hunting ground due to its permanent slight current.

Shelley Corner - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: Shelley Corner is a twenty five minute boat ride south of the Marine Park. An easy dive Shelley Corner is ideal for both the experienced and not so experienced diver. Shoals of fish, moray eels and turtles are common to this area. Shelley corner is an idea location for the second dive of a two dive day, as it is surrounded by many interesting deep dive spots.

Taa - Depth: 10 - 20 metres: Within the marine park boundaries, with a north current this site is often used as a bridge to Shark point, which results in long spectacular drift dives, sightings usually include turtles, reef sharks, Napoleon Wrasse and groups of fish.

Book Now through our Reservations Desk at reservations@zanzibarquest.com

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