Diving in Reunion island?
People often ask me how good is the diving in Reunion Island. While I would say it’s pretty nice overall, I would always say that there are better diving destinations in the Indian Ocean.
However, Reunion Island, as you may know, is probably one of the best places in the world to swim with humpback whales (from July to September) and while you’re here, you might as well enjoy some great trekking and diving.
The dive site
My favorite dive site in Reunion Island has to be “Cap la Houssaye”. It’s a nice shallow dive accessible either from a boat or, more convenient, from the shore!
It’s located on the west coast, between Saint-Gilles and Saint-Paul, and it’s also a great viewpoint to look for humpback whales from the land.
You can park your car directly there and prepare your dive gear. Then it’s only a 5 minutes walk before you’ll be able to jump into the water. Make sure the conditions are good enough: few wind, no swell, good visibility… but most of the time it’s pretty calm down there.
The depth goes from 5 meters to 17 meters so you can stay there plenty of time! Enjoy your close to 2 hours dive :)
What to look for?
It’s mostly a macro dive, but there are also some great wide-angle pictures to take!
There are tons of bummies with corals and fish schooling around, a small drop off, an awesome cave, a seagrass area where turtles are feeding on.
Frequent macro subjects you can find are nudibranchs (one of them is always there in number: Sagaminopteron psychedelicum) but also mantis shrimps and many other crustaceans, ghost pipefish, juvenile angelfish, moray eels, sometimes a frogfish… I’ll let the pictures talk!
For wide-angle you’re looking for schooling fish pictures, green and hawksbill turtles, octopuses, maybe an eagle ray if you’re lucky enough.
The rock pool
As you can see from the picture, there is also a huge rock pool which is a great place to snorkel during the night. Lots of critters can be found there! One of those are the bubble shells: Aplustrum amplustre, Hydatina physis, Bullina lineata… Take your time!
