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Scuba diving in and around the Ifaty lagoon

How and where we dive

Coral, close view
A pencil sea urchin by night
School of five-lined snappers
Yellow trumpet fish
Masked moray eel and scorpion leaf fish

The bay of Ranobe (Ifaty lagoon).

It is quite a wide bay, between the Manombolo and Fiherenana rivers mouths, with an over 40 km long coral reef, a big lagoon with 2 main passes (south and north), many small ones (be akio, fausse passe de Songoritelo...), mangroves at each end.

It offers a big number of dive sites with many different surroundings : inner lagoon - massif des roses (roses clump), jardin de corail (coral garden)-, in the pass - grotte Juliette ( Juliette cave), Akio (sharks), Cathedral..., and outer lagoon - Bevato, Tortuga, Snapper point...


How do we dive

On the boat getting ready for diving
Last brief before diving

We usually dive in the morning, as afternoons can be pretty windy here. But if it is not, we dive in the afternoon too. We go for one or two dives, then with a surfance interval on board. We can go for one diver - as we are not taxi-brousse and don't need a full boat to get started (we wouldn't dive in days!) - and no more than four. Pharmacy, water and oxygen are always on board.


Discover Scuba Diving

First immersion in swimming pool
First time underwater with scuba

You'll first discover scuba diving in a swimming pool, where the instructor will introduce you to basic principles and practice some easy skills underwater. And then you'll go down to twelve meters for a real dive in the lagoon to discover the really rich undersea life of the Mozambic channel.


DSD current price :1,530,000,000Ar / 340000€


First immersion at Roses Garden
Jonathan and the bannerfish

Or in a faster formula that takes you straight to the lagoon, down to six meters, for 45 minutes of pure wonder.


First try current price :900,000,000Ar / 200000€


A few dive sites at random

L'Espagnole

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : L'Espagnole
Bumpy star fish

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 20m -
South of the north pass, outer reef slope. Nice coral and a lot of nudibranches...
L'Espagnole in pictures


Jardin de Corail

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Jardin de Corail
A star at night : the crown-of-thorns starfish

Ifaty - Inner lagoon - 16m -
A nice stroll along the reef and amidst small coral reefs, inner lagoon. You can see the usual fauna, stone fishes, snappers, sweetlips... plus a lot of garden eels and splendid glassfishes colonies. The coral has been bleached by El Nino in 1998, but there are still many miraculous masterpieces of colour and shape.
Jardin de Corail in pictures


Snappers point

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Snappers point
Freckled hawkfish on soft coral

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 23m -
Off the reef, in between north and south pass. We go down to the anchor at 22m, on sand, and around a big and boring rock. Then, all of a sudden, yellow clouds surround us ; snappers, and many others... Most of the time, three big groupers are awaiting while a school of batfishes cross the background... Small hanging humphead wrasses. On the top of the rock, many morays, leaf fishes, porcupinefishes...
Snappers point in pictures


Cathédrale

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Cathédrale
Ear-spot angelfish

Ifaty - North pass - 18m -
Right in the middle of the north pass, the coral fell down in canyons, arches, bridges, caves, holes... in which live a lot of snappers; and in a huge cuvette where schools of 'lutjans bossus' (Lutjanus gibbus) draw changing and fascinating shapes. While we go from chapell to crypt, an inquiring humphead wrasse follows us, above the voult. A grouper, as motionless as a gisant, hidden under rock, watches us. The relief and the fishes you see give to the dive -rare, for the north pass is not an easy one ; we should have the best sea and tide conditions- a really specific atmosphere.
Cathédrale in pictures


L'archette

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 27m -
This is quite a nice stroll around a big rock where we find the usual coral fauna. Butterfly, longbanner, leaf, stone, angel, devil, lion fishes, triggers, morays, a lot of nudibranchs. Many species of groupers. A small arch with snappers and sweet lips...


Tortuga

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Tortuga
Marbled grouper

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 23m -
Off the lagoon, right south of the south pass, a reef, between 27 and 17 meters, striped by two wide canyons. When we first dove there, we saw a lot of turtles. We still see turtles there, but no so many, not so often. Well, the name still there. You can find beautifull samples of the local fauna and flora, especially two really big javanese morays, blackspotted rays, batfishes, snappers, big lobsters, leaf fishes...
Tortuga in pictures


Akio

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Akio
Immersion in a red snappers school...

Ifaty - South pass - 30m -
We get into water right off the reef, then drift in a strong incoming current to the lagoon. A funny trip across the south pass, where we can meet jacks, baracudas, eagle rays, groupers and humphead wrasses...

This dive was famous for the numerous gray reef sharks that used to get fresh oxygen in the south pass. They have been fished for fins since...
Akio in pictures


Bevato

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Bevato
Blue mushroom coral

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 25m -
Three hundred meters off the reef, we go down to sand at 25 meters, at the bottom of a wall, where begins a long coral platter. Really rich and dense site. You can see over a short distance a big variety of species. Blue triggers and surgeons schools; java and honeycomb morays, longfin bannerfishes, parrotfishes, glassfishes, lobsters, octopus, morays and humphead wrasses, jacks, sometimes an eagle ray or a turtle...
Bevato in pictures


Grotte Juliette

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Grotte Juliette
Drifting in the Ifaty south pass

Ifaty - South pass - 23m -
The dive begins inner lagoon. We drift along the north wall of the south pass : big coral and schools of fish (snappers,...). Then we go down to the Juliette cave, where a big moray called Juliette used to live (of course with Romeo, another big moray), and where live now, among glassfishes, a big grouper. The dive goes on amidst canyons and rocks : humphead wrasses, groupers, sting rays, eagle rays, jackfishes... and ends up far outer lagoon.
Grotte Juliette in pictures


Canyons

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Canyons
Purple mushroom coral

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 16m -
On the outer slope of the reef, waves dig canyons where live nice madrepora tables and the usual around fauna. In one of these canyons, we'll find snappers and sweetlips, in another one, batfishes...
Canyons in pictures


Dippy

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 23m -
Off the lagoon, in between south and north inlets, a reef, between 27 and 17 meters. You can find beautifull samples of the local fauna and flora.


Avaratse

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Avaratse
Clearfin lionfish

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 23m -
On the northern slope, off three wide false pass. Canyons, arches, walls.. Rays, trevallies, groupers, batfishes... Hammerhead sharks at dawn? Not an easy dive because of the false passes and the poor visibilty.
Avaratse in pictures


Sir John

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Sir John
Sir John nembrotha in pajamas

Ifaty - Outer lagoon - 25m -
This big reef is located not far away from 'Petites Roses', close to the north pass. Clouds of blue triggers and surgeons. An south african diver found it out and called it 'surgeon'. Sorry, we understood 'Sir John'. We keep with 'Sir John', as a tribute to the old man who first dove there with us. Many coral patches of various sizes and shapes, with sweetlips and groupers. And humphead wrasses, turtles, morays and so on...
Sir John in pictures


Vatosoa

Atimoo Madagascar Dive site : Vatosoa
Beautiful risbescia

Ifaty - Inner lagoon - 10m -
Our jewel two hundred meters south of Vatobe : amazingly well poreserved, three beautiful patches with all the species of coral you can find in the bay of Ranobe Magnificent roses albeit somewhat invasive. Of course, the usual small reef fauna is present.
Vatosoa in pictures


- the diving rates -

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