Photo of the Week: A Swirl of Silver - Mackerel of the Seychelles

Photo of the Week: A Swirl of Silver – Mackerel of the Seychelles

Angel Fish (photo), Pascal Esparon (text)
21 March 2010

To put everything into perspective, the Seychelles‘ main island, Mahe, is only 140 square kilometres of land amidst over one million square kilometres of ocean. Set on the African continental shelf, the Seychelles’ surrounding sea is relatively shallow and has an abundance of marine life, like the shoal of mackerel (a type of migratory surface fish) pictured below. Other large shoals can include barracuda or grey jacks. On a dive in the Seychelles, one can really appreciate marine beauty like this.

Diving in the Seychelles goes on 365 days a year. We have the monsoon season to deal with, of course, but you can still pick appropriate dive sites that favour any season. The visibility is best from February to May, but whale sharks start coming in about May and are most common from August to November. In the Seychelles, however, you can never predict what you will encounter on a diving trip. It could be a 20-metre whale shark, a shoal of thousands of colourful fish or even sharks. This is the Indian Ocean at its best – everything depends on your luck, the current and tide on the day.

One thing you can count on though is that due to the islands’ equatorial location, the surrounding sea is always warm, so divers normally wear short wet suits.

You can dive according to your experience – it’s all about your comfort and confidence. Unless there are plans for a specific remote site dive, most of the dives are conducted close to an island. That being said, there are so many unexplored locations that ‘discover diving trips’ – a term used for trips to unfamiliar or unknown locations – are very common. For non-divers there are even one-day introductions that allow you to understand the basics of diving and then enjoy one dive into the unknown. It is always an exhilarating experience.

All dive sites in the Seychelles are always outside marine parks, which are protected areas with look-but-don’t-touch policies. The term ‘open water’ really makes sense in this context. Fortunately, spear guns are illegal throughout the Seychelles and, although there is an unfortunate growing trend in semi-industrial-scale fishing), most fishing is done by traditional methods – bamboo fish traps or lines with hooks.