Nioumachoua Islets

The operator's most-visited dive in the islet chain, listed as Les Rochés Magiques, takes its name from two large coral heads with marine life packed around them. The boat runs five to ten minutes from Laka Lodge and stops close to a beach on one of the uninhabited islets. The ground below is sheltered: a sandy bottom where trainees run their first skills, and a shallow reef above it, and the operator rates the site 1 to 2 out of 5 for difficulty.

From the reef the ground rolls over into a 20 m drop-off, the section kept for more experienced divers; the card for the site gives the full profile as 15 to 35 m. Working the reef is a hunt for what is hiding rather than what is swimming past, and the guides put you on to morays, octopus and crabs. Hatchling turtles are part of it too, just out of the egg and pushing their way up out of the sand.

Mantas are the other reason boats work this stretch of coast. Laka Lodge organises swimming with manta rays out of Nioumachoua, an activity the island offers nowhere else, and the guides know where to look for them. Sightings are hit or miss and nobody will promise them on a given day, so treat them as a bonus on top of the turtles rather than the reason to come.