Mayotte · France · Wall
Tombant des Aviateurs
A coral wall past 60 m, 300 m off the Dzaoudzi runway
Area photo: Jerome Paillet (IFREMER) · CC BY 4.0
Tombant des Aviateurs is a coral-covered wall on the Petite-Terre side of Mayotte, listed by the island's tourism board among its ten best dives. The face drops to more than 60 metres, deeper than any recreational profile reaches, and the fauna on it is shy enough that the board tells divers to carry a torch. It is a depth-discipline dive with a light in hand.
Where it is and how deep
12.8091° S, 45.2817° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The name is geography: the wall lies barely 300 metres from the landing strip of Dzaoudzi-Pamandzi airport on Petite-Terre, which is the easiest way to place it from the surface. Its coral-covered face drops to more than 60 metres, past any recreational profile, so there is no bottom to work to. The dive is a level held along the wall, agreed with the operator before the descent rather than settled on the way down.
Bring a torch. Mayotte's tourism board makes the point explicitly for this site: the fauna here is shy and keeps itself hidden, so a light is what turns the face from coral into a dive. Nothing beyond that is published — no route along the wall, no species named to type, and no site-specific figures for current, visibility or water temperature. Ask the boat which end of the tombant they drop on and how deep they intend to run it, and use the top of the reef as your depth reference on the way back.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Mayotte: Dry season (May-Oct) brings calm seas and the clearest water, coinciding with the Jul-Sep humpback whale season; the wet season (Nov-Apr) raises cyclone risk.
Know before you go
- The wall drops past 60 metres with no bottom within recreational range, so it is easy to go deeper than planned — agree a maximum depth before the descent and use the reef top as a reference.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Tombant des Aviateurs?+
Its coral-covered wall drops to more than 60 metres, past any recreational profile. That figure is the depth of the wall rather than of the dive: the level held along the face is agreed with the operator before the descent.
Do I need a torch on this dive?+
Mayotte's tourism board recommends one. The fauna on this wall is shy and stays hidden in the coral face, so a light is what lets you see it — otherwise the dive is the wall itself.
Sources
- 10 plus beaux spots de plongée à Mayotte — Mayotte Tourisme
- Aéroport International Marcel Henry (OSM) — OpenStreetMap
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