Praslin & La Digue · Seychelles · Pinnacle
Ave Maria
Granite canyons in the channel between Praslin and La Digue
Area photo: Tobias Alt, Tobi 87 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Ave Maria is a group of rocky islands in the channel between Praslin and La Digue, dived from a boat over the granite that lies beneath them. Depths run from 5 to 25 m, and the boulders below stack into canyons that hold most of the life on the site. Eagle rays, whitetip reef sharks and turtles are the sightings divers log most often here.
Where it is and how deep
4.3279° S, 55.8172° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat works the rocky islands that sit in the channel between Praslin and La Digue, and the dive is on the granite underneath them. The range is 5 to 25 m, so the profile depends on which side of the rock you drop onto rather than on any one deep feature: the shallow granite runs close to the surface, and the base of the boulders is the deep end of the dive.
Below the waterline the boulders lean against one another and open into canyons, and that is where the site concentrates its life. Divers' logs for Ave Maria run to eagle rays, whitetip reef sharks, green and hawksbill turtles and octopus. The dive is a matter of following one passage through into the next, with depth set by the gaps you take rather than by a planned descent, and the site's own description says you may need more than one dive to see everything it offers.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Eagle rays
- Sea turtles
- Octopus & cuttlefish
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Good |
Season follows Praslin & La Digue: The southeast monsoon runs from May to September; the water is windiest and the visibility thinnest in July and August, while March, April and November log the clearest water.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Ave Maria?+
The site is dived between 5 and 25 m. The shallow granite sits close to the surface and the deep end is the base of the boulders, so the profile is chosen on the day rather than fixed.
Sources
- Ave Maria dive site — Scubago
More dive sites in Praslin & La Digue
Reef
Five minutes out, around 5 m, in a bay that stays calm
Pinnacle
Granite bank with whitetip, nurse and grey reef sharks
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Big granite passages, 20 minutes out from Praslin
Reef
A granite reef whose tallest boulder breaks the surface at low tide
Coral garden
A shallow coral reef five to ten minutes off Praslin
Drift
A granite drift with blacktip and whitetip reef sharks
Pinnacle
Granite boulders inside Curieuse Marine National Park
Pinnacle
One giant boulder, 10 to 25 m, with sharks on the granite
Similar dives elsewhere
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Ile au Vache
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