Praslin & La Digue · Seychelles · Pinnacle
Booby Island
Big granite passages, 20 minutes out from Praslin
Area photo: Tobias Alt, Tobi 87 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Booby Island lies 20 minutes by boat from Praslin, and the dive on the granite around it runs from 10 to 30 m. Big passages between the boulders are what the site is dived for, and there is sometimes current through them. Whitetip and grey reef sharks, eagle rays and barracuda are the sightings divers log most on the rock.
Where it is and how deep
4.2593° S, 55.6723° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The island sits 20 minutes out from Praslin, and the dive is on the granite that carries on underwater around it. Depth runs from 10 m on the shallow rock down to 30 m, and the deep end is what sets the certification here: a good part of the ground lies below the limits a newly qualified diver works to, so the plan is built around gas and time at depth.
What the site is dived for is its passages, big gaps between the boulders wide enough to swim through and to spend a dive linking one to the next. The current is not constant but it does turn up, and it makes the difference between an easy tour of the rock and a dive that has to be planned around the flow. The island is visited for the fish, sharks and rays in the water around it: whitetip, grey reef and nurse sharks, eagle rays, barracuda and octopus all show up in divers' logs.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Eagle rays
- Sea turtles
- Barracuda
- 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.
Know before you go
- There is sometimes current on the site and the passages funnel it, so stay with the guide and keep the granite within reach rather than crossing open water between boulders.
Sources
- Booby Island dive site — Scubago
- Booby Island (Seychelles) — Wikipedia
More dive sites in Praslin & La Digue
Reef
Five minutes out, around 5 m, in a bay that stays calm
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Granite bank with whitetip, nurse and grey reef sharks
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Granite canyons in the channel between Praslin and La Digue
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
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Granite boulders inside Curieuse Marine National Park
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One giant boulder, 10 to 25 m, with sharks on the granite
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