Praslin & La Digue · Seychelles · Drift · Pinnacle
Marianne
A granite drift with blacktip and whitetip reef sharks
Area photo: Tobias Alt, Tobi 87 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Marianne is dived around granite islands, usually as a drift, with depths between 12 and 25 m. Blacktip and whitetip reef sharks turn up here in numbers, and the granite is broken by passages the dive runs through rather than around. Green and hawksbill turtles are logged on the same ground.
Where it is and how deep
4.3517° S, 55.9217° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
This is usually run as a drift, so the group goes in and is carried along the granite islands rather than working from a fixed point on the rock. Depths are between 12 and 25 m, and the dive holds a fairly steady level along the granite while the water does the work. Nothing here has to be swum against, which is the reason the site is dived this way rather than as a circuit of one piece of ground.
Blacktip and whitetip reef sharks are the regulars, and the site's own description puts them here in numbers rather than singly. The granite is cut with passages, and the dive takes them as they come, threading between boulders and out the other side before the current picks the group up again. Sharks aside, those passages are the character of the site, and green and hawksbill turtles are logged along the same rock.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Sea turtles
| 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
- A drift ends away from where it began rather than back at the boat, so carry a surface marker buoy and stay in contact with the guide for the pick-up.
Questions divers ask
What sharks are seen at Marianne?+
Blacktip and whitetip reef sharks, in numbers rather than one at a time. The site is run as a drift and they are seen along the granite as the current carries the group past it.
Sources
- Marianne 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
Pinnacle
Granite canyons in the channel between Praslin and La Digue
Pinnacle
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
Pinnacle
Granite boulders inside Curieuse Marine National Park
Pinnacle
One giant boulder, 10 to 25 m, with sharks on the granite
Similar dives elsewhere
A brief, powerful drift where threshers and hammerheads come out of the blue
Drift
L'Ilot
Seychelles · Seychelles
Drift a 200 m passage where eagle rays school
A kilometre of channel drifted on the outgoing tide
One of the best shark shows around Malé on the right incoming current