Seychelles · Seychelles · Wreck
Twin Barges
Two barges on one mooring, at 22 m and 19 m
Two barges lie side by side on the sand off north-west Mahe, the first bottoming out at 22 m and the second at 19 m. They share a single mooring line eight minutes by boat from Beau Vallon, and their steel has become cover for frogfish, stonefish, moray eels and other ambush hunters.
Where it is and how deep
4.6160° S, 55.4082° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat runs out from Beau Vallon in about eight minutes, or five from Bel Ombre marina, and ties into the mooring line on the wreck, so the descent is a straightforward line down to steel rather than a search across sand. The deeper of the two barges is the first stop, its lowest point at 22 m; the second lies alongside with a maximum depth of 19 m, close enough that both fit into a single dive.
Work the hulls slowly. Frogfish, stonefish and moray eels use the plating and the sand at its edges, lionfish hang under the overhangs, and cornetfish, pufferfish and porcupinefish drift over the top while jacks and angelfish pass along the sides. Current here is unpredictable, sometimes barely there and sometimes strong, so the mooring line doubles as the reference for the ascent.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Twin Barges
- Type
- Barges
- Cause
- Not recorded in the published site descriptions
- Lies
- Side by side on sand, the deeper barge bottoming out at 22 m and the shallower at 19 m
Marine life and season
- Frogfish
- Trevally & jacks
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows Seychelles: Inter-monsoon periods (Mar-May, Oct-Nov) are calmest with the best visibility; whale sharks pass through the inner-island channels August through October.
Know before you go
- Current ranges from light to strong with little warning; stay in contact with the mooring line and use it for the ascent.
- Stonefish and lionfish sit motionless on the plating and in the sand around it, so watch where hands and fins go.
Questions divers ask
How deep are the Twin Barges?+
The deeper of the two barges bottoms out at 22 m and the second at 19 m, so both fit inside one recreational dive from the shared mooring line.
Sources
- Twin Barges - Scubago — Scubago
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