Mafia Island Diving

★★★★☆ Tom’s Garden

A must do for macro enthusiasts, this site has a depth of 7 metres but can be extended if one wants to rear off the beaten track into the sand dunes. This dive site was named after one of our Instructor’s who stumbled upon this seahorse heaven by chance.

★★★★★ Pyramid

The dive starts around some coral bommies and small rock formations and slowly ascends to a shallow bank reef after passing the distinct formation of a pyramid.

Mares

★★★★☆ Mikadini

Mikadini is a gently sloping fringing reef that cascades down to 25 metres with many brightly colored corals. Mikadini often has a nice current, making for a very exciting drift dive.

Mares

★★★★★ Jina Wall

Lying at the northern tip of Jina Island, ranging in depth from 8 to 26 metres is Jina Wall. At the base of a small, vertical wall that has shallow caverns and overhangs, this site bottoms out in a gravel field.

Mares, Janez Kranjc

★★★★☆ Marimbani

Marimbani is a sandbank located in Chole Bay. Off the Northern face of the sandbar, there is a muck diving site featuring some very peculiar creatures. The maximum depth is around 7 meters. This is an excellent dive to combine with a BBQ picnic.

Mares

★★★★★ Milimani North

The site starts with some beautiful bommies randomly placed across the white, sandy bottom. The reef itself starts with plenty of hard corals around 5 meters and slowly continues to around 17 meters.

Aqualung

★★★★☆ Nudibranch City

Nudibranch City is named for its inundation of several different types of nudibranchs. The reef is a 300-metre swim off Utende Beach and lies around 9 metres deep. Here there is an abundance of soft corals and fantastic anemones.

Mares, Janez Kranjc

★★★★☆ Small Rock

This site has a maximum depth of 16 metres and a minimum of around 3. Small rock is best dived in the early morning, when the dawn light illuminates the sites’s pinnacles and coral structures, giving the whole area a golden glow.

Aqualung

★★★★★ Kinasi Pass

Perhaps the most famous of all the dive sites in Chole Bay is the mighty Kinasi Pass and its ‘chicken’ pinnacle. Well known for its exciting drift through rocky topography, this site houses caverns and impressive rock formations.

Mares, Janez Kranjc

★★★★★ Coral Gardens

Coral Gardens is home to coral bommies teeming with life, which act as mini cleaning stations with shrimps, crabs, and cleaner wrasses. The coral bommies develop into beautiful coral gardens filled with healthy hard coral species.

Mares

★★★★★ Milimani South

Milimani means ‘the place of mountains’ in Kiswahili which very aptly describes this dive site with its impressive hard coral formations - towering up from 18 metres to just below the ocean’s surface in some areas.

Mares, Predrag Vuckovic

★★★★★ Dindini Wall

This is is a rock wall from 8 m down to 25 m, with small caverns and overhangs that make for beautiful scenery. Expect sea fans, whip coral adorned walls interspersed with shelving reef, offering a great variety of soft and hard coral.

Mares, Janez Kranjc

★★★★☆ Chole Reef South

The reef starts at around 5 m and descends to 17 m, ending with sand and coral rubble where it is common to see scavenging titan triggerfish. We regularly see giant reef rays just a couple of meters of the reef resting on the rubble.

Mares, Janez Kranjc

★★★★☆ Chole Reef North

Chole Reef is a reefbank that is found lying northeast and southwest and is around 800 metres long. The reef starts at around 5 metres and descends to 17 m and ends in sand and coral rubble.

Scubapro

★★★★☆ Msumbiji

Msumbiji in Swahili means Mozambique; why it was named this, nobody can really say. This site consists of several rock formations decorated with corals, algae, sponges, and anemones. The slopes and sheer walls start at around 3 meters and fall to a maximum of 17.