Bazaruto dive sites.
Thirteen reefs. Every depth published.
The full catalogue of dive sites in the Bazaruto Archipelago — depth, visibility, topography and what actually shows up, month by month.
The Bazaruto Archipelago’s dive sites are thirteen reefs, pinnacles and tidal channels scattered across the marine park off Vilanculos, Mozambique — ranging from a seven-metre coral channel you can dive on an Open Water card to a double pinnacle standing on the edge of a 300-metre canyon. All thirteen have been surveyed and mapped in 3D by the Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies, whose research station sits on the north coast of Benguerra Island.
This page publishes what those surveys found: depth, visibility, topography, and what actually turns up at each site — plus a month-by-month sightings calendar for 45 species. Most of it has never been online before.
At a glance
The catalogue, measured.
- Surveyed dive sites
- Thirteen, all mapped in 3D from seabed surveys.
- Depth range
- 7 m at the shallowest channel to 36 m on the deep pinnacles.
- Within Open Water limits
- Four sites sit at 18 m or shallower.
- Species tracked by month
- Forty-five, graded across all twelve months.
What makes these thirteen sites the reference set
The thirteen sites are the archipelago’s surveyed dive sites — the ones a research team has actually measured, rather than the ones that have accumulated names over the years. The Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies runs a permanent ocean observatory from Benguerra Island and has 3D-mapped every site on this list using seabed beam technology, which is why each one comes with a published depth range and a recorded species list instead of an adjective.
Other sources list more. A diver comparing pages will find catalogues running to twenty-odd names for the same waters, and some of those reefs are certainly real and dived regularly. We have left them out because we could not trace a depth, a location, or a source for them, and a number you cannot check is worse than a gap you can see.
The reefs themselves sit inside a national park and are not private. What varies is access: several are far easier to reach from Benguerra than from town, and which ones a given boat runs depends on the boat, the conditions and your certification.
Which sites you can dive at your certification level
Only four of the thirteen sites fall inside standard Open Water limits. PADI certifies Open Water divers to 18 metres and Advanced Open Water divers to 30 metres; applying those two limits to the depth ranges BCSS published gives a clean answer to the question every diver asks first.
Open Water — four sites, all 18 m or shallower
Gap (2 Mile) at 7–14 m, Kingfish Alley at 10–14 m, Atlantis at 9–17 m, and Turtle Coves at 16–18 m. BCSS names Kingfish Alley outright as “a perfect location for dive training, and amateur divers,” and the Gap has some of the best visibility in the catalogue — so the shallow end here is genuinely good diving, not a consolation prize.
Advanced Open Water — two more sites, to 22 m
Forrest Gump at 14–22 m and 9-Mile Shallow at 13–22 m.
Beyond 30 m — the remaining seven
Three Trees, Marlin Pinnacles, Area 51, The Rollercoaster, The FAD, Shark Vaal and Amphitheatre all bottom out past 30 metres. Four of them — The Rollercoaster, Amphitheatre, The FAD and, at its top, Area 51 — begin shallow enough to dive within Advanced limits if you stay high on the structure. Marlin Pinnacles is the one BCSS restricts explicitly: “only suitable for experienced divers.”
Worth knowing before you pick: the two sites where hammerheads are recorded are both in that last group.
All 13 Bazaruto dive sites
| Site | Depth | Visibility | Suits | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gap (2 Mile) | 7–14 m | 12–22 m | Open Water | Tidal channel; best visibility of the catalogue |
| Kingfish Alley | 10–14 m | 6–12 m | Open Water | The training site; resident bluefin trevallies |
| Atlantis (5 Mile) | 9–17 m | 8–16 m | Open Water | Caves, swim-throughs and table tops |
| Turtle Coves | 16–18 m | 6–16 m | Open Water | A turtle cleaning station |
| 9-Mile Shallow | 13–22 m | 8–16 m | Advanced | Shallow reef dropping past diving depth |
| Forrest Gump | 14–22 m | 12–22 m | Advanced | Macro; pygmy cuttlefish. Strong currents |
| Amphitheatre | 14–32 m | 8–22 m | Advanced+ | Pinnacle chain; massive trevally shoals |
| The Rollercoaster | 14–33 m | 12–22 m | Advanced+ | Seamounts on the continental shelf edge |
| The FAD | 14–33 m | 3–8 m | Advanced+ | An abandoned tractor engine turned reef |
| Three Trees | 26–33 m | 8–16 m | Deep | Manta ray cleaning station, with bull sharks |
| Shark Vaal | 26–33 m | 6–16 m | Deep | Flat deep reef; conditions change fast |
| Area 51 | 26–32 m | 6–16 m | Deep | Hammerheads, giant mantas, yellowfin tuna |
| Marlin Pinnacles | 28–36 m | 6–16 m | Experienced only | 300 m canyon edge; car-size groupers |
Gap (2 Mile) is the tidal channel where the inside of the archipelago meets the open ocean, and the movement of water through it is the whole point: sharks, rays, trevallies and turtles gather to rest and feed depending on the state of the tide. Garden eels, octopus and nudibranchs in the sand. BCSS rates its visibility the best of any site they dive.
Kingfish Alley is a colourful shallow reef patch named for the bluefin trevallies that live on it and swim, as the survey notes put it, all over the place. Turtles, the occasional reef shark, leaf fish and nudibranchs for the macro hunters. This is where courses happen.
Atlantis (5 Mile) is a maze — rocky caves, overhangs, table tops and seabed features you can swim through, all of it packed with macro life, with green turtles and parrot fish over the top.
Turtle Coves is a shallow coral patch surrounded by sand where turtles come to rest and get cleaned. Green, loggerhead and hawksbill all recorded. Rays and reef sharks pass through, and dolphins sometimes come close enough to see from the reef.
9-Mile Shallow is a shallow reef that keeps going down past diving depth, patrolled by sharks and sometimes by large shoals of giant trevally. It sits near deep water thick with pelagics — tuna, and whales and dolphins at the surface nearby.
Forrest Gump is the macro site: rare nudibranchs, shrimps, anemones and pygmy cuttlefish, with a drop-off along one side that brings sharks, rays and turtles past. It can run strong currents.
Amphitheatre is a chain of pinnacles rising from deep ocean into shallow water, and BCSS calls it home to some of the best macro and megafauna in the archipelago — large groupers, brindle bass, huge trevally shoals, and deep coral on the rock.
The Rollercoaster is a chain of seamounts on the edge of the continental shelf, in the San Sebastian area at the southern end of the archipelago. Pinnacles, plateaus, overhangs and swim-throughs, with bull sharks and giant groupers among the residents.
The FAD is the odd one out and the most charming: a tractor engine abandoned on open sand that has become an artificial reef, now holding thousands of small fish, crabs, lionfish, snake eels and batfish fighting for space on the metal. Visibility is the worst of any site here, at 3–8 m. Nobody dives it for the view.
Three Trees is an isolated reef in the north of the archipelago, surrounded by sand, which is exactly what makes it a magnet. Big coral bommies, and a cleaning station where giant manta rays come in — accompanied, often, by bull sharks.
Shark Vaal is a flat deep reef cut with crevasses, home to groupers, brindle bass, giant trevallies and barracuda. Sandbanks sit close by, so visibility can collapse quickly and conditions change more than at any other site in the catalogue.
Area 51 is a pinnacle rising out of a deep channel, and the survey notes are refreshingly honest about it: impossible to predict what will turn up next. Hammerheads, zebra sharks, whitetip and grey reef sharks, giant manta rays, giant groupers — and yellowfin tuna passing above the divers.
Marlin Pinnacles is the serious one. A double pinnacle sitting on the side of a 300-metre canyon, which is what pulls open-ocean life onto it. Car-size groupers live here. Scalloped and great hammerheads, bull sharks, dusky sharks and giant manta rays all appear in its record. Experienced divers only.
What you’ll see, month by month
Sightings in the archipelago are far more seasonal than the year-round marketing suggests, and the direction of the swing is not what most visitors assume. BCSS grades each species by month as Excellent (seen on 50–90% of dives), Good (20–50%) or Low (0–20%). The species that actually change through the year:
| Species | Excellent (50–90% of dives) | Good (20–50%) | Low (0–20%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green turtle | Mar–Oct | Nov–Feb | — |
| Loggerhead turtle | Mar–Oct | Nov–Feb | — |
| Hawksbill turtle | Apr–Sep | Oct–Mar | — |
| Giant reef manta ray | Feb, Apr–Sep | Mar, Oct–Dec | Jan |
| Devil ray | Mar–Oct | Nov–Dec | Jan–Feb |
| Spotted eagle ray | Mar–May | Jun–Dec | Jan–Feb |
| Jenkins whip ray | May–Nov | Mar–Apr, Dec | Jan–Feb |
| Bluespotted ribbontail ray | Jun–Nov | Apr–May, Dec | Jan–Mar |
| Round ribbontail ray | Jul–Sep | Mar–Jun, Oct–Dec | Jan–Feb |
| Honeycomb sting ray | Jul–Nov | Jun, Dec | Jan–May |
| Kuhl’s mask ray | Aug–Sep | Jun–Jul, Oct–Dec | Jan–May |
| Scalloped hammerhead | May–Jul, Sep–Nov | Aug | Dec–Apr |
| Zebra shark | Nov–Mar | — | Apr–Oct |
| Nurse shark | — | Nov–Mar | Apr–Oct |
| Bull shark | Sep–Mar | Apr–Aug | — |
| Oceanic blacktip shark | Aug–Apr | May–Jul | — |
| Blacktip reef shark | Oct–Feb | Mar–Sep | — |
| Grey reef shark | Mar–Dec | Jan–Feb | — |
| Giant guitarfish | Mar–Apr, Aug–Nov | May–Jul, Dec–Feb | — |
| Giant trevally | Sep–Mar | Apr, Aug | May–Jul |
| African pompano | Sep–Oct | Apr–May, Jul–Aug, Nov | Dec–Mar, Jun |
| Brindle bass | Jul–Mar | Apr–Jun | — |
| Cobia | Apr–Aug | Sep–Mar | — |
| Yellowspotted trevally | Mar–Jul, Sep–Nov | Aug, Dec–Feb | — |
Twenty more species are rated Excellent in all twelve months and effectively take care of themselves: parrot fish, green jobfish, moray eels, rockcod, great and sawtooth barracuda, yellow-edge lyretail, sweetlips, rubberlips, twinspot and bluebanded snapper, king mackerel, crocodile fish, lionfish, potato bass, bigeye and bluefin trevally, rainbow runner, lobster and octopus.
Three patterns are worth planning around. Zebra and nurse sharks run backwards to everything else — reliable from November to March, effectively gone from April to October. Scalloped hammerheads are a May-to-November animal, close to absent from December through April, which lines up with the two deep sites where they’re recorded. And turtles peak from March to October, the opposite of the warm-months assumption most visitors arrive with.
Where the big animals actually are
Three of the thirteen sites are cleaning stations, and cleaning stations are where big animals hold still. Turtle Coves is the shallow one, a coral patch in the sand where green, loggerhead and hawksbill turtles come to rest and be cleaned. Three Trees is the manta ray station, where giant mantas come in over the coral bommies with bull sharks in attendance. Marlin Pinnacles carries a cleaning station too, on the wall of its canyon.
For sharks, the split is clean. Reef sharks — blacktip and grey — turn up across most of the catalogue. The pelagic species concentrate on the deep, exposed structures: Marlin Pinnacles and Area 51 for hammerheads, Shark Vaal, Three Trees and The Rollercoaster for bull sharks. Zebra sharks are recorded at Area 51.
Manta rays appear at Three Trees, Area 51 and Marlin Pinnacles — all three of them deep sites. There is no shallow manta dive in this archipelago.
Night diving
Night dives run at five of the thirteen sites: Gap (2 Mile), Kingfish Alley, Turtle Coves, Shark Vaal and The FAD. They are the shallower end of the catalogue, which is what makes them workable in the dark — the deep pinnacles are day dives only. The FAD is the interesting one after sunset, since a metal structure crowded with crabs, snake eels and lionfish behaves very differently at night than it does at noon.
Diving Bazaruto with EKAYA
The sites on this page are a reference to the archipelago, not a menu. We do not own a dive boat and we do not run these dives ourselves — we arrange your diving in Vilanculos and match you to the right course, boat and schedule for your dates. Which reefs are realistic on a given day comes down to the boat, the sea, and your certification, and several of these sites are far easier to reach from Benguerra than from town.
Tell us your level and your dates and we will be straight with you about what’s reachable. For courses, prices and how a dive day works, see our Vilanculos diving page. For the islands themselves, the park and its fees, see the Bazaruto Archipelago guide. If you’re weighing this coast against the one further south, we compare them in Vilanculos vs Tofo.
Sources. Dive site depths, visibility, topography, species records and the monthly sightings grades are published by the Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies, which operates a permanent ocean observatory and PADI 5-Star dive centre on Benguerra Island and has mapped all thirteen sites in 3D. Certification depth limits are PADI’s standard Open Water (18 m) and Advanced Open Water (30 m) limits, applied here to those published depth ranges. The Inhambane Seascape, which contains the archipelago, was declared a Mission Blue Hope Spot in January 2022.
Good to know
Diving the archipelago.
How many dive sites are there in the Bazaruto Archipelago?
Which Bazaruto dive sites can I dive as an Open Water diver?
Do I need an Advanced certification to dive Bazaruto?
Is Gap (2 Mile) the same thing as Two Mile Reef?
Which dive sites have the best visibility?
Where are you most likely to see hammerhead sharks?
Can you do night dives in the Bazaruto Archipelago?
Do EKAYA dives go to all thirteen of these sites?
Is there a park fee for diving in the archipelago?
When is the best time of year to dive Bazaruto?
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