The Wrecks of Northern Mauritius

Text by Jill Holloway| Photos by Jenny Jay | Copyright www.osdiving.com

Wide-angle photographers have a fantastic selection of wrecks to shoot in Mauritius. I was amazed to see how spectacular wreck photography can be. So, I thought you might enjoy looking at a gallery of The Wrecks of Mauritius.

We find only a few anchors as a reminder that over 480 ships have been wrecked off the coast of Mauritius over the last 400 years. You will not be able to dive Le Coureur or the Saint Geraint, the notorious slavers of the 18th century that foundered with their human cargoes off the coast of Mauritius. They are now just shameful memory.  

Instead, the Mauritian Government and the Mauritius Scuba Diving Association (MSDA) have stepped up and dropped some iconic ships to establish secure artificial reefs. Some of these are truly spectacular.

Most of these wrecks are within easy reach of the dive centres in the North, and a Safari trip to Coin de Mire makes for a great day’s diving. You take 2 or 3 tanks each, and the boat loads up with delicious snacks, water or juice and often a light lunch.

Coin de Mire Island, so called because it’s shaped like the wedge or quoin that gunners used to raise or lower the barrels of their cannons, is a National Park and the breeding ground for the long-tailed Tropicbird. It’s a short 10-15 minute boat ride. We dived with Ocean Spirit, a small, well-equipped, friendly diving centre in Pereybere, the village closest to the Northern reefs.

The Djabeda wreck lies at an average depth of 24 meters, from 20 metres on the mast to 32 at the keel, with dense shoals of fusiliers, blue banded snappers, and scorpionfish, two massive Javanese Moray eels, rays in the sand and exquisite corals. It was sunk in 1967, and parts have scattered across the sand, offering additional hiding places for marine life. There is a pair of sling-jaw wrasses living and breeding there as well; worth looking out for them as they are uncommon. It is also rich in colourful corals. It begins to collapse, and we have consented to sink another one.
After 20 minutes on the wreck, you fin towards the Island. Then you decompress for the rest of the 50-minute dive time in Confetti Bay, an exquisite shallow site just off the Island, where you have snacks and prepare for the second dive. Pure bliss!

The Silverstar is 5 minutes from Pereybere, sunk by the MSDA on 39 metres, ascending to 28 metres. It’s absolutely stunning because it is deep blue, resting on white sand, and looms out of the ocean like a fantastical pirate ship. It was sunk away from the reefs, so this is a short but dramatic dive. Wreck penetration is possible for qualified divers. It would help if you had a good torch, and once you are into the hold, it’s almost sinister but filled with crustaceans and morays. Around the mast, there are massive shoals, with a resident school of spade fish and orbicular batfish. This is a huge wreck, with an intact propeller at 40 metres, plenty of coral growth, and is best dived with Nitrox, but you need to watch your computer.

Stella Maru is an old Japanese fishing trawler deliberately sunk in 1987 by the Mauritius Conservation Society to create an artificial reef, which is almost entirely intact. It has a businesslike silhouette and a warlike presence. It’s full of shoals of blue-banded snappers, giant morays and scorpionfish, but it is also a great photographic subject. We recently found a hairy frogfish, and huddled against a broken portion of the superstructure was a very small gurnard, that fantastic little guy with wings and legs like a crayfish.

The Emily and Waterlily were sunk in 1981 and lie in reasonably shallow water. They are a superb example of how quickly soft corals can grow and how rapidly they become home to a host of tiny sea creatures. Both wrecks are abundant with soft corals and small juveniles. These features create a photographer’s paradise with white sand, blue water and lilac, purple, blue and pink soft corals. It is often done as a two-tank dive, with snacks on the boat and a visit to one of the corals and reef-fish-infested sites in the area nearby.

KT Mawa is new, lies on its side and is absolutely brilliant to dive. It invites penetration and is filled with new coral growth, rays and plenty of rare fish- two Frogfish on the mast.

Jenny has been diving for 15 years and has more than 1000 dives under her belt. Learning to dive in the chilly, low-vis conditions of Cape Town was not easy, but she overcome her anxiety and is now an experienced drysuit diver. She loves wide-angle photography the most and is lucky to have travelled widely with her Olympus OMD EM5 ii mirrorless camera, from Tahiti, Mexico and Maldives, to the Red Sea, Mozambique and of course, Mauritius.