Diving in Mauritius – Sea Urchin PADI Co Flic En Flac

One of the highlights of our recent holiday in Mauritius was the scuba diving.

Flic En Flac, on the west coast of the island where we were staying, is peppered with more than twenty dive sites just 5 minutes off the beach, so we needed a good PADI company to guide us to the best spots.

We chose to dive with Sea Urchin Dive Center in town because we’d read reviews that they were well priced, had good gear and, above all, were great fun!

The outfit is run by a German lady called Katharina Dohmann who takes no prisoners. After one cave dive she told me I had to work on my diving “elegance” because I was using my arms too much and not my fins. Just kind of feedback I thrive on, especially in potentially dangerous situations.

The team do pretty much everything for you. I’d not dived since our Vietnam  trip last year, so Christie – above getting the gear ready on the boat – gave me a quick refresher in the lagoon before we headed out to “The Aquarium”.

The boat they use is open plan for efficiency. As the dive sites are so close to the shore, you don’t expect to be on it for very long. This was a huge contrast from Phu Quoc in Vietnam, where it took 2 hours to get to the dive spots every day!

I dived four times during our stay. The names of the sites are very compelling – The Cathedral, The Aquarium, The Swedish Drop Off.

Fish are plentiful in all shapes, colours and sizes. We saw rabbit fish, all sorts of grouper, snapper, moray eels and angel fish. On one cave dive, I was taken into a tight area by Katherina who turned on her torch to reveal 6 or 7 lobster and several poisonous lion fish.

We even found a resting sting ray in one crevice 27 meters down.

By far the biggest highlight was a dive to my first wreck. Katharina kindly took me down to see St. Gabriel by ourselves. She warned me it was more than 30 meters in depth and we had to get down there quickly.

As we descended, all I could see was dark blue. How on earth did she know which way it was? We got down to about 25 metres and she started swimming so I dutifully followed.

The current was very strong and with my quads burning – I was trying out my new “elegant” technique – I was concerned this dive might end up being a dud.

But as you can see from the photo above, after a few minutes the fishing boat wreck simply loomed into view.

The vessel had been sunk on purpose to provide an artificial haven for marine life, and there was plenty of that. Katharina had said we may see a huge 2.5 metre moray eel but, sadly, she was not at home.

As we explored underneath and over the top, towards the bridge, I realised I was running out of air.

The depth – 35 metres – coupled with the tough swim to get to the site, meant this wasn’t going to be a long dip so we started to head back up after just 29 minutes.

Luckily I rented a camera, so was able to get some fab snaps to add to the amazing memories.

If you want diving cheap, cheerful and full of variety, Mauritius is pretty good. If you want my opinion on who to spend your time with as you explore what the island’s waters have to offer, the Sea Urchin Diving Center is your best bet.

Even if you’re staying at one of the posh hotels in Wolmar, why pay double-bubble when you can get twice the experience with these guys.

Thanks to Katherina, Jean-Marc, Christie and Co for looking after me so well!

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