Scuba Diving in Cape Verde
The waters around the Cape Verde archipelago are wonderfully warm and teeming with vibrant marine life. And you can enjoy diving year-round, though peak season is April to November. Whether you’re looking for a beginner dive or you’re already an experiences enthusiast, there are sites to suit every skill level. Some areas are sheltered an ideal for beginners, whilst others are reserved for seasoned divers due to strong tides and currents. Whatever your level, we can advise you on the right dive site and experience for you.
Cape Verde has numerous well-equipped dive centres but we’ll focus on the standout dive sites on Sal, Santiago, and Sao Vicente, each offering its own unique underwater landscape.
During your dives, you could encounter colourful nudibranchs, eels, scorpion fish, turtles, whale and tiger sharks, and much much more. The underwater scenery is just as impressive, with beautiful rock formations, volcanic caves, and healthy reefs waiting to be explored. To give you a taste, here are a few top dive sites:
Scuba Diving from Tarrafal on Santiago
Most of Santiago’s coastline is rugged and rocky, but there is a beautiful sandy beach at Tarrafal, on the north western tip of the island. The dive centre here offers diving excursions for experiences divers, and PADI courses for those who want to gain some technical experience. It’s a Scuba Schools International affiliated dive centre and is located at the southern point of Tarrafal’s bay, right on the shoreline by a wonderful reef at Piscina Natural Hoyitos. Night dives can be done right next to the dive centre. There are 15 different reef sites and caves, each with different rock formations and resident fish, such as sting ray, mackarel, sardines, lobster, and octopus, to name a just a few.
Reef, cave, and wreck diving from Santa Maria Beach, on Sal
There are a mixture of reefs, volcanic caves, and wrecks around the island of Sal. As such, it’s a really popular activity and there are a variety of dive centres around Santa Maria. The sea around the centre is home to an abundance of fish, featuring an interesting mix of Mediterranean and tropical species. With over 60 indigenous species, you will see all manner of creatures from small (such as sea slugs) to big (such as bull sharks). You will also have the chance to see numerous banks of coloured fish, moray eels, turtles, stingrays, and manta rays. The dive masters will decide on your dive sites on the day, takinf into consideration the sea conditions, visibility, and currents. They offer everything from beginner dives, to wreck and reef diving for those with experience, PADI courses, and dive master courses.
Caves, reefs, and turtles from Mindelo, Sao Vicente
The dive centre in Mindelo offer dives for everyone, from beginner ‘baptism’ dives, to dives for experienced divers. They offer a broad range of SSI dive courses, such as open water, advanced diver, dive guide, and dive master. Experienced divers can explore 19 different dive sites around Sao Vicente, in one of the centres RIB boats. Each site offers differing marine life, where you can see manta rays, tuna, nursing sharks, tiger sharks, whale sharks (occasionally), and much more. You can also enjoy exploring a variety of reefs, caves, and rock formations. Beginners and those looking to do a night dive will go to sites where you can swim amongst turtles, frog fish, rays, and moray eels.
How do I book a Scuba Diving experience in Cape Verde?
Whether your looking to booking yourself onto a full course, or you simply want to enjoy a scuba diving experience on your Cape Verde holiday, we can arrange it for you. All of our holidays are tailor made for you, so you pick the experiences you like, and choose which islands to visit. And do feel free to call us if you want to chat through the details. We know the islands well and will give you an honest account of each of the activities available.
Note for experienced divers: When choosing the depth of a dive, experienced divers should take into account that there are no hyperbaric chambers in Cape Verde.
