If you want to be carried away–literally far away–from civilization on your next holiday, beyond the reach of well, almost anyone, a chartered trip to Bassas de India has to be a consideration. Imagine an exotic hideaway, intimate bays and remote outer reefs–virtually all to yourself.
Looking at satellite images of it, the Bassas da India atoll is unmistakable. Nearly circular, it’s one of the bluest lagoons you’ll ever spot, surrounded by ten rocky islets on the atoll and a continuous coral reef. Just looking at the image will make advanced and expert scuba divers long to blow bubbles in its waters. In fact, it’s so unique and coveted that there are even mild territory disputes over who ‘owns’ it to present-day.
Bassas da India is located in the Southern Mozambique Channel. Specifically, it is 110 kilometers northwest of Ile Europa and 385 kilometers off Madagascar’s eastern coast. Long known as a maritime hazard, the dive sites are more than just reef and lagoons–there are numerous shipwrecks that lie in watery graves around the atoll.
The reef is mostly submerged, although low tide brings the reef within 102 meters of the surface. Some rocks are visible above water continuously, and are the only parts that emerge from the reef-capped seamount. Rising from the 3,000 foot-deep seabed below, the reef rim stretches about 100 meters across, while the lagoon’s depths is shallow with a maximum depth of 15 meters. Within the lagoon, a shallow central lagoon is present, only about 11 kilometers in diameter.
Before you go diving into one of the world’s largely undiscovered atolls, however, it’s important to consider that Bassas da India is a destination for the adventurous scuba diver. Basically, that means someone who has experienced diving the world’s top dive spots and is now looking for an ultimate experience. Few people have heard of Bassa da India and even fewer have had the chance to go there, as it’s not exactly “open to the public.” Bassas da India can only be reached by a liveaboard or private charter yacht.
What to Expect when Diving Bassas da India
To dive Bassas da India, divers are required to have a permit from the French government. Boats without the proper permit may be confiscated or turned back. Liveaboard tours and private charters are the primary or only way to access Bassas da India, and dive operators will assist divers with the necessary red tape.
You will head out from Vilanculos, Mozambique past the tropical paradise islands of the Bazaruto Archipelago and set sail due east. At 240 Nm, sailing time to reach Bassas da India is approx. 30 - 40 hours. Your adventure will begin well before you make your first dive on the reefs of Bassa da India, though. As you cross the open water, you can fish from your liveaboard or yacht to pass the time and provide a contribution for a memorable onboard fish meal.
In terms of marine life, even the most vivid imagination can barely touch the living beauty of the Bazaruto Archipelago, and unspoiled Bassa da India atoll. Just like many other of Africa’s dive destinations, Bassa da India is an undiscovered, pristine marine wilderness and therefore is among the world’s wildest and most beautiful dive sites. This great sunken volcano, encrusted with corals and wrecks of numerous ships, is a haven for marine life and is a once in a lifetime destination for the diver who has a taste for adventure and a hankering to get far away from stress of modern life.
Among the untouched marine life, though, are the haunting reminders of civilization: the wrecks. Though the atoll is pretty well charted, and has been so for a long time, it is a most dangerous reef simply because it cannot be seen at high tide. For this reason it is a cemetery of sea vessels. The exact number of wrecks that lie at Bassas da India may remain a mystery forever - but what’s known is that the place is littered with wrecks, perhaps as many as a hundred. Some of these shipwrecks are centuries old, while other wrecks are more recent. The most well-known of these is the Santiago, a Portuguese East Indiaman that ran aground en route to Goa in the late 16th century. Its remains are still visible on the reef, though salvage divers have recovered thousands of Spanish pieces of eight, emeralds, jewelry, bronze canons and a rare Portuguese nautical astrolabe from the shipwreck.
Of course, like any top world dive site, there’s big fish here too. Divers will explore gently sloping reefs as they pass giant table corals before reaching the edge of the drop off that plunges from 20 meters down into the dark depth of the ocean. The sites are dizzying and can even cause vertigo. But there, schools of rainbow runners and kingfish occupy the deep blue. They are joined by yellowfin tuna, silver tip sharks and hammerhead sharks. As the conditions are as near pristine as one can get, the fish life around the atoll is prolific and all species are well, gigantic. Expect to find Africa’s real ‘big five,’ - the big sharks. These include oceanic white tips, black tips, silver tips, grey reef sharks, and hammerheads. There are also shoals of large tuna, barracuda, kingfish and many other large reef fish swimming among the predatory sharks that lurk in the open water surrounding the atoll.
And don’t forget as you’re ogling the huge fish to check out the not-as-large neighbors too. In the shallows divers can explore coral outcrops spread across a sandy bottom where schools of parrotfish, fusiliers, anthias and solitary groupers swim with moray eels, wrasse, butterflyfish and angelfish. Divers can swim through huge schools of yellowtop fusiliers and have close encounters with giant kingfish or and watch parrotfish feeding at low tide along the exposed coral with their fins out of the water in between dives as well.
At the end of the trip, you probably won’t want to leave the Bassas de India Atoll. As you return to society, though, you’ll likely be completely relaxed from the total getaway experience that is unparalleled. And, if getting back to the regular routine is difficult, you can always take a few extra days off and plan your next trip. But beware of those looking over your shoulder as you book–they’ll all want to escape right along with you, too.