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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Mnemba Atoll location page.
Overview
Sloping coral wall on the southeast face of Mnemba Atoll, starting around 4m and dropping into the channel toward 30m and beyond. The protected reef inside Mnemba Island Marine Conservation Area carries dense table and staghorn coral, schooling snappers and goatfish, and a steady cast of green and hawksbill turtles. Bottlenose dolphins regularly pass through the surface waters; whitetip reef sharks and Napoleon wrasse appear along the deeper sections, and macro hunters work the wall for scorpionfish, leaf fish, and nudibranchs.
Briefing note
Inside the Mnemba Island Marine Conservation Area (MIMCA) - a daily marine park / conservation fee is collected by operators and is usually not included in the dive price. The island itself is private (andBeyond Mnemba Island lodge); landings are not permitted for day visitors, but the surrounding reefs are open to permitted dive boats. Touching coral and chasing dolphins are prohibited. Outgoing tides through the channel can push currents from mild to moderate without warning.
What you'll see
8 species curated- year-roundGreen turtle
- year-roundHawksbill turtle
- year-roundBottlenose dolphin
- seasonalWhitetip reef sharkPeak: Oct · Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar
- seasonalNapoleon wrassePeak: Oct · Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar
- rareWhale sharkPeak: Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec
- year-roundScorpionfish
- year-roundBluefin trevally
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceGreen turtle
- Last confirmed
- Mar 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Feb | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Mar | 28–29 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Apr | 27–29 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| May | 26–28 °C | 10–20 m | moderate |
| Jun | 25–27 °C | 15–25 m | moderate |
| Jul | 24–26 °C | 15–25 m | moderate |
| Aug | 24–26 °C | 15–25 m | moderate |
| Sep | 25–27 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Oct | 26–28 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Nov | 27–29 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Dec | 28–30 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kit- Reef hook — Channel drift along the southeast wall picks up on outgoing tides; a hook lets you hold position when the current accelerates.
- SMB — Most dives are run as drifts and boats pick up downcurrent; a deployed SMB is standard for surfacing.
Next step
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