Bassas da india

Few people have had the pleasure of diving at Bassas da India, a remote and uninhabited atoll situated in the middle of the Mozambique Channel, only accessible by private boat.

Fiona Ayerst got her hands on one hot ticket‌ photographs FIONA AYERST

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here are a handful of scattered islands in the Mozambique Channel, few of which are visited often. In addition to the inhabited Comores and Moyotte, which are situated on the beaten track, you’ll find the more remote Europa Island with its 20 or so French nationals living on it, Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova Island and Tromelin Island. However Bassas da India is the one that invariably makes it onto the bucket lists of dreamy-eyed South African divers. Thrusting up some 3 000 metres from the floor of the Mozambique channel, the atoll is a full two days sailing from Mozambique. It consists of 10 barren rocky islets, with no vegetation, covering only 0.2 square kilometres in area. The reef measures some 35 kilometres around and is completely covered by the sea from three hours before to three hours after high tide. The atoll has long been a maritime hazard and is the site of numerous shipwrecks.

Bassas da India was first recorded by Portuguese explorers in the early 16th century. It was originally named Baixo da Judia, meaning Shoal of Judia, after the Judia, a Jewish-owned Portuguese trading vessel that ran aground on the reef. The atoll was renamed Bassas da India by subsequent cartographers who mistakenly copied Judia as India. Bassas da India is a French protectorate, part of the Îles Éparses, which consist of four small coral islands, an atoll, and a reef in the Indian Ocean, and constitute the 5th district of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF).

They have no permanent population and serve as nature reserves and meteorological stations, with minimal staff manning the stations. All are protected by French troops which are based on the nearby island of Réunion. France claims an Exclusive Economic

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Zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles around each of the small islands in the Îles Éparses, which together with the EEZ claims for the islands of Réunion and Mayotte totals more than one million square kilometers of the western Indian Ocean.

The atoll is also claimed by Madagascar who do not seem to actively monitor it like the French do. To dive at Bassas you need a permit to be issued by the French Government lest the French impound your boat. During my visit we were boarded by a French gunboat, and our cabins were searched. My halting high-school French was just enough to help me understand that the army was there to ensure we had not taken any treasure from the numerous wrecks in the area.

There are in excess of 100 wrecks lying scattered around the atoll. Some of the wrecks are only accessible to divers while others can be seen lying on the atoll and can be visited on foot during low tide. At the Northeast corner of the atoll there is an impressive wreck graveyard that should feature as a footnote on that bucket list, such is its beauty. Diving here, it is still possible to spot artifacts scattered on the reef.

Boats caught unawares by the changing tides can easily find themselves stranded high-and-dry on the reef. When we arrived PREVIOUS PAGE The reef at Bassas da India is completely covered by the sea from three hours before to three hours after high tide.

OPPOSITE The catamaran was so wedged into the rocks, it took five days for the tide to rise high enough to wash it back to sea.

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bassas dastrap india

at the atoll we found one hapless catamaran perched on top of the rocks of the atoll, where it remained for four days. On the fifth day we saw the cat limping back to Madagascar for repairs, much the worse for wear and with only one engine still working.

Unwittingly, we ventured into the ‘golden circle’, the inner pool of the atoll, only to find out later from a French patrol boat that this is frowned upon by the authorities. Luckily by the time the patrol boat noticed us inside the atoll, we had already spent a glorious day in paradise. Getting into the atoll was a spectacular feat, our skipper forced to squeeze our boat through the narrow entrance at high tide with only centimeters to spare on either side.

It was certainly worth every nail-biting moment. In the centre of the atoll there is nothing but clean water of the bluest blue, making you feel a bit like you’re sailing on a gigantic swimming pool. The water was so clean you could see each ripple on the ocean floor 10 metres below. From the deck I could see hundreds of sea cucumbers munching their way across the bottom. We snorkeled carefree around the boat where we were joined by scores of small Galapagos sharks and huge schools of purple surgeonfish patrolling around some of the single coral bommies that stand sentinel over the sandy bottom.

Bassas is famous for it’s abundance of marine life, and stories abound of huge schools of pelagics that that have been sighted in the area. Because of this the area is widely marketed as a top fishing destination and both private charters and commercial fishing boats ply the waters around Bassas each year. This may be taking its toll on the pelagic fish population, and I left the area feeling that fishing in all its shapes and forms may be having a lasting effect. Most of the pelagics I saw occurred singly or in pairs, and while one of our group of divers did report massive schools of fish on a wall dive, I never encountered the huge schools of pelagics I had been hoping for.

We did see hundreds – make that thousands – of curious potato bass living around the rocky banks of the atoll, just not in schools of course. The coastline of the reef alone at Bassas is 35 square kilometers and by my reckoning there may be somewhere in the region of 4 000 potato bass living at the atoll. Being reef dwellers, it may be that the bass are less susceptible to fishing pressure than the pelagic sharks of the area.

On a good day large tuna, shoals of barracuda and kingfish are said to be found here. Butterfly fish, the ever-curious wrasse, parrotfish, anthias and clownfish mix with moray eels, angelfish, rainbow runners and yellow tip fusiliers. One of my favourite top A spare compressor and plenty of cylinders will ensure happy diving.

RIGHT Touring the atoll feels like being on a massive swimming pool.

All hues of blue mix in a dazzling display.

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Juvenile Galapagos sharks hang around the boat looking for scraps, keen to chase the schools of fish that sweep over the reef.

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Free-diving with the ever-present juvenile Galapagos sharks ensures they don’t get chased off by SCUBA bubbles, enabling us to film them and enjoy their antics.

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scenes from the area were the thousands of fusiliers that would swim up to the boat through the glistening clean water, presumably looking for scraps of food, only to become food themselves as the Galapagos sharks would shoot like darts from the shady cover of the boat, grabbing fish as they swam. Another firm favourite with the group was a colony of garden-eels peeking out of the sand and waving their thin heads around in unison as if engaged in a ghostly dance.

If you love drifting along wall dives then this is the place for you. The dives were generally comprised of languid sashays along sheer walls or gently sloping drop offs in strong currents. Diving here is a bit like skydiving at times, you catch glimpses of the reef as it disappears under you. As long as you are moving with the currents you really have to do no work at all. I have heard many tales of the great whites, hammerheads and oceanic white tips that ply the atoll walls, but while we sighted numerous Galapagos and silver tip sharks we saw no sign of their bigger cousins.

It is those warm endless drift dives along kilometres of healthy reef festooned with life that makes Bassas one of the best dive sites I have visited in Africa. There are areas where there is little reef and a lot of rock and sand-festooned heads of brown coloured coral. I believe this is caused by the shifting sands in and out of the atoll, making it hard for coral to grow and thrive in certain areas.

Diving the atoll can be challenging due to the strong currents, particularly near the mouth of the atoll where water streams in and out of the large pool in the centre, and at times the visibility can swing from 30 metres to under two metres in a matter of hours. Most dives are done in 20 metres to 40 metres and many are plagued by strong currents. There are shallower dives but these are often blown out by sand and it is at the deeper dives that the true beauty of Bassas can be found. If non-divers want to travel with you there are many hours of fun to be had on the atoll at low tide. Snorkelling around the many shallow reefs will reward the patient diver with many brightly coloured fish like little jube-jubes darting in and out of the reef. Large fish (especially parrot fish) often get stuck whilst feeding in the rock pools of the atoll. As you approach the pool on foot you can see the fish hop-hopping along the top of the reef to try and escape your arrival.

When it’s time to come up for air, you’ll find some wrecks that can be visited on foot, in particular one specimen with a massive iron anchor and lengths of chain still perched atop the atoll. There is a lovely strip of pure white beach (with the softest sand you will ever feel) that peeps out briefly for around two hours a day. Lolling around in the luke-warm shallow water on the edges of this strip of gold became one of my favourite pastimes. It is worth taking

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Fiona recommends:

* Most charter boats depart from Vilanculos, which lies 750 a stroll on the atoll each day as it offers up new treasures, such as the massive rays often seen sunbathing in the shallow waters found here. Be sure to watch the tides carefully if you do this as the water has a way of sneaking up on you as you become engrossed in your adventure. I particularly enjoyed standing on the atoll and soaking in the sight of the calm bright aquamarine pool inside the lagoon, with massive foamy white breakers crashing onto the reef on the far side of the atoll just beyond.

How to get there: Hartley’s Oceans and Islands market regular charters to Bassas da India. Visit www.hartleys.co.za or contact Dani at dani@hartleys.co.za or 011 467 4704.

Fiona traveled to Bassas da India on the SV Sarah. Built by Robertson and Caine, Yacht Sarah, a Leopard 45, is a blue water cruising catamaran that combines spacious living accommodations, high quality fittings and great performance. For more information, visit www.sarah.co.za.

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kilometres north of Maputo in south-central Mozambique. It is possible to fly into Vilanculos international airport, however the weight restriction on your luggage is a very strict 15 kilograms which is very limiting for dive gear and camera equipment.

A recommendation would be to send at least one person up by road with everything your group needs for the trip.

You’ll be a minimum of two days sailing away from any land, so take a spare compressor, or make sure your charter has one of their own.

Make sure you go with a reputable dive operation and a skipper who knows the area. Bassas has some incredibly strong currents that even experienced divers cannot manage easily. I recommend that only advanced divers with at least 100 dives, and at least 20 of these having been done in the past 6 months, attempt this trip.

PREVIOUS PAGE There are more than 100 wrecks on and around this atoll, and lots of metal still just out above the reef and can be viewed at low tide. above Snorkelling in the warm clean waters of Bassas and looking for small pieces of treasure – it’s hard to leave paradise at the end of your trip.