Scuba Season
Underwater at Kinasi Wall
Whale Shark confirmed 6 months agoPeak season now

Kinasi Wall

Mafia Island · Tanzania

Kinasi Wall is Mafia Island Marine Park's most celebrated dive — a sheer coral drop-off descending from 5 metres to beyond 40 on the island's northwestern edge, its face encrusted with enormous sea fans, black coral trees, and colonies of cup corals that burst open at night in a dense curtain of feeding polyps. The wall's crevices shelter moray eels, large lionfish, and resting nurse sharks, while the blue water off the edge regularly delivers sightings of eagle rays gliding in formation and the occasional reef shark hunting along the thermocline. Between October and February, whale sharks patrol the wall's upper section, filtering the plankton-rich water that accumulates where currents deflect off the face.

Conditions

Depth

5 to 40 m

Advanced depths

Current

Can be moderate

Can pick up on the edge

Visibility

20 to 30 m

Clearest in the calm season

Water

23 to 30°C

3mm wetsuit

Month by month

MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Water (°C)272728282624232324252627
Vis (m)15151210815202020181515
CurrentModerateModerateGentleStrongStrongModerateModerateModerateGentleGentleModerateModerate

Your chances of seeing each animal

See all species recorded here →

Gear

  • Basic kit

    • Mask and fins
    • BCD and regulator
    • 5mm full wetsuit · cooler water
    • Dive computer