{"id":672,"date":"2026-08-17T12:23:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/diving\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:23:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T11:23:41","slug":"diving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/diving\/","title":{"rendered":"Diving on Madeira"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The main thing: Garajau<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Garajau marine reserve<\/strong> off Cani\u00e7o is why people dive here. Protected since the 1980s, with the result that the fish have lost their flight distance: dusky groupers the size of a bathtub come within a metre. That is not a lucky day, that is the rule.<\/p>\n<h2>What is on offer<\/h2>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Option<\/th>\n<th>from<\/th>\n<th>Duration<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Try dive<\/strong> (pool + sea, no certificate)<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac42<\/td>\n<td>2.5\u20133 h<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>First sea dive<\/strong>, Cani\u00e7al<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac68<\/td>\n<td>2 h<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Snorkelling in the eco-park<\/strong> or from a boat<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac19<\/td>\n<td>2 h<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Diving with sharks and rays<\/strong>, Porto Moniz aquarium<\/td>\n<td>\u20ac135<\/td>\n<td>3 h<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Guided dive for certified divers<\/td>\n<td>approx. \u20ac45\u201360<\/td>\n<td>2\u20133 h<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The <strong>try dive<\/strong> almost always starts in a dive centre&#8217;s pool before going to sea \u2014 the best first experience, because you practise breathing in shallow water before the bottom drops away.<\/p>\n<p>The dive at the <strong>Porto Moniz aquarium<\/strong> is an oddity: nurse sharks and rays in the tanks of an old fort, rated 4.9. Not a wilderness experience, but weather-proof \u2014 which makes it the best option for a storm day in the north.<\/p>\n<h2>What to watch for<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Water temperature<\/strong>: 18 \u00b0C (February\/March) to 24 \u00b0C (September). The 5 mm suit is in the price.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fitness to dive<\/strong>: self-declaration is standard; heart, lung or ear problems mean a doctor&#8217;s certificate.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Do not dive on your departure day<\/strong> \u2014 24 hours before flying, more after repeat dives.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Minimum age<\/strong> usually 10 (try dive) or 12 (certified).<\/li>\n<li><strong>North coast<\/strong> only in calm seas; in winter it is often cancelled and moved south.<\/li>\n<li>Certified divers: bring your <strong>card<\/strong>, and a logbook does no harm.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Book it or do it yourself?<\/h2>\n<p>Diving needs a centre, so book. But if you only want to look into the water, <a href=\"\/en\/snorkelling-and-kayaking\/\">mask and snorkel<\/a> get you a long way at Garajau: the reserve starts right at the pebble beach, and the big fish are not only at 20 metres.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udc49 <a class=\"wom-aff wom-aff--getyourguide\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getyourguide.com\/en-gb\/madeira-l67\/diving-tc56\/\" rel=\"sponsored nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">See all diving options on GetYourGuide<\/a> <small class=\"wom-aff__flag\">(Affiliate link)<\/small><\/p>\n<p>Next: <a href=\"\/en\/snorkelling-and-kayaking\/\">Snorkelling and kayaking<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/whale-and-dolphin-watching\/\">Whale and dolphin watching<\/a> \u00b7 <a href=\"\/en\/surf-lessons\/\">Surf lessons<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>45 diving options from around \u20ac19. Madeira is not a reef destination \u2014 it is a wall destination. The rock drops away underwater exactly as it does above, and the water rarely falls below 18 \u00b0C even in winter. Visibility of 20 to 30 metres is normal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":67,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coast-ocean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonmadeira.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}