Some kind of diving is practiced by about 75% of the tourists that visit Fernando de Noronha. It is good to always take some safety precautions, such as checking the equipment, not diving alone and knowing the system of currents of the Archipelago, which move in the northeast-southwest direction.
What makes Fernando de Noronha one of the best dive sites in the world is not only the beauty of the underwater landscape, nor the abundance of marine animals, much less the diversity of fauna. What distinguishes the archipelago is the convenience of knowing the underwater world with water by the waist or in dives of 100 meters of depth and the great facility to watch lobsters, octopuses, shoals of fish, sharks and turtles.
Fernando de Noronha is good at any time of the year for the two most common diving modalities: free and scuba diving. If you do not bring your dive gear, you will have several options for rent on the Island, from the mask to the regulator.
The free diving is divided into three modalities: snorkeling (swimming with equipment), apnea and towed. To perform the free dive the following basic equipment is needed: diving mask, snorkel and fins. In the Mar de Dentro (Inner Sea), which has better dive conditions from July to December, the best points are: Port’s wreck, right side of Conceição Beach, Boldró’s Reef and the right side of Sancho’s Bay. In the Mar de Fora (Outer Sea), the best dive spots are: Sueste Bay, Lion Beach and Caieira Cove.
About 40% of the tourists that visit Fernando de Noronha scuba dive in one of the five centers that offer first diving, scuba diving, technical diving and courses. There are dive operations from boats and there are several dive points that are usually chosen according to the conditions of the sea, and it is also possible to scuba dive from the beach, in the Santo Antonio’s Bay. The best scuba diving spots are in the Mar de Fora (Outer Sea): Pedras Secas, Iúias and Cabeço do Submarino, where sea conditions are better from March to May. In the Mar de Dentro (Inner Sea), the best places are the Cave and Cabeço da Sapata and Pontal do Norte. The slopes of the Rata (Rat) and Middle Islands are most commonly used for first diving.