It took several countries and a few continents for Tamelyn O’Mahony and Julien Thomas to find their way to Kenya.

Always in the water as a child growing-up in South Africa and a keen diver since 2000, Tamelyn, who holds a BA in Visual Communications, swapped Johannesburg for life onboard super yachts travelling and diving around the world. Over the course of 10 years, Tamelyn explored the sights and underwater kingdoms of Europe, North and South America, the Caribbean and Asia as well as Indian Ocean territories.

After a four-year stint as a diving instructor in Thailand, Tamelyn returned to yachting for one final year before heading to the Bahamas where she met Julien.

Julien, from France, grew-up between Libya and France, next to the ocean. Julien achieved his first diving certification with CMAS in France in 1993 and became a PADI Dive Master in Madagascar, in 2006. In the intervening years, Julien honed his skills in the hospitality industry in the Amazon and Indian Ocean.

Julien’s work as a diving instructor and dive center manager took him to Thailand, the Maldives, Egypt, Panama and, finally, the Bahamas.

Life as diving instructors, videographers and photographers at sea was exchanged for the twin-position of dive and resort managers on a small island in South Lake Malawi. It was while in Malawi that the couple began searching for a base between their homes in France and South Africa.

“We decided we wanted a new challenge and to get back to the salt water,” explains Tamelyn. “So when Mombasa came up, which had been a dream for both of us, we decided to come and see what it is all about.”

Four months in, diving in Kenya, as managers at Diving the Crab, has impressed them both. They share the view that Kenya is an underrated, very special, diving destination. What they see in the waters of Diani on a daily basis, observes Tamelyn, is spectacular. It is a place where macro life meets whale sharks and dolphins, among lively and colourful coral gardens.

Julien’s favourite dive sites are Kinondo, for the impressive amount of fish, Igloo Reef for all the macro and Dzinani because of the white sand surrounding the pinnacles.

Tamelyn enjoys Galu for the sleepy, lazy turtles, drift diving at Mwanamochi, Nomads and Mwanayaza and the wreck for its abundant fish life. Night dives at Chale Marine Park have also been memorable.

As for their favourite sea-faring creatures, both site the octopus and the majestic whale shark, which makes a star turn between November and March each year, as well as stingrays, dolphins, delicate nudibranchs and the different species of moray eels.

With all this and more to offer, Kenya is also a great place to learn diving, says Tamelyn. “We have sites available for all certifications and levels of diving.”

So, divers and would-be divers: what are you waiting for?

Top of the list for many scuba divers who are keen on underwater photography, especially macro, are beautiful nudibranchs. These stunning critters are part of the sea slug family and noted for their indulgent beauty and intricate display of patterns, shapes and colours. The delicate, flower-like protrusions on their backs are exposed gills (nudibranch means ‘naked gill’).

Ranging in length from just a few millimeters to a few centimeters, they are often hard to spot but the keen-eyes of experienced divers can often seek them out. The nudibranchs’ vibrant colours appear to have evolved from the need to camouflage and defend themselves against predators such as fish. The nudibranchs feed on coral, sponges and sea anemones and their life span, which ranges from as little as one week to as long as one year, depends on the food sources available to them.

These fascinating wonders of nature are hermaphrodites, in possession of both male and female reproductive organs. Nudibranchs cannot, however, fertilise themselves; mating couples may fight one another as if dancing a waltz over who is the male and who is the female. The impregnated nudibranch can produce up to one million eggs that can sometimes be seen on the reef laid in spiral, ribbon-like formations.

There are over 2,000 known species of nudibranch inhabiting all of the world’s oceans. During Kenya’s warm season from December to March, the reef can become awash with these radiant creatures, a wonderful sight to behold.

Next time a slug is spotted on the grass or in the garden, think of it’s beautiful underwater cousins waiting to be spotted at the incredible dive sites in the Diani Beach area of Kenya.

Diving the Crab’s night dives around the reef and waters of Chale Island unveil the mysterious, haunting spectacle of Kenya’s Indian Ocean in all its hidden beauty. The fall of darkness can render the familiar startlingly altered and unfamiliar. Scuba divers who’ve explored our magical underwater world past the twilight hour know this to be true of the ocean…

Under the calm cover of darkness, nocturnal creatures from lobster and shrimp to flat worms and eels begin to emerge while colourful coral polpys open to feed, drawing nutrients from the passing currents.

Senses are heightened at night. You see only what the beam of your torchlight allows you to see. This light is being filtered at a mere few feet, rather than from around 30 feet up on the surface of the ocean, casting the reef into technicolour and bringing a luminous intensity to the slow-moving scenes unfolding before you.

One of the unique appeals of scuba diving at night is the phosphorescent appearance of bioluminescent plankton, the fireflies of the sea – tiny microorganisms that glow in the dark like a thousand stars as divers move through the water.
Bring a spirit of adventure and enter the serene night time world of scuba diving at Chale Island for unforgettable underwater adventures.