Cargados Carajos
Cargados Carajos Shoals (sometimes refferd to as the Saint Brandon Rocks) are a group of about 22 small islands and islets on an extended reef in the Indian Ocean northeast of Mauritius. The emergent parts of the formation comprise a great, 100 km long, crescent-shaped expanse of reef and algal ridge covering around 190 square km. The west side of the reef ridge protects a large area of shallow water that averages less than 20 m in depth. Within this semi-lagoon are numerous sandbanks and small sand cays. The island atoll is like the Maldives, a real diving paradise. The curious thing about it, is that is not open to tourists.
In the past, Cargados Carajos was a large, volcanic island (a part of the Mascarenes, caused by the Reunion hotspot). Over time however, the island eroded until it became submerged and a coral atoll was left behind.
The 22 islets are independent area of Mauritius. The far northern part of the Cargados Carajos shoals are flanked by the two outlying islands of Siren Island and North Island. On the northern tip of the reef are the small islets of Ile Raphael. On the western side of the shoals are a string of small islets that form a loose boundary to the western margins of the lagoon: Frigate Island, Perle (Pearl) Island and the Pearl Breaker reef. Isolated around 20 km north of the shoals lies the outlying reef-fringed island of Albatross.
Althought the tourists’s prohibition, there are many ways to get around the island. Foreign licenses are accepted but there is a requirement to be over 23 years old, so if you are planning to drive, just remember that traffic drives, erratically. According to the participants, diving in Cargados Carajos was extremely interesting, and this archipelago can be attributed to one of the best places for diving in the world. Additional intrigue is the fact, that there is no safari ship and shore-based dive-center. Diving maps doesn’t exist also. It’s all about free diving….The islets of the Cargados Carajos shoals are also regionally important for their seabird populations and Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting sites.
