Watamu & Malindi

The centres here sit on the beach, and the day is shaped by the tide over the reef flat: boats are pushed off the sand, run out through a gap in the fringing reef and are usually back within a couple of hours. Sites are close enough that a two-tank morning is standard, which leaves the afternoon for Mida Creek, the Arabuko-Sokoke forest inland or a second short dive. A few shallow entries can be made straight off the beach, so diving fits around a family holiday rather than dictating it.

The ground underwater comes in three levels. Inside the lagoon there is sand, seagrass and scattered coral heads in a few metres of water, forgiving enough that courses are run there. The reef edge is a shelf of old boulder corals whose resident fish barely shift off them. Past the edge the bottom breaks up and steps down, and that is where the deeper sites and what current there is are found. North of Watamu the Sabaki River empties just above Malindi, and its silt can leave that end of the coast far murkier after heavy rain.

Warm, shallow water and light current make this a sensible place to learn, to come back to diving after years away, or to dive with children old enough for a junior certification. The trade-off is a hard-stopped season: the south-easterly kusi and the long rains put the boats away from April to June, and schedules only firm up again through July and August. For divers who like small animals, the night dives on the shallow coral heads are the thing to plan around.