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Dive Review of Fifth Element in
General Travel/Other Locations/Reunion Island

Fifth Element: "Scary Dive Guide", Oct, 2018,

by C Leroy Anderson, UT, US (Contributor Contributor 13 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 10725.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations N/A Food N/A
Service and Attitude 1 stars Environmental Sensitivity 2 stars
Dive Operation 1 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 1 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 3 stars
Comments Scary dive guide
I went diving with this company while in Reunion Island and had a frightening experience. I was almost out of air at 60 feet and informed the guide who said this was “ok” and not to initiate an ascent. When I was down to 250 psi he still wanted me to remain with him at 60 feet. I judged I did not want to drown so I initiated an ascent. When I got to 30 feet I had 150 psi in my tank and was continuing a slow safe ascent when the guide suddenly and very aggressively swam up to me and grabbed my jacket and pulled me back down to 60 feet with him. He mentioned for me to follow him and I could tell I only had a few breaths left in my tank. We arrive at the boat anchor and then do a very rapid ascent to the surface where I arrive totally out of air. I asked him why on earth he behaved this way on the dive and he says “in France divers must stay together”. I went on my second dive of the day with an alternate company and had a much better and pleasant experience. Just a word of warning, I hope you are more fortunate if you decide to dive with this company. The above report is for the Fifth Element company, not for the company I will describe below which I switched to after my dive with the Fifth Element.
For my second dive of the day, I went with a different company, O Sea Bleau. The guides were in this case very good and helpful and totally appropriate underwater, though they could not help the fact that diving on this island is quite mediocre, with no pelagics dolphins seen, little in the way of macro life, and few fish, as well as almost no coral life. We did see some interesting pipefish as the overall highlight of the two dives. O Sea Bleau did have nitrox available which was also nice. Reunion Island, FYI, is a French territory in the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar and south of the Seychelles. It is very first world in nature, with many French tourists and French inhabitants. It is essentially the "Hawaii" of France. Fabulous mountaineering, hiking, and canyoneering apart from the rather mediocre diving. Many great hotel options, and wonderful French food.
Websites Fifth Element   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Everywhere
Closest Airport RUN Getting There Via Paris and Air France

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, rainy, cloudy Seas calm, no currents
Water Temp 70-78°F / 21-26°C Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility 50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions See below
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 1 stars Tropical Fish 2 stars
Small Critters 2 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 2 stars Boat Facilities 1 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 2 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Small skiff, no set up for photography.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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