- Open Water course
- CVE 48,406
- Water temperature
- 22–27°C
Updated July 2026
Good to know
Good to Know
- Diving here is a day-boat (and occasionally shore-accessible) affair rather than liveaboard-dependent — local dive centers around Santa Maria and Palmeira run most trips within about 25 minutes by boat.
- There is no hyperbaric chamber in Cape Verde; the nearest is in Dakar, Senegal, roughly 280 miles away, which is worth knowing before doing deep or technical dives.
- If you want to hear humpback whale song underwater, aim for January–April; for turtles and sand tiger (Raggie) sharks, June–November is the better window.
- Some cave sites around Palmeira and Muderia are genuinely advanced/technical dives — cave-diving certification is recommended, not just an 'advanced diver' card.
- Course prices from Sal operators are commonly quoted in euros even though the local currency is the Cape Verdean escudo (CVE) — expect to pay in CVE or EUR interchangeably at most dive shops.
- At least one Santa Maria freediving operator has a documented customer complaint about a quoted per-person price being raised after the client had already committed — get your final price confirmed in writing (email/WhatsApp) before paying, regardless of which operator you choose.
- Diving here is boat-based rather than shore-based for most of the best sites (caves off Palmeira/Murdeira, wrecks off Santa Maria), so factor in the ~20-25 minute boat ride most operators include as part of a 'fun dive' or course day.
Dive Sites And Conditions
- Access Summary
- Diving around Sal is genuinely day-boat and, at a few spots, shore-accessible — it is NOT a liveaboard-dependent destination. Dive centers are based mainly around Santa Maria and Palmeira, and operators such as ScubaCaribe describe trips to their most interesting sites as being a maximum of about 25 minutes by boat from base. Some liveaboard operators (e.g. Te Moana Expeditions) run trips that include Sal but are typically oriented toward combining multiple Cape Verde islands rather than being required to reach Sal's own local sites.
- Water Temperature
- Roughly 22–27°C (72–81°F) year-round, supporting both shore and boat diving conditions.
- No True Rainy Season Note
- Cape Verde has no classic rainy season in the European sense — locals describe two periods, the windier 'Tempo das Brisas' (roughly October to mid-July) and the shorter, occasionally wet 'Tempo das Chuvas' (August–September) — so diving is possible year-round.
Sites
Buracona
- Type
- Volcanic cave / natural cove (cavern/cathedral-style swim-through)
- Access
- Shore/near-shore, on the northwest side near Palmeira — one of the most accessible and famous sites on the island
- Best Season
- Year-round; light effects through the collapsed cave roof are best around midday sun
- Marine Life Highlights
- Known mainly for its dramatic light show through a natural siphon rather than big marine life; often combined with nearby cave dives
- Notes
- Described as a huge cave with multiple entrances and one of Sal's signature natural features.
Palmeira and Muderia Cave Systems
- Type
- Cave / cavern diving
- Access
- Boat, off the island's northwest coast
- Best Season
- Year-round, but treated as advanced/technical dives
- Marine Life Highlights
- Sharks, rays, polyps and crabs inside cathedral-like cave chambers
- Notes
- These caves have several large openings into enormous cathedral-like spaces, and divers report an old cache of dumped ammunition inside. Some of the caves are difficult to reach and require cave-diving certification/training for safety.
Pontinha (Pontinha Deep)
- Type
- Wall dive
- Access
- Boat
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life Highlights
- Lobsters, moray eels and rays sheltering in the wall's nooks and crevices
- Notes
- The wall starts at 14m and drops to a maximum of about 30m; the dive is often split into a deeper ~30m section and a shallower ~20m section, with the slope continuing into open blue water below.
Morro Das Pedras
- Type
- Wall/pinnacle over a volcanic sandy seabed
- Access
- Boat
- Best Season
- Year-round for shark sightings
- Marine Life Highlights
- Described as a 'cathedral in the desert' with shark sightings reported throughout the year
- Notes
- Maximum depth around 32m; considered one of the more demanding sites.
Ponta Preta Funda
- Type
- Sandbank
- Access
- Boat, on the west side of the island
- Best Season
- January–April for humpback whale song; June–November for turtles and Raggie (sand tiger) sharks
- Marine Life Highlights
- Humpback whale song audible underwater Jan–Apr; turtles and Raggie sharks Jun–Nov
- Notes
- Maximum depth around 31m.
Champignon
- Type
- Wall dive
- Access
- Boat, near Dumas
- Best Season
- Year-round; visibility can reportedly reach up to 70m at times
- Marine Life Highlights
- Turtles are a highlight of this site
- Notes
- Maximum depth around 14m, making it a comparatively shallow, relaxed wall dive.
Santo Antão Wreck
- Type
- Wreck
- Access
- Boat, roughly an 8-minute ride from the Santa Maria/Riu Hotel bay area on the south of Sal
- Best Season
- Year-round; shallow and suitable for all levels
- Marine Life Highlights
- Pufferfish, parrotfish, stingrays, nudibranchs, soldierfish and turtles
- Notes
- A 1957-built, 53.3m cargo ship that sank after hitting a reef near Sal's shore on 8 January 1966; it now forms part of an artificial reef near Santa Maria along with at least one other wreck in the same bay.
Farol
- Type
- Reef/wreck site (exact classification unclear from available sources)
- Access
- Boat, second dive of the day for some operators after the Santo Antão wreck
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life Highlights
- Dolphins have been reported near the surface after dives at this site
- Notes
- Named in operator dive logs as a second-dive site in the same southern Sal area as Santo Antão; detailed depth/topography wasn't confirmed in sourcing.
Jardim
- Type
- Reef
- Access
- Boat, just in front of the Riu Funana hotel area
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life Highlights
- Not separately detailed in sourcing beyond general reef life
- Notes
- Mentioned alongside Ponta Preta as a site that has been the focus of local dive-community beach/ocean cleanup efforts.
Ponta Preta (Reef Site)
- Type
- Reef
- Access
- Boat, near the Riu Funana hotel area
- Best Season
- Year-round
- Marine Life Highlights
- Not separately detailed beyond general reef life
- Notes
- Distinct from the 'Ponta Preta Funda' sandbank site further west; both share the Ponta Preta name so it's worth confirming with your dive center which one is meant.
Typical Course Costs
PADI Open Water Diver
- PADI Open Water Diver
- CVE 48,406
Quoted at €439 by a Sal-based PADI operator; converted using the fixed CVE-EUR peg and a current EUR-USD rate.
Quoted at €319 by a Sal-based PADI operator.
- Quoted At €319 By A Sal Based PADI Operator.
- CVE 35,175
Quoted at €219 by a Sal-based PADI operator.
- Quoted At €219 By A Sal Based PADI Operator.
- CVE 24,148
Freediving Fundamentals / Basic-level freediving course
- Freediving Fundamentals / Basic Level Freediving Course
- CVE 10,475
One Santa Maria, Sal freediving operator quoted €95 per person for a basic course; note a documented customer complaint about the price being raised after booking (see “Good To Know”).
Certifying Bodies And Levels
SSI
- Notes
- This is freediving-specific SSI training rather than scuba; found associated with dive/freediving operators based at hotels in Santa Maria, Sal (e.g. properties referencing Hotel Farol and Hotel Meliá Tortuga).
Confirmed Levels Offered
- SSI Basic Freediver
- SSI Advanced Freediver
- SSI Performance Freediver
- SSI Variable Weight and No-Fins Freediving specialties
- SSI Freediving Instructor / Advanced Instructor / Assistant Instructor Trainer pathways
PADI
- Divemaster Or Higher
- Not explicitly confirmed for Sal-based centers in this research; several operators are full PADI Resorts/Dive Centers, which commonly progress divers toward Divemaster, but no Sal-specific Divemaster course listing was found and verified.
- Notes
- Multiple PADI-affiliated centers in Santa Maria, Sal use PADI Touch eLearning for the theory portion, completed online before or during the trip, with confined-water and open-water dives done locally.
Confirmed Levels Offered In Sal
- Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) - intro/try-dive, no certification
- PADI Scuba Diver (intermediate certification, subset of Open Water)
- PADI Open Water Diver
- PADI Adventure Diver (3 Adventure Dives, subset of Advanced Open Water)
- PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
- PADI Junior Open Water / kids' Bubblemaker-style programs
- Emergency First Response (EFR) - first aid add-on
Operator Density
- Caveat
- This list reflects PADI's own directory plus independent listings found via search; it is not necessarily exhaustive of every operator currently trading in Santa Maria.
- Summary
- Diving in Cape Verde is concentrated on Sal, and Santa Maria (Sal's main town) has a genuinely multi-operator scene rather than just one or two shops.
Named Operators Found
- Cabo Verde Diving (formerly at Meliá Tortuga, now under Aqualis/Cabo Diving Center management)
- Atlantic Star Nautical Center
- Scubateam Cabo Verde (based at Hotel Morabeza, Santa Maria)
- Eco Dive School Cabo Verde (Antonio Sousa beach, near Santa Maria)
- ScubaCaribe Sal (resort-affiliated dive courses)
- Riamar Diving Center (credited as a PADI contributor for the Cape Verde dive region)
- At least one dedicated freediving school (Apnea Boom / similarly branded operators) plus SSI-affiliated freediving instruction based at hotels in Santa Maria
Freediving Crossover
- Details
- Freediving in Sal is offered as its own distinct course track (SSI Basic/Advanced/Performance Freediver, plus a locally-branded freediving-and-breathing course) rather than being a side-offering bolted onto scuba shops. Some of the same hotel-based dive/watersports operations in Santa Maria host both scuba and freediving instruction, and the same shallow reef, cave and wreck sites off Santa Maria and Palmeira are used for both disciplines.
- Genuine Crossover Confirmed
- Yes
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.