Mada Gala

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A named reef from the chart, not a dive site anyone has told us about. It may be a great dive or a sandbar at low tide. If you dive it, log the dive here so the crew knows.

What you'll see (13)

Green Sea TurtleChelonia mydasseen 15× near here

Tawny Hermit CrabCoenobita rugosusseen 5× near here

Thin-shelled Rock CrabGrapsus tenuicrustatusseen 3× near here

pot-hole urchinStomopneustes variolarisseen 2× near here

Purple Hermit CrabCoenobita brevimanusseen 1× near here

Smooth-handed Ghost CrabOcypode cordimanaseen 1× near here

Mottled Lightfoot CrabGrapsus albolineatusseen 1× near here

Left-handed Hermit CrabCalcinus laevimanusseen 1× near here

Isabella CowrieLuria isabellaseen 1× near here

Abbas ConeConus abbasseen 1× near here

Leaping BlennyAlticus saliensseen 1× near here

Eyed CowrieArestorides argusseen 1× near here

Oliva macleayaseen 1× near here

Planning a trip

6–8 days

worth going for

Long flight and a domestic connection.

2,677km from Singapore — about 18h each way, so two of those days are travel. 3 dive sites within 25km.

When people dive it

Busiest Jan, Feb, Mar · almost nobody dives it Jun.

From 1,432 logged sightings — when divers are in the water, which is not quite the same as when visibility is best.

Dive Crew is a dive group from Singapore. Members plan trips here, log their dives, and share their photos of each site.

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Monsoon

Good

October works.

Two coasts, two opposite seasons. The island always has one side working.

The year here

JFMAMJJASOND

Best here: February, March, April.

Sri Lanka. Written by hand from how the season actually runs, calibrated against what the boats do, since a season that disagrees with the operators is wrong however good the meteorology behind it. It describes most years, not this one: the forecast above is what knows about next week.

Moon and tides

Waning gibbous

72% lit · day 20 of the lunar month

Neap tides

Neap tides — the smallest range of the month, so the weakest currents. Easy conditions and usually the clearest water, though a drift site may barely drift.

New 10 Oct Full 26 Oct

Phase computed here, not fetched. This is the spring/neap cycle, which sets how hard the water moves — not a tide table: no free source publishes high and low water for Southeast Asian reefs, and the range peaks a day or two after the moon does, by an amount that varies with the coast. For times on the day, ask the operator.

Getting there

~9h 42m

door to water, each way · 4 legs

FlightColombo (CMB)~6h 9mFlight time plus the airports at both ends. A connection adds to it.Find flights →
Transferthe jetty~1h 3mRoad transfer to the coast, usually arranged by the resort or liveaboard.Directions →
Ferrythe crossing~2hAt this distance the last stretch is a scheduled crossing rather than a dive boat, so book it before the flight — a missed sailing usually costs a day. Which crossing it is has been worked out from the distance and not from a timetable; ask the operator.
Dive boatMada Gala~30 minThen the dive boat out from the island.

📍 Mada Gala on Google Maps 🧭 Route from Colombo

Times marked ~ are estimated from straight-line distance and will be roughly right at best. The road legs are the ones Google Maps answers properly; it will not plan the ferry or the dive boat at all. A dive site's coordinates put a pin in open water, so the map link drops you on the site, not on a jetty.

Details

Country: Sri Lanka
Marks: 6°3.000'N 80°9.000'E
Position: 6.0500, 80.1500

On Wikidata →

Where it is

Loading the map…

Nearby

Sightings and photographs from iNaturalist contributors, research-grade records within 6km, under Creative Commons licences. Counts are what divers and snorkellers have bothered to log — a common fish with few records is common all the same.