When is the diving season in Zanzibar?

The diving season in Zanzibar runs June to March, and it is at its best November to March.

Is the diving in Zanzibar good for beginners?

Yes. It suits Open Water divers, so it works for a first trip after certification.

How warm is the water in Zanzibar?

Between 26 and 29 °C at the surface across the year, coldest in August and warmest in March. It runs cooler below the thermocline.

What wetsuit do I need in Zanzibar?

A 3 mm full suit covers the coldest water of the year. In the warmest months a skin or 3 mm shorty is enough.

What is the visibility like in Zanzibar?

Roughly 5 to 15 m depending on the month. That is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a rather than measured in the water.

What will I see diving Zanzibar?

The most consistently recorded species are Green turtle (near-guaranteed), Humpback whale (hit-or-miss) and Yellowfin tuna (hit-or-miss), from 146 records within 60 km.

Does Zanzibar get tropical storms?

Yes. Over 30 years of records a storm passed within 250 km in May, most often in May at 1 of 30 years.

Is there current in Zanzibar?

The tide rises and falls 3.5 m around the full and new moon, against 1.4 m in between. How much of that becomes current depends on the shape of the channel.

When should I avoid Zanzibar?

April–May are the weakest months for conditions.

How do you dive Zanzibar?

Mostly from day boats. Trips run through the season, Jun–Mar.

Tanzania

Best Time to Dive in Zanzibar

5.82°S 39.40°E

The wildlife shows no season worth planning around, so it comes down to the weather: go November to March. Diving holds up from June to March.

Best time: Nov–Mar
Water: 26–29 °C
Visibility: 5–15 m
Season runs: Jun–Mar
Dived from: day boat
Tidal range: 1.4–3.5 m
Species logged: 4

Where it is

Tanzania

111 km across · coastline from Natural Earth 10m

Diving in Zanzibar — monthly breakdown

Best months at this destination

A year of scuba diving conditions at a glance. Hover a month to isolate it.

Month by month conditions, water temperature, visibility and marine life
	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Conditions	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Poor	Poor	Good	Moderate	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent
Water temp (°C)	28	29	29	29	28	27	26	26	26	27	28	29
Visibility (m)	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15	5–15
Marine life	Steady	Steady	Busy	Busy	Steady	Busy	Steady	Busy	Steady	Steady	Busy	Steady
Best time	Peak	Peak	Peak								Peak	Peak

Excellent Good Moderate PoorPeak season Nov–Mar

Long-term averages, 2016–2025. Visibility is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a. Water temperature is the surface mean; it is cooler at depth.

The Zanzibar diving season

2 seasons

April to May · Off season

2 months

JFMAMJJASOND

Water temperature: 28–29 °C
Visibility: 5–15 m
Rain: 24 days a month

Diving conditionsIt rains more. The wind is up.

June to March · Peak season

10 months

JFMAMJJASOND

Water temperature: 26–29 °C
Visibility: 5–15 m
Rain: 15 days a month

Diving conditionsIt rains less. The wind eases.

Spring tides run 3.5 m against 1.4 m on neaps, so currents build around the full and new moon.
Water temperature is satellite sea-surface temperature, so expect it cooler below the thermocline.
Visibility is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a.

Zanzibar water temperature and weather

146 underwater observation records · 21 surveyed years of ocean data · 10 years of sea temperature

Water & weather

Zanzibar water temperature by month

The dashed line is the monthly average. Eight days in ten fall inside the band.

10th to 90th percentile rangemonthly mean

rough days a month

Seas top 1.5 m on 11% of days. Enough to cancel a day boat

blowy days a month

Gusts over 40 km/h, about where a day boat stays in port

wet days a month

3 of them bring heavy rain

Monthly sea state, wind, rain, air temperature and daylight
Month	Swell	Gusts over 40 km/h	Wet days	Heavy rain	Air	Daylight
January	1.6 m	0%	11	2	29 °C	12.3 h
February	1.5 m	0%	9	1	30 °C	12.2 h
March	1.1 m	0%	19	4	30 °C	12.0 h
April	1.2 m	0%	28	13	28 °C	11.9 h
May	1.6 m	0%	21	7	28 °C	11.7 h
June	1.7 m	0%	15	2	28 °C	11.7 h
July	1.7 m	0%	13	0	27 °C	11.7 h
August	1.6 m	0%	16	0	27 °C	11.8 h
September	1.5 m	0%	15	0	28 °C	12.0 h
October	1.4 m	0%	15	2	28 °C	12.1 h
November	1.1 m	0%	20	4	29 °C	12.3 h
December	1.3 m	0%	21	3	29 °C	12.3 h

Swell is the rough end of the month: nine days in ten come in under it. Sea temperature covers 10 years, waves 4.

Pick your week

48 weeks from the daily record. Darker is better, against this site's own year. Pick a month for the detail.

Conditions by week, four weeks per month

Week 1	January week 1: Good	February week 1: Excellent	March week 1: Good	April week 1: Poor	May week 1: Poor	June week 1: Good	July week 1: Poor	August week 1: Excellent	September week 1: Good	October week 1: Good	November week 1: Excellent	December week 1: Excellent
Week 2	January week 2: Good	February week 2: Excellent	March week 2: Good	April week 2: Poor	May week 2: Poor	June week 2: Excellent	July week 2: Moderate	August week 2: Excellent	September week 2: Excellent	October week 2: Excellent	November week 2: Excellent	December week 2: Excellent
Week 3	January week 3: Excellent	February week 3: Excellent	March week 3: Excellent	April week 3: Poor	May week 3: Poor	June week 3: Excellent	July week 3: Good	August week 3: Good	September week 3: Excellent	October week 3: Excellent	November week 3: Excellent	December week 3: Excellent
Week 4	January week 4: Excellent	February week 4: Excellent	March week 4: Excellent	April week 4: Poor	May week 4: Poor	June week 4: Moderate	July week 4: Moderate	August week 4: Good	September week 4: Excellent	October week 4: Excellent	November week 4: Excellent	December week 4: Good

Excellent Good Moderate PoorBest week to go: fourth of January

January, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Good	29 °C	1.3 m	21 km/h	56%
Week 2	Good	29 °C	1.5 m	23 km/h	44%
Week 3	Excellent	28 °C	1.7 m	23 km/h	28%
Week 4	Excellent	28 °C	1.6 m	21 km/h	23%

February, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	28 °C	1.5 m	21 km/h	27%
Week 2	Excellent	29 °C	1.4 m	21 km/h	30%
Week 3	Excellent	29 °C	1.4 m	20 km/h	35%
Week 4	Excellent	29 °C	1.5 m	19 km/h	40%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Good	29 °C	1.4 m	19 km/h	45%
Week 2	Good	29 °C	1.2 m	19 km/h	49%
Week 3	Excellent	29 °C	1.0 m	18 km/h	62%
Week 4	Excellent	30 °C	0.8 m	16 km/h	80%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	30 °C	0.8 m	16 km/h	91%
Week 2	Poor	29 °C	1.1 m	17 km/h	95%
Week 3	Poor	29 °C	1.3 m	18 km/h	92%
Week 4	Poor	29 °C	1.3 m	18 km/h	86%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	29 °C	1.4 m	19 km/h	82%
Week 2	Poor	28 °C	1.4 m	19 km/h	73%
Week 3	Poor	28 °C	1.6 m	19 km/h	63%
Week 4	Poor	28 °C	1.6 m	20 km/h	57%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Good	28 °C	1.6 m	20 km/h	53%
Week 2	Excellent	27 °C	1.6 m	21 km/h	45%
Week 3	Excellent	27 °C	1.6 m	21 km/h	45%
Week 4	Moderate	27 °C	1.8 m	21 km/h	53%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Poor	27 °C	1.8 m	21 km/h	51%
Week 2	Moderate	26 °C	1.7 m	22 km/h	43%
Week 3	Good	26 °C	1.7 m	22 km/h	37%
Week 4	Moderate	26 °C	1.6 m	22 km/h	44%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	26 °C	1.6 m	21 km/h	52%
Week 2	Excellent	26 °C	1.6 m	20 km/h	49%
Week 3	Good	26 °C	1.6 m	21 km/h	48%
Week 4	Good	26 °C	1.6 m	22 km/h	53%

September, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Good	26 °C	1.6 m	22 km/h	55%
Week 2	Excellent	26 °C	1.5 m	21 km/h	51%
Week 3	Excellent	26 °C	1.4 m	21 km/h	47%
Week 4	Excellent	26 °C	1.4 m	21 km/h	47%

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Good	26 °C	1.5 m	21 km/h	47%
Week 2	Excellent	27 °C	1.4 m	20 km/h	42%
Week 3	Excellent	27 °C	1.3 m	20 km/h	46%
Week 4	Excellent	27 °C	1.2 m	19 km/h	55%

November, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	28 °C	1.2 m	19 km/h	63%
Week 2	Excellent	28 °C	1.1 m	18 km/h	67%
Week 3	Excellent	28 °C	1.0 m	17 km/h	68%
Week 4	Excellent	28 °C	1.1 m	17 km/h	72%

December, week by week

Week	Conditions	Water	Swell	Wind	Rain chance
Week 1	Excellent	28 °C	1.0 m	16 km/h	71%
Week 2	Excellent	29 °C	1.1 m	16 km/h	67%
Week 3	Excellent	29 °C	1.3 m	18 km/h	65%
Week 4	Good	29 °C	1.3 m	20 km/h	64%

10 years of daily records, averaged into weeks.

Gear & storms

What to wear

Off the coldest water of each month, not the average — that is what the suit has to cope with.

Wetsuit thickness by month
	January	February	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December
Suit	January: skin	February: skin	March: skin	April: skin	May: skin	June: 3 mm	July: 3 mm	August: 3 mm	September: 3 mm	October: 3 mm	November: skin	December: skin

Nov–Mayskin or 3 mm shorty
Jun–Oct3 mm full suit

Swell through the year

The rough end of each month — nine days in ten come in under it.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Amber is over 1.5 m.

Tides

Daily tidal range across one lunar month.

Tropical storms

1 of the last 30 Mays saw a tropical storm pass within 250 km. May is the only month with a recorded pass.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Share of the last 30 years with a storm that month.

NOAASea surface temperature, from OISST and MUR
ERA5Wind, waves, rain and air temperature, via Open-Meteo
OBISMarine species records within 60 km
IBTrACSTropical cyclone tracks, 1996 to 2025

Zanzibar marine life — what you'll see diving

146 records within 60 km

Only 146 records have been logged within 60 km. A thin record is not an empty reef.

Species	When	Reliability	Evidence	Records
Green turtle	Mar–Apr, Jun, Aug	Near-guaranteed	14/21	46
Humpback whale	Aug, Oct	Hit-or-miss	6/21	37
Yellowfin tuna	Jan, Sep, Nov	Hit-or-miss	6/21	9
Bluespotted ribbontail ray	Mar, Jun, Nov	Likely	10/21	13

Peak Present

Observed window: Months with records. Peak is where most of them fall.
Reliability: Near-guaranteed in 60% of surveyed years or more
Likely 30% to 60%
Hit-or-miss under 30%
Evidence: Years it was seen, out of the years anyone surveyed.
Records: OBIS sightings within 60 km.

These are sightings people logged, not a full survey of the reef. A species missing from a month may just mean nobody recorded one.

Diving Zanzibar — common questions

When is the best time to dive Zanzibar?: The wildlife shows no season worth planning around, so it comes down to the weather: go November to March. Diving holds up from June to March.
When is the diving season in Zanzibar?: The diving season in Zanzibar runs June to March, and it is at its best November to March.
Is the diving in Zanzibar good for beginners?: Yes. It suits Open Water divers, so it works for a first trip after certification.
How warm is the water in Zanzibar?: Between 26 and 29 °C at the surface across the year, coldest in August and warmest in March. It runs cooler below the thermocline.
What wetsuit do I need in Zanzibar?: A 3 mm full suit covers the coldest water of the year. In the warmest months a skin or 3 mm shorty is enough.
What is the visibility like in Zanzibar?: Roughly 5 to 15 m depending on the month. That is estimated from satellite chlorophyll-a rather than measured in the water.
What will I see diving Zanzibar?: The most consistently recorded species are Green turtle (near-guaranteed), Humpback whale (hit-or-miss) and Yellowfin tuna (hit-or-miss), from 146 records within 60 km.
Does Zanzibar get tropical storms?: Yes. Over 30 years of records a storm passed within 250 km in May, most often in May at 1 of 30 years.
Is there current in Zanzibar?: The tide rises and falls 3.5 m around the full and new moon, against 1.4 m in between. How much of that becomes current depends on the shape of the channel.
When should I avoid Zanzibar?: April–May are the weakest months for conditions.
How do you dive Zanzibar?: Mostly from day boats. Trips run through the season, Jun–Mar.