Cap La Houssaye (Réunion)

Where is Cap La Houssaye on Réunion?

Cap La Houssaye closes off the south end of Saint-Paul Bay, north of Saint-Gilles harbor, in the town of Saint-Paul. It takes its name from the Breton captain Guillaume La Houssaye. It is a basalt point, and its ridges, slopes, crevices and small rock walls are covered in hard coral. In 2010, the Conservatoire du littoral, the French coastal agency, announced it wanted to buy 400 hectares at the cape to protect it. Underwater, it marks the northern limit of the National Marine Nature Reserve, created in 2007, which covers 3,500 hectares down to the Roche aux Oiseaux at L'Étang-Salé and protects 40 km of coastline, 20 of them coral reef.

What is the dive like at Cap La Houssaye?

The typical dive starts at a cannon lying at around 5 m. You then follow the seagrass bed, where green turtles graze or sleep, and move on to the reef rocks, their caves and crevices, where spiny lobsters and slipper lobsters sit deep in the holes, down to 18 m on the sand. The route is short and you take it slowly: the small stuff makes the dive, with frogfish, pipefish, nudibranchs and ghost pipefish for patient eyes. At night, with a dive center allowed to use lights, the reef changes face: octopus, crustaceans and lobsters come out of their shelters.

What are the rules for diving in the Réunion marine reserve?

The cape lies inside the marine reserve: dive centers need a permit to operate there, anchoring is banned and boats tie up to mooring buoys, one boat per buoy. You do not touch, feed or move any animal, you take nothing and you avoid any contact with the bottom; the reserve asks divers not to wear gloves. During whale season, boats slow down and keep their distance, and nobody gets in the water near a whale outside supervised trips. On Réunion, swimming outside the lagoon is restricted because of the shark risk: diving is still allowed, but always with a dive center.