About
About Diving Madeira
Independent. Sourced. Dated. We help divers - beginners and certified - pick the right dive centre, the right sites for their level, and understand what their certification actually unlocks in Madeira waters.
Who we are
Diving Madeira is written by Diving Madeira editorial, a small group, not a named instructor. A named Madeira-based author, a PADI or SSI instructor with logged Madeira dives, is being recruited; until that person is on the page, the site claims no dives it has not made. Every figure on a page is taken from the dive centre's own page or an official source and carries the date it was read.
For custom group bookings, wreck-prereq consultations, and photography-trip planning, contact us directly via WhatsApp - we route those enquiries to vetted local dive operators and earn a referral fee, which is disclosed separately.
Why we exist
Madeira diving has world-class assets - the Garajau Marine Reserve, the 2018 Corveta wreck, Atlantic visibility - and an information layer that doesn't reflect them. SERPs are dominated by operator marketing sites (which want your booking) and OTA aggregators (which want your booking and a commission). The result: by the time you've read three dive centres' "About Us" pages, you still don't know which one will give you a 1-on-1 guide on your DSD or fudge the wreck prerequisites.
We exist to be the editorial layer between you and the bookable inventory. We compare operators on what each centre publishes: certification body, group ratio, briefing content, gear age where stated, price. Not by who pays for placement. We tell you when the €79 trip is actually €114 once you add gear + park fees. We tell you that yes, the Corveta penetration is worth it; and yes, you really do need the recent-experience prereq.
How we compare dive centres
Dive sites, courses and dive centres are compared on what the centres' own pages state: sites offered, certification prerequisites, guide ratios, gear and park fees included, price and cancellation terms, read on the date shown on each page. Protected-area rules are taken from Visit Madeira and the IFCN register, and course prerequisites from the training agency's own standards. Reviews on third-party platforms are read for patterns but not reproduced. Where a fact cannot be checked against a source it is left out rather than guessed. Corrections with a source are applied on the page and the verified date is updated.
How we make money
Affiliate commissions from GetYourGuide and Viator when you book a dive trip through links on this site. Commission is paid by the platform out of their margin - it never increases the price you pay. Affiliate links carry the proper rel="sponsored" attribute per Google Webmaster policy.
Operator hand-offs via WhatsApp. When you ask us for custom group bookings, photography-trip planning, or wreck-prereq verification, we route you to a vetted local dive operator and earn a referral fee - disclosed on those hand-offs the same way affiliate links are.
What we don't do: we don't take paid placement. No dive centre buys a higher position in our directory or a more flattering page. If you spot a piece of content that reads like operator marketing copy, message us on WhatsApp and we'll rewrite it.
Trust + accuracy
Every dive site profile shows the date it was last checked against its source. Every regulatory or pricing claim cites a primary source - PADI's Madeira destination data, Visit Madeira's protected-area pages, or the operator's own website with a verification date.
For corrections, message us on WhatsApp; the site has no mailbox. The same number handles dive trip planning help.