Launched in 1964, the Mauritius Underwater Group (MUG) is a non profit-making organization, whose main objective is to promote diving. Being one of the oldest diving clubs on the island, the MUG has discovered most of the diving sites like, for example, the wreck of HMS Sirius, the British naval ship sunk during the battle of Old Grand Port. The MUG is affiliated to the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) and is also one of the founder members of the Mauritian Scuba Diving Association (MSDA) and the Mauritius Marine Conservation Society (MMCS).

Since its creation, the MUG has enabled a large number of divers to discover the numerous diving sites around the island. There are at present about 130 members of mixed ages and abilities. The latter usually meet every Thursday evening at the MUG headquarters in Phoenix. It is in those same headquarters that diving bottles are filled, theory classes take place and diving meetings are held.

Dives are planned on Tuesdays and take place most often on Thursdays (for night dives), Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The dives, explains one of the MUG resource persons, are within the reach of a wide range of abilities. Club dives are organized by a qualified BSAC dive leader. So as to be prepared to face every situation, safety equipment, in the form of first aid kits and emergency breathing oxygen, is carried on every boat. The dives, says a member of the club, are free. In 2003, the MUG carried out 1 176 person-dives in 148 expeditions to 73 different sites.

Anyone can be become a member of the MUG. The only condition is to be above 18 years old. The registration fee for someone already qualified is about Rs 1 000 with a monthly subscription of Rs 250. For Patrick Rey, the current president of the MUG, the first and foremost mission of the club is to train new divers, be they locals or foreigners. “The club also participates actively in every project linked to diving activities such as archeological campaigns conducted on shipwrecks around the island,” explains Patrick Rey.

<B>Archeological campaign</B>

The latter, and other members of the MUG have been participating in the recent archeological campaign at Pointe-aux-Feuilles on a shipwreck thought to be Le Coureur. This wreck was discovered in late 2004 and research has been going on since to try and identify the ship. The MUG has played an important role in this archeological campaign as in some others as they have provided their support in the research.