Sodwana bay recommendation

[Maurizio M]

Hi,

I am planning to go to Sodwana Bay in august for 5-6 days for diving

I am undecided between staynig at Sodwana Bay lodge or Mseni lodge.

I understand that the latter is directly on the beach which sounds nice.

I would appreciate anyone's opinions on the pros and cons of both lodges and their dive operations.


Thanks a lot,

Maurizio.

 

[hamilton]

Dived there with Blue Coral divers, last year (March). Didn't rate Blue Coral that highly - staff seemed disorganised, and arrogant when on the boat. A lot of local youths milling around 'helping' on the beach - difficult to keep track of kit.

Was staying in a tent at back of Sodwana Lodge - lodge facilities were fine, nice bar/lounge area.
Can't remember about Mseni.

 

[slipslop]

coral divers. its not right on the beach though....

 

[duikmiep]

Hi Maurizio,

You didnt really get an answer did you? I have the same question (They both have swimmingpools dont they?). We are going in November and Im not sure about coral divers, they sound crowded, although cheaper. I believe you have been there already? Did you dive with the SBL Scuba center or Amoray Divers? Did you hear anything more from other divers? Are there dive-packages with these two lodges? Is it very expensive?
Do you know if they dive more then 2 times a day?

Ok, enough questions, hopefully you or someone can help.
Bye,
Mlein

 

[SA-Diver]

We usually stay at and dive with Sodwana Bay Lodge. It is about 10km from the park and beach. If you want to be closer to the beach I suggest Coral Divers. Everybody at Sodwana seems disorganized - especially on long weekends and South African School holidays. I refuse that the locals touch my gear and load, unload, clean and pack myself (which usually results in a few strange looks my way).

Let me know if you need more info and I will see what I can find.

PS. Both these operations have websites. You can also look at Sandton Scuba if they still have an operation there.

 

[duikmiep]

Thanks SA-diver. I have some difficulty trying to contact the SB Lodge and their site is offline, but the diveclub there sounds good. If they react we'll probably go there. Can you tell me something about the launches. Our dive-boat skipped once while going back onto the beach and dont want to repeat that. Is it dangerous? Or is everybody overreacting? (hopefully...)

You have your own gear, but do you know anything about the rentalgear there?
And is transport included or do you have to drive to the launchsite by yourself.

I think I still have some question, but maybe I should leave a little to chance. It is a holiday anyway.....

 

[SA-Diver]

Sodwana Bay Lodge have a shuttle service to the beach and back. Don't know if they charge extra for that as I use my own 4x4. They also have rental gear, which I assume should be good as they have a fairly well stocked dive shop. If the gear is not good (when you get feedback from them), I would recommend renting gear from a school in Johannesburg, Pretoria or Durban depending on how you travel, and then only using tanks from them.

The launches a nd beach returns could be challenging, and I have heard all sorts of stories. But I have to tell you that in a couple of hundred launches in Mozambique, Sodwana and Aliwal Shoal I have only been worried once at Aliwal Shoal, and the launches are generally more challenging there than at Sodwana

Try http://www.sodwanadiving.co.za/

I have just checked and it is working at the moment.

Cheers

Kobus

 

[drew52]

I went up to Sodwana last year and Dived with Amoray Divers. I found them to be very professional and Colin was excellent, both as a DM and his knowledge of the Reefs. We had an awesome time and he was very good at reading what we as the clients wanted.

If you want contact details you can pm me