Where do I need to go for Africa's best diving?

[safi]

When I lived there I nevr got around to the east coast but everybody there recommended the dive centre at the Sea Breezes resort.

 

[NarcosisDave]

Cant say much more than whats already here - personally I prefer the sychelles for diving but the prices are silly for charters etc. Moz is good for the lifestyle, seafood, party good dives etc. Sodwana and Cape Town have some really good dives so you have a real good choice there.

 

[NarcosisDave]

Zeina - excellent video - love the morays and the whale sharks!!

 

[steeliejim]

We were in the Tofo area of Mozambique late February, and saw a bunch of whale sharks and mantas.
Here are the links to my trip report and video

Although they have them around there year round, the best season for whale sharks is November-March

Hi Zeina,

Saw your wonderful video, but couln't locate your trip report. We just returned from a most wonderful time in Zambia. Although we were around water, the Lower Zambezi is not recommended for diving--or even dangling your hand over the side of the boat--unless you don't mind being a snack for one of its giant crocs.

When we said we loved to dive, our guides said we must make a side trip to Mozambique next time we visit--and we will definitely be back. Soooo, would you mind terribly providing another link or way to read your trip report. We are already starting planning for next year, and it looks like Mozambique will definitely be on our list of places to go.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Zeina]

Thanks for the kind words, all
And sorry about the late reply
Here is the updated link to my Mozambique trip report Mozambique Trip report
There IS a glitch in the scubadiving website...

My video rig is :
Sony PC120
Gates housing w/Wide angle lense

Cheers,

Z

 

[Kate in Africa]

Has anyone dived east coast Zanzibar, from doing as much research as is possible from afar, it appears to have the potential for some fantastic diving, but at present little explored or understood (at on internet at least). The reefs which appear to run the full length of the coast and be nice and shallow to the coast which should hopefully encourage lots of small colourful life, the reefs then look to gently slope down to 20m and I'm very hopeful that this would make for some great macro photography.

There also seems to be some deep drop offs to open ocean, which should atract larger life, sharks, manta's, turtles, dolphins etc.

If anyone has dived this coast, it would be great to hear from you about your experiences, or if you could recomend any source of info for sites etc, books, websites.

There appears to be only one dive centre on that coast, Rising Sun, and I'm going to try and contact them too. Our trip isn't until June '07, so plenty of planning ` investigation time yet.

I am currently based in Dar and have dived in last few weeks in both Zanzibar (Mnemba atoll with One Ocean Matemwe beach, North East coast) and Mafia Island (with mafia Lodge dive centre). Mafia was sensational. It had incredible coral formations, a breathtaking abundance of fish and great visibility. Plus the whalesharks were there (though best time to see them is November to March... the Kazkazi winds start up in November which causes plankton blooms... they're often seen at the surface and the local fishermen report daily... they'll take you out to snorkel with them).

Mnemba atoll was more idyllic in terms of sand/turquiose sea etc, but for diving I didn't think it matched Mafia. There was a lot to see (turtles, dolphins and huge napoleon wrasse) and more soft coral than Mafia, but it wasn't as exciting and the viz was only half as good.

I haven't done Pemba yet, but plan to in the next few weeks so I will let you know what I think. Mafia's been described as a 'Shallower Pemba with more fish', so I presume it will be more deep diving, with exciting currents but without the phenomenal abundance of fish in mafia (we literally had to sweep them away from the coral to see into the hollows!)

Hope that helps in some way!

Kate

 

[Christian]

Thanks for the kind words, all
And sorry about the late reply
Here is the updated link to my Mozambique trip report Mozambique Trip report
There IS a glitch in the scubadiving website...

My video rig is :
Sony PC120
Gates housing w/Wide angle lense

Cheers,

Z

Sorry, but I can't get that link to work. I'd be interested as I'm going for the first time to Moz in November.

/christian

 

[Zeina]

OK, here is a copy-paste of the report's text... Too bad the pics are missing...



Diving Mozambique: the Indian Ocean at its very best

Warm weather, warm water, a good chance of seeing big stuff, and virtually no time difference with France… Mozambique sounded like the perfect spot for our mid-winter weeklong diving vacation. Upon hearing enthusiastic reports from several fellow divers, we decided to give it a go!


Getting there


We flew from Paris to Johannesburg, and then on to Maputo.
From Maputo, it was a 7 hour drive to Tofo beach. We wanted warmth, we got it! The air temperature was about 93 degrees… Hopefully, the Johannesburg – Inhambane flight should be restored soon.

Tofo beach is a beautiful and secluded area. It is quite un-developed too (e.g. no electrical power on the first and last day).

We stayed at the Marinhos hotel (aka Tofo Mar), which is very conveniently located right on the beach. Marinhos is the only real "hotel" in town (other places to stay at are basic resorts with bungalows and a couple of backpacker's places).

There was some very good live music at Dino’s bar that night, and pretty much everyone residing in and around Tofo was there.

Places to eat in Tofo include: Dino’s for pizzas, Casa Barry for seafood / burgers, Marinhos for excellent and cheap seafood, and Casa de Comer for more sophisticated food.

The diving
We intended on diving with Diversity Scuba the full week, but they unfortunately had repetitive boat issues during our stay, so we decided to switch to Tofo Scuba.
Everyone at both dive shops was very professional, safety conscious, and friendly.
Tofo Scuba had several boats running simultaneously, and was able to accommodate our requests with ease (i.e. diving the far-away sites: Amazon and Office).

A typical day included a morning dive at one of the deep sites (including the fantastic Manta Reef, Giant’s Castle, Amazon…), and an afternoon dive at one of the shallow sites (Crocodile Rock, Chamber of Secrets, …).
Water temperature was about 79 degrees (27°c), and visibility varied greatly from one day to the next, but was overall quite low.
Comparatively to typical dive conditions this time of the year, we had better than average vis, calm sea conditions (which was helpful for the beach launch), and little current (which enabled us to dive Amazon and The Office).

The beach boat launch
Now this is something we had never experienced before… A collective effort to turn the inflatable around, push it in the water, and jump in when the water is about waist deep (for gals) or chest deep (for guys), while attempting not to swallow half the Indian Ocean, or to lose your hat and sunglasses when a big wave comes to get you…
After a few days of this, it became quite fun!

Mozambique diving offers a great balance of very large critters and very small ones. Overall, we enjoyed the variety and density of marine life.

Although corals are not as beautiful here as, say, in the Red Sea, some dive sites –such as Amazon- offer beautiful and healthy reefs.

I was really excited to see leopard sharks at Amazon and The Office

Manta Reef is a cleaning station where we reliably saw between 3 and 7 gigantic mantas on each dive.

We were lucky to meet, chat and dive with Simon Pierce and Andrea Marshall, marine biologists specializing respectively in whale shark and manta ray research.
Both of them are extremely knowledgeable and friendly, and taught us tons of things about those fascinating creatures.

Since this was the middle of whale shark season, we decided to join one of the 11AM snorkelling trips offered by Tofo Scuba.
There is only one word to describe the experience: WOW!!!
We spent over an hour in the water with 6 or 7 whale sharks. At times, we could see 3 of them simultaneously. Manta rays joined in several times as well!!
This is a hit or miss thing. One day you can see more than a dozen big guys, and the next day you can see none.

Whale sharks are so numerous here that we often found them on our way to Manta Reef without even looking!! We even found ourselves in the water with a whale shark and a pod of dolphins once.

In our 6 days of diving, we saw 9 whale sharks, a dozen mantas, devil rays, dolphins, a guitar shark, and a couple of leopards. Plus a zillion eels, VERY large groupers, octopi, leaf fish, scorpion fish, ghost pipefish, mantis/ harlequin shrimp, cuttlefish, ...

All in all, excellent diving, and very few divers!!

We really enjoyed Mozambique diving, and plan on going back soon before it becomes too popular!!

Edited to answer Caymaniac's question:
The trip cost was about 1700 euros per person (2000 USD at that time) for a 10 day stay, including roundtrip flights from Paris (700 euros).

 

[Christian]

OK, here is a copy-paste of the report's text... Too bad the pics are missing...



Diving Mozambique: the Indian Ocean at its very best

Warm weather, warm water, a good chance of seeing big stuff, and virtually no time difference with France… Mozambique sounded like the perfect spot for our mid-winter weeklong diving vacation. Upon hearing enthusiastic reports from several fellow divers, we decided to give it a go!


Getting there


We flew from Paris to Johannesburg, and then on to Maputo.
From Maputo, it was a 7 hour drive to Tofo beach. We wanted warmth, we got it! The air temperature was about 93 degrees… Hopefully, the Johannesburg – Inhambane flight should be restored soon.

Tofo beach is a beautiful and secluded area. It is quite un-developed too (e.g. no electrical power on the first and last day).

We stayed at the Marinhos hotel (aka Tofo Mar), which is very conveniently located right on the beach. Marinhos is the only real "hotel" in town (other places to stay at are basic resorts with bungalows and a couple of backpacker's places).

There was some very good live music at Dino’s bar that night, and pretty much everyone residing in and around Tofo was there.

Places to eat in Tofo include: Dino’s for pizzas, Casa Barry for seafood / burgers, Marinhos for excellent and cheap seafood, and Casa de Comer for more sophisticated food.

The diving
We intended on diving with Diversity Scuba the full week, but they unfortunately had repetitive boat issues during our stay, so we decided to switch to Tofo Scuba.
Everyone at both dive shops was very professional, safety conscious, and friendly.
Tofo Scuba had several boats running simultaneously, and was able to accommodate our requests with ease (i.e. diving the far-away sites: Amazon and Office).

A typical day included a morning dive at one of the deep sites (including the fantastic Manta Reef, Giant’s Castle, Amazon…), and an afternoon dive at one of the shallow sites (Crocodile Rock, Chamber of Secrets, …).
Water temperature was about 79 degrees (27°c), and visibility varied greatly from one day to the next, but was overall quite low.
Comparatively to typical dive conditions this time of the year, we had better than average vis, calm sea conditions (which was helpful for the beach launch), and little current (which enabled us to dive Amazon and The Office).

The beach boat launch
Now this is something we had never experienced before… A collective effort to turn the inflatable around, push it in the water, and jump in when the water is about waist deep (for gals) or chest deep (for guys), while attempting not to swallow half the Indian Ocean, or to lose your hat and sunglasses when a big wave comes to get you…
After a few days of this, it became quite fun!

Mozambique diving offers a great balance of very large critters and very small ones. Overall, we enjoyed the variety and density of marine life.

Although corals are not as beautiful here as, say, in the Red Sea, some dive sites –such as Amazon- offer beautiful and healthy reefs.

I was really excited to see leopard sharks at Amazon and The Office

Manta Reef is a cleaning station where we reliably saw between 3 and 7 gigantic mantas on each dive.

We were lucky to meet, chat and dive with Simon Pierce and Andrea Marshall, marine biologists specializing respectively in whale shark and manta ray research.
Both of them are extremely knowledgeable and friendly, and taught us tons of things about those fascinating creatures.

Since this was the middle of whale shark season, we decided to join one of the 11AM snorkelling trips offered by Tofo Scuba.
There is only one word to describe the experience: WOW!!!
We spent over an hour in the water with 6 or 7 whale sharks. At times, we could see 3 of them simultaneously. Manta rays joined in several times as well!!
This is a hit or miss thing. One day you can see more than a dozen big guys, and the next day you can see none.

Whale sharks are so numerous here that we often found them on our way to Manta Reef without even looking!! We even found ourselves in the water with a whale shark and a pod of dolphins once.

In our 6 days of diving, we saw 9 whale sharks, a dozen mantas, devil rays, dolphins, a guitar shark, and a couple of leopards. Plus a zillion eels, VERY large groupers, octopi, leaf fish, scorpion fish, ghost pipefish, mantis/ harlequin shrimp, cuttlefish, ...

All in all, excellent diving, and very few divers!!

We really enjoyed Mozambique diving, and plan on going back soon before it becomes too popular!!

Edited to answer Caymaniac's question:
The trip cost was about 1700 euros per person (2000 USD at that time) for a 10 day stay, including roundtrip flights from Paris (700 euros).

Thank's Zeina. I appreciate it and look forward to the trip a lot. What would you say about carrying a UW-camera rig with you during this rather special boat launch? Is there a procedure for that?

cheers

/christian

 

[Zeina]

What would you say about carrying a UW-camera rig with you during this rather special boat launch? Is there a procedure for that?

I usually put the video rig in a safe area of the inflatable before jumping in, then I usually held it during the trips to and from the dive sites