Trip report - Mozambique

[dakar]

Just came back a week ago from 22 day trip to South Africa& Mocambique.
spent 8 days at Barra Beach (near the famous Tofo beach), here is my report to you, hope you'll enjoy& that it will be useful to those of you, planing to visit Mocambique.

Well, start from the beginning, We booked our whole trip with Lorraine, at www.guinjatabay.co.nz.
Did not find any testimonials from other scuba Board users, but decided to take a chance, and was not disappointed!!!! everything was on time&great!!!
We highly recommend her!!!

Flew with Travlemax, Joburg - Inhambane, nice, short flight, small airplane nothing much to tell...
Upon arrival we payed 22 USD each for the visa,so don't be surprised as we were...
We were picked up by the hotel shuttle and went to our hotel at the Flaming Bay Resort, we were on a late honeymoon and decided to treat ourselves with the nicest hotel in the area, and it was every thing we could ask for, and more!!!
Great hotel, Highly recommended!!! they work on a dinner bed breakfast basis, and every afternoon, they serve tea\coffee with great cakes, so if you are not a very hungry guy, you don't really need to eat anything els, apart from the casual snack.
The rooms are all built on stilts inside the lagoon& the whole place is just amazing!!!

with only 20 rooms, and no children policy, you might get a bit bored if you are looking for night life or a "party" destination. but if you are looking to relax, treat yourself& enjoy this great part of the world, this is the place for you!!
The food was nothing short from great, and it was a breath of fresh air to see a hotel that does not serve the "all you can eat" bad food, but serves good food, in reasonable portions.
Service is great, no need to elaborate more than I have, after all, diving is what this forum is all about, isn't it?


My wife is an advance open water, and I am a DM, we went diving with Barra Lodge Dive Centre, they are professional, friendly& fun to dive with! Their attention to details is noticed everywhere& the service they provide, is of the highest standards.
All dives are boat dives&the boats are launched with the help of the divers. its not hard at all, but you should be aware of it.

Important : although this is one of the best and only year round place world wide, for Manat rays& whale shark, you don't always see them.
While we were there, we met a couple that saw a whale shark on their last dive, after 9 days of diving!!!! on a BBC delegation that recently visited the place, with the intention to film the largest manata population in the world,they ended up diving 3 weeks with NOT A SINGLE MANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As for our trip, we dived for a week in Barra.
I got to see 2 mantas on the only dive my wife did not join... so she did not see any mantas....
We both saw 5-7 whale sharks, devil rays, potato bass, giant Morey,leopard shark and lots of the other stuff.
the dives are all deep and not suitable for beginners (in my opinion), vis is changing, we had around 8-10 meter during all of our dives, currents varied from hardly non, to strong, water temp was 24-26 C. the sun was shining& all in all we had a blast!!!!
Do not miss the ocean safari, you basically go on the diving boat, to look for whale sharks, chances are you will find more than one, and will have the chance to snorkel with it! dolphins are also common, and during Aug-Oct so are Humpback whales.

Malaria: don't forget to take the pills!!! we took Malarone, and had no side effects.

One last thing: do not miss the village tour!! contact the flamingo bay to book a village tour, see how the local population live, walk through the villages& ask all the questions you want! (plus get a taste of fresh coconuts, hard&soft ones to compare) the guide is a charming local guy that takes daily tours to his village and gives you a taste of real Mocambique. part of the cost of the tour, goes to finance community projects, the next one being, building a water tank in the village, as right now the women need to bring the water daily from the tank on the main road - 2 km away... its only a couple of ours& we found it an important part of our visit to Mocambique.

Well, thats pretty much it, hope I didn't forget any thing.
I Hope this helps, if any one has further questions, feel free to send them here, or as a pm.

Have a great day.

 

[mr_paulee]

Many thanks for this report, I am currently researching a trip and maybe employment in Moz and any info is welcomed.

This has a lot of veryt welcome information.

Once again, thanks!!

Paul

 

[jolo]

Thank you Aron just great to know you enjoyed yourself - the web page is www.guinjatabay.co.za and I look forward to be of service to you and all scuba board members in the future.
Lorraine

 

[deeper thoughts]

Thnx for the report

 

[dakar]

Sorry... gave the wrong adress, as mentioned, above - www.guinjatabay.co.za its in South Africa, not New Zealand.... over 3 years have passed, I guess I still miss my time down there...

 

[divingdog5]

i also have just come back from mozambique were we stayed in mokolo bay were our room was broken in to and we were robed while we were in bed me and the wife i belive we were gased .as there was a broken glass tumbler on the ground which should of woke me or my wife up .Even worse i belive it to be one of the staff or the owners which again were rasist to the bone.quotes like work like a black and the use of the n@#$$ers . we lost alot of dive equiptment our pass ports and i belive nearly our lives .really **** .i explained and asked the owners garret and his wife why was there not any dogs like they promised or the watch man she then said that its happened 6 times before .when i asked about safty she did not ****ing tell me that .
the strange thing was when i said that i will find it very diffiult to pay the bills with out our pass ports and credit cards hay presto 3 hours later they were found ..
as per the diving the day we arived garrets dive master lost the group ! and garret another dive instructor decided to carry on his group of very tired but lucky divers had to swim around 6 km back to shore . so please dont dive with this person .
we decided to dive with barra lodge very profesional perhaps a bit to consivertive for me they insisted on surfacing the group with 70 bar ? but drew the instructor actuly knew and worked for some of the people i know . I know alot of people . in the trade
what was disapointing about tofu was the fact that the mozambique goverment has just let a big comercial chinese fishing(finning) company in so bye bye sharks and rays .or get ther before they are gone .
the manta dives were fine but due to water temp on a few days they were not there simple .
also you can no longer dive on top of the cheaning stations which is fine but the route is very boring .im sorry but this is a fact but if i did not tell you you would not know the difference .

the funny thing was the price fixing in tofu stay away from the bigger shops or tofu in general i allways smile when some one askes me to do a check dive and pay 50us some times i would like to get my copy of the padi instructor manuel and stick it up well were the sun dont shine as another padi pro (100 dives ) trys to sell me or my wife a rescue course .i always ask my self would you do the dive to pick up the dead body or make the phone call . i think not.

all in all i would recomend barra because its just cheeper and the air is clean ie the is a compresor log all the equiptment is servied and number one its just safer .staff are profesional and have dived in and worked in more then one countrie .I was impresed with the new couple ,fellow bsac instructors . I know that they will do well i wish then luck but with there kind of back ground and training they wont need it .

 

[jolo]

Hi Divingdog thanks for that report what people do not realise is if you used a reputable booking agent instead of just jumping in with your eyes closed your nightmare could be turned into a dream vacation and it costs you no more as the resorts pay a commission to the agent.
We visit and dive at every resort that applies to us to be registered and only if they meet our requirements do we take bookings for them we turned mokolo bays application down last year.
Next time you visit Mozambique please allow us to show you what this beautiful country is all about.
Lorraine

 

[Skuba-doo]

We are considering going to Mazambiqe this Summer. I am PADI OW, and have 15 dives so far, in Costa Rica and Sipidan, and will be going to Egypt in March. We might stay at Flamingo Bay. Are there minimum requirements in terms of experience etc?
Thanks

 

[travel girl]

Hi Scuba-Doo you will be diving at barra lodge there is a daily shuttle from flamingo Bay to Barra they cater for all levels of diver here is a bit more info please book though me it costs no more send me a mail lorraine@toptravelafrica.com
Barra Dive Resort is located on Mozambique’s Manta Coast it serves Barra Lodge,Flamingo Bay and Pomene Lodge.The dive centre is nestled among palm trees on the shores of the warm Indian Ocean. Apart from the friendly Mozambique people and breathtaking scenery, the region is fast becoming world famous for its spectacular diving. The diving here in Mozambique compares with some of the best in the world and is still a relatively well-kept secret. From the awesome sightings of Manta Rays, Whale sharks and Humpback Whales to the sought after Harlequin Shrimp, Frogfish and Sea Horses – there is something to please everyone. The warm waters of the Indian Ocean are teeming with life and the reefs are pristine. We have over 1000 species of fish as well as Manta Rays, Whalesharks, Dolphins, Turtles,
migrating Humpback Whales and the mythical Dugong. The list is endless, the colours of the pristine reefs, beyond description and we are still discovering uncharted reefs.
We have two completely different diving environments for your diving pleasure: We have 16 different reefs out to sea, that range in depth from 7 – 40 metres, and our very own Barra Lagoon near the mangrove swamps, which has its own unique eco-system.
Water temperatures range from 29 degrees celcius in our summer months to 22 degrees celcius in winter. Visibility ranges from 8m to 40m, depending on how much plankton there is in the water.
Our dive centre is located right on the beach and all our diving in the ocean is enjoyed from semi rigid diving boats. Our Divemasters carry a buoy line, and no anchors are dropped on our reefs.
We also offer Snorkelling and Ocean Safari Trips. The Ocean safari is a two hour trip, where we search for anything on the surface from Dolphins and Whalesharks to Humpback Whales and pelagic fish feeding and hunting. Depending on the season, any of the marine creatures featured below can be spotted.
Whale Sharks (Rhincodon typus)
Nothing quite prepares you for an encounter with this gentle giant that wanders the ocean. It is the biggest fish in the sea and it looks like a shark but is the size of a whale (maybe that’s how it got it’s name!)
They can reach up to 12m in length and can weigh around 20 tons! Here at Barra we are lucky to be on their migratory route and the best time to see them is between November and May when sightings are pretty much guaranteed, the rest of the year they are still present, just fewer in number.
The thrill of swimming with a Whale Shark is an unforgettable experience. Something in your soul goes incredibly quiet, and the feeling of being so close to such a big and gentle creature is something so privileged it will never leave you. There are specific guidelines on how to interact with these creatures that we will brief you on and we also offer the PADI Whale Shark Awareness speciality course for snorkellers and divers that would like to know more about this beautiful beast.
Dolphins
Swimming with dolphins is an experience that every child and adult dreams of, lifting your heart and humbling your soul.
Bottlenose and Humpback dolphins are the most commonly sighted species along our stretch of coastline. They can be incredibly playful and often surf the bow waves of our diving boat. Depending on what mood they are in, they sometimes allow us the opportunity to get into the water with them.
Manta Rays (Manta birostris)
These huge, flying creatures are almost a guaranteed sighting off this part of the Mozambique coastline because of the abundance of Manta cleaning stations in this area. We have cleaning stations at Manta reef,
Office and Giants Castle, and sometimes on clear sunny days they can be seen feeding on the surface when the plankton rises in the afternoon. Diving with them has specific guidelines to ensure that they are not frightened, teased or harmed in anyway. But once at the cleaning stations your patience will be rewarded when vast numbers of Manta’s form a holding pattern over the stations, while waiting to be cleaned by small fish. They hover and swoop and come as close as 30cm to divers. Here at Barra we have a PADI Manta Awareness Distinctive speciality course divers can enrol on if they would like to know more about these gentle animals.
Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)
These massive creatures can be spotted off our shores, on their migratory route from, June until November. Covering a distance of 16000km, it is the longest known migration on earth.
We look for the tell tale sign of water spouting from their blowhole, and the huge splashing from their acrobatics. These mammals can launch themselves completely out of the water (breaching), and engage in fluke (tail) and flipper slapping. We also listen out for their haunting song while we dive, which can be heard from a distance of 2km away, each song usually lasts between 10 and 20 minutes, and is repeated continuously for hours. It is the males that sing and it is thought to be part of the mating ritual. To show these creatures all due respect we try and keep a respectable distance between them and our boats, especially as the females, who are with their calves and are the larger of the sexes, can reach lengths of over 15m (almost twice as big as our boats!) They also weigh in quite heavily at between 25-40 tons! You can get close but not too close to these magnificent mammals, on one of our ocean safaris, that go out for two hours at a time, looking and listening for Whales in season

 

[travel girl]

flamingo bay is one of the most beautiful resorts I have stayed at in Mozambique