Hi Claire,
I just spent 12 days in Tofo in March 2014 and did a lot of research on the ops/questions you are looking at, both beforehand and when I was in Tofo. In my experience, all three dive ops in Tofo are very professional and very safe, so I think you will have a good experience no matter who you choose. If you are into details, here are my suggestions.
Accommodation:
Since it's a special trip, I would definitely get a room with ocean view if you can. Even among beautiful beaches, Tofo Beach is really stunning. Hotel Tofo Mar (HTM) and Casa Do Mar (CDM) are very close to both dive ops, no more than a 5 min walk (a touch more if you are hauling a mother camera). Peri Peri is up a
lot of stairs if you come from HTM, only half jokingly called the Stairs of Death. Diversity is a flat walk.
Did you consider
Casa Na Praia, specifically "Bungalow Africano"? That would actually be my top recommendation if you could get in. I would get a room with AC since it's your honeymoon. Casa Na Praia is directly on the beach (20 second walk to the sea) at the south end, so fewer people walking by than at HTM. Casa Na Praia has beautiful private rooms, delicious homemade breakfast which can be delivered to your private terrace every morning, rainforest-style shower, private hammock facing the sea, beautiful decor. I've attached a quick phone photo of Room Sea which is where I stayed. I ordered delivery a few times and ate lunch and dinner on the terrace it was so gorgeous. Casa na Praia has a smaller number of rooms than Hotel Tofo Mar - much more personal feel, just like CDM except it is directly on the beach. Room Sea and Room Beach have very good privacy; the rooms in the main building (Casa Azul) would have a little less. I don't usually coo over beachfront rooms, but Casa na Praia really impressed me and the two managers are among the warmest and most genuine people I have ever met.
Hotel Tofo Mar was my other top choice. Buddies I dove with said they found their standard room "small", so you might want to go for something a bit larger. I would definitely go for ocean view as the non-ocean view overlooks the prime gathering spot in the village with souvenir vendors, tourists walking to and fro, etc.
If you want dinners on site, those aren't available at Casa Na Praia, so I would likely choose Hotel Tofo Mar. Wherever you stay, HTM had a very popular half price happy hour on Fridays with delicious fresh fruit cocktails - highly recommended. Also to echo ocdiver1, regardless of where you stay, I would make sure to get to as many MMF lectures at Casa Barry as you can. Every week they run on the same schedule (6/6:30 start when I was there) - Manta Mondays, Whaleshark Wednesdays and Fauna Fridays. Even for those with a lot of knowledge in the area, the talks offer something new plus unique insight into Tofo dive sites + wildlife. Sometimes the scientists are away so the lectures are cancelled - check with Casa Barry (<5 min walk from the hotels you are looking at) to find out.
Dive school:
I dove with all three Tofo dive ops (Diversity, Peri Peri, Tofo Scuba) though most of my dives were with Diversity. While I was there my good friends and neighbours dove 2 weeks with Peri Peri and another friend did 1 week whaleshark safaris and some diving with Tofo Scuba, so I'm including info from all three. In making your decision I would consider the following.
How important is
Nitrox to you? Guaranteed + free Nitrox with Diversity, which runs a membrane system. Peri Peri could not offer me Nitrox during my stay, they said due to problem getting medical oxygen and because there were so many air divers on their boat (lots of DMs in training and volunteers). I emailed Nick and Steve (PP) directly in advance - if Nitrox is important to you I would ask them directly. I definitely wanted Nitrox as some of the richest Tofo dive sites are deep (100 ft/30 m) and you will get longer bottom times with Nitrox, not to mention its other benefits. Tofo Scuba also offers complimentary Nitrox and FWIW they pick up divers from the south end of town.
Bottom time - More bottom time at the deep sites (including Office, Reggie's, Manta Reef, Outback/Kingfisher, Giants/Salon) if you have Nitrox. For both big and small animals, I found the deep sites the most impressive. I had some really nice time with mantas with only 1 or 2 other divers after those diving air had already ascended. There were always Nitrox divers at the ops that offered it for free, so they send 1 guide to ascend with the divers using air and another guide to ascend with those using Nitrox.
However, Diversity and Tofu Scuba both limit their afternoon dives to 45 min, while Peri Peri gives divers 60 min (I could easily have dove 90 min on the shallow afternoon sites with Nitrox since NDL wasn't an issue). Not sure if you are interested in doing three dives a day. I found Tofo diving much more physically demanding than diving I have done in Indonesia, Malaysia, Galapagos, Cocos, etc., not because we experienced a lot of current (which is a possibility in Tofo), but due to the combination of heat, shadeless RIBs, the exertion of helping launch the RIBs, and potent anti malarial drugs.
Dives per day - All three ops theoretically offer 3 dives a day but in reality it depends on how many dives customers are requesting that week. Peri Peri and Tofu Scuba were the most likely to offer 3rd/afternoon dives in the period I was there. But since you are two people, Diversity would likely take you two out alone, if you booked the dive in advance. Generally if 1 op cancelled due to sea conditions, all the ops cancelled, so that isn't a major consideration.
Number of divers on the boat - Diversity had the smallest number of divers on the boat in the period I was there (sometimes we were 7, sometimes 4, one day they took me out alone). If you like a smaller dive group, for the prime morning dives you have a better chance of that with Diversity than with Peri Peri. All the ops had decent diver to DM ratios.
Whale sharks - in the same 2 week period, my friends diving daily at Peri Peri for two weeks (3 dives a day whenever possible plus they did 1 whaleshark safari) saw 0 whale sharks. I saw 2 whale sharks over 11 Diversity dives (9 day period). My Tofo Scuba friend saw 2 whale sharks over 3 days of "ocean safaris" (snorkelling trips dedicated solely to whale sharks) in a 5 day period. Whale shark encounters are on snorkel in Tofo, not SCUBA. Diversity made a point of diving southern sites when divers wanted to see a whaleshark, since south was where all the whale sharks were being seen (we saw 1 on the way to a dive site and the second cruising around in the SI). Peri Peri was spending a lot of time in the north, due I believe to their interest in manta research, but that meant much smaller chances of seeing a whale shark. There were more mantas in the north, but I saw mantas on nearly all of the deep dives I did. Of course luck also plays a role, but it was interesting to see different approaches to whale shark hunting across the three ops.
Seasickness - all the dive ops were sensitive to the comfort of their divers but IME Peri Peri was the most 'kid gloves' about driving through waves.
By the way, if you like small animals (seahorses, hairy frogfish, harlequin shrimp, pipehorses, regular frogfish, flying gunard, juveniles), I would make sure you get out to "the Estuary" (snorkelling only). Both Peri Peri and Tofu Scuba run trips through associated guides.
Any more questions, please don't hesitate to post or PM. Both ocdiver1 and widget were tremendously helpful in helping me plan my trip.
BTW how are you flying in? If you are flying via LAM I would recommend planning some buffer time into your schedule. I actually got stranded in Maputo overnight (not a scheduled stop in my itinerary!) due to a LAM delay on my Johannesburg-Inhambane flight. Some LAM flights left early (!) others left hours late.
Hope you have a wonderful trip!
NatashaS
Hi everyone,
We're planning on travelling to Tofo for a week at the end of July this year as part of our honeymoon - trying to get it all booked today! Just wondering if anyone can help with recommendations...
Dive School: Peri Peri or Diversity Scuba?
Accommodation: Hotel Tofo Mar or Casa Do Mar?
It's our honeymoon so privacy/quiet and nice surroundings are more important than budget within reason! Proximity to our dive school is also a priority. Casa Do Mar has a pool, which might be nice, but no sea-view room available for the duration of our stay.
We are both PADI Advanced Open Water and Nitrox qualified, though less than 50 dives each so not particularly experienced (especically in currents) and so good guides/instructors are also important to us. We made an effort to get Nitrox qualified and more experience of deep diving in preparation for this trip so we could make the most of the Giant Manta and Whale Shark opportunities.
Any thoughts gratefully received!
Claire.
