Understand the following is based off just 6 dives over 3 days and we have not dove in any other spots in Africa. SOOOOO take this with a huge grain of salt. Again let me say the resort is fantastic and the setting is perfect in its way. As I have stated this is not a “dive resort” but a luxury resort where you can do some diving. They only do 2 dives per day. They say this is in part due to the tides. With a lot of planning you may arrange for 4 dives per day but it will cost.
There was current/surge on every dive. The current would vary and often you could swim against it but at times it was best to ride along.
Our first 2 dives were with 3 other divers. No one else shooting photos. So with one guide, a “drift” dive and 30ft of viz I could not lag too far behind. I almost lost the group when I stopped to rattle off 4 frames of the Lace Moray. Our last 4 dives it was just Julie and I and the dive guide so we were able to go as slow as conditions would allow. Due to weight I did not bring the 60mm and flatport so I was not really on the lookout for Macro life.
North Point and South Point have the same basic topography. Sort of a “reef top” bottom with fair soft coral growth and table top hard corals. But not much sticks up from the bottom. I don’t know if this is due to the currents or being “swept clean” by net fisherman. There where ledges/reefs about 10-20ft tall and had nice hard coral and soft coral growth accompanied with a fair amount of fish life. Then there were ‘islands” of rock or old chunks of the reef that had nice schools of tangs, glass sweepers and other schools of small fish. There are quite a few anemones, often in big groups but relatively few clowns. We were surprised by the number of large clams and the schools of anthias. We spotted Emperor, Koran and Regal angels along with 3-4 species of box fish. Bigger stuff included Potato Cod, Sting Rays, white tips and 3 Zambezi/Bull sharks. The Zambezi came right up to the surface as we dropped in but disappeared after checking us out. One came back but it kept its distance and took off after 2-3 passes.
It is hard to compare this to other locations but here goes: I would put it below most South Pacific sites like Fiji, Palau, Indo, PNG but better than some sites you would run into at Carrib destinations like Coz, Turks or Roatan. In part because there are bright soft corals and good fish life but mediocre topography. Bluntly I would not travel all that way just for the diving.
People we dove with really liked Tanzania and said the reefs and fish life were significantly better there than Bazaruto. When we go back we will look into Tanzania and possible Sodwana Bay, depends on our dryland itinerary.
Sample of some one of the "solo" formations
The edge of the "reef/bottom"
You can see more photos to get an idea at our website.
Hope this helps...