Diving Aliwal Shoal in South Africa we saw lots of oceanic black tip sharks and ragged tooth sharks, also known as sand tiger shark or grey nurse shark (depending which part of the world you are in), and many huge stingrays.

Aliwal shoal is a reef about 5km offshore and has really cool rock formations with coral growth and all sorts of critters, nudibranchs and fish life if you care to look – hard task given the distraction of the big stuff – sharks, rays and turtles.

We were there at the end of December when conditions were supposed to be nice with warm(er) water and good visibility. We got some rough sea, visibility deteriorated from very nice 15-20m on the first day to about 2m on the last day and water temps at about 20C. Despite imperfect conditions diving was superb and we saw sharks and rays on every dive and very close.

Logistics

We were diving Aliwal Shoal from a small town of Umkomaas about 50km south of Durban in KwaZulu Natal in South Africa. We stayed and dove and mostly ate at Blue Ocean Dive. They run a very professional operation, efficient yet easy going and friendly. It is nice to have the resort, the dive operation and a good restaurant all in one place. Diving is on rubber duckies which are launched from the river mouth – which is nice since you do not have to push the boat into the ocean and try to hop into it as we did in Mozambique. Dive sites were mostly 15-20 minutes by boat and would be less if we did not have as much wave action. They do two dives out but also have one of the boats going back after one dive – which gives flexibility. We dove on air as most sites were about 20m or less. Water temps were 22C at the warmest and 19C lowest. We had 5mm wetsuits which was ok for 22C but not quite enough for 19C.

From Umkomaas we headed further down the coast – as part of our long trip from Durban to Cape Town – to dive at Protea banks. Bad weather followed us with wind, big waves, rain, and poor viz. We persevered and still did two dives and saw some ragged tooth sharks and rays. Bottom line is there is some amazing diving at Aliwal shoal and Protea banks – we just have to get better weather next time. And, there is the sardine run to aspire to!

Diving around northern tip of Zanzibar island in Tanzania we saw excellent macro including rare weedy scorpion fish, variety of leaf scorpion fish, lots on nudibranches and all sorts of reef fish.  In October visibility was not spectacular at about 10 up to 15 meters – somewhat better at Mnemba – and water temperature 24C. We did not see any sharks or other big stuff but hear dolphins are sited frequently. 

Logistics

We stayed in Nungwi which is about 2 hour drive north of Stonetown on a reasonably good road. Nungwi has a range of hotels from all inclusive big resorts to smaller but very nice hotels on the beach.  There are quite a few restaurants and bars overlooking the ocean and several basic grill places with tables right on the sand offering fresh seafood. 

We dove with Spanish Dancer located right on the main beach in Nungwi, professionally run with large traditional boats and offering daily trips to Mnemba Atoll.  Fishing in the area is very active and you see literally hundreds of fishing boats – sail powered traditional dhows-  going out to see around sunset time.

Nungwi area definitely got lots of new development in the past 10 years and the entire coast on western and northern side is dotted with resorts. The beach is very wide on low tide but nearly disappears at high tide – useful to keep in mind if you decide to go for a beach walk to make sure you do not end up swimming or attempting spiderman maneuvers on rocky cliffs to get back. Despite all the developments the atmosphere is still very laid back. On Saturday as sun starts to go down all the locals come out to play football on the beach and enjoy the sunset.  It is a nice place to relax and good to combine with safari to Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara or Tarangire.

Back to Tanzania

Mahe is the largest island of the Seychelles archipelago. We stayed and dove near Beau Vallon beach in early April. We saw many big schools of fish, eagle rays, turtles, a few sharks and very cool rock formations. Due to bleaching coral cover suffered quite a bit but some sites especially around L’ilot island had healthy coral and good macro including moray eels, frog fish and octopi. Top side is stunningly beautiful with perfect sand beaches, spectacular rocks and easy going vibe.

What to see

Logistics

Mahe is the largest island and home to Seychelles capital Victoria and the international airport. There are many high end resorts around the island as well as self catering accommodation. We stayed in a condo near Beau Vallon beach primarily because this is where dive shops are. Car rental is easy and as we were driving around the island it seemed at least half of the cars were rentals.

Most of the restaurants are in large hotels and are pricey. We mostly cooked ourselves buying fresh fish from fishermen straight off the boat. There are many small shops in Beau Vallon where you can get basic food supplies. The large supermarket is in Victoria and one can stock up on the way from the airport before heading over to the other side of the island in Beau Vallon.  It is still a small island though and the drive from Beau Vallon to Victoria is only about 15 minutes.

We dove with Ocean Dream Divers and were very happy with their well run operation. We did two dives a day. Usually the boat would come back to the shop after the first dive as some of the divers would only do one dive. All dive sites we went to were within 10-20 minute boat ride except for the Shark bank which is further out off shore. In early April visibility was reasonable at about 15 meters and water was nice and warm at 28C.

In the afternoon we drove around the island stopping at various beaches for a beverage, swim or snorkel.  The sea and the islands are stunningly beautiful. Water color is a perfect blue which is hard to describe and at sunset the sky turns unreal shades of pink and purple. We heard from some of the regulars that the island is getting busy with so many more flights now flying to Mahe compared to what it was even 5 years ago.  Undoubtedly it will be getting more tourists and there is a fair bit of building going on what looks like more accommodation.  For now though it is still on a quiet side as far as prime ocean tourism locations go. Besides just an hour by boat and 10min by plane is a smaller and quieter Praslin island.

Ponta do Ouro is a small town in the South of Mozambique only 10km north of South African border.  It has a nice white sand beach, great diving, surfing and fishing.  Given proximity to the border Ponta is very popular with South Africans especially around holiday season. We did some really good diving, saw lots of rays, moray eels, large cods, turtles and excellent macro.

What to see

Most tourists arrive to Ponta do Ouro from South Africa, driving across the border.  As of writing in early 2018, the new road connecting Maputo to the border is nearly finished but there is still a stretch requiring 4×4 to get to Ponta off the main road. We travelled to Ponta from Maputo.  From the airport this meant a taxi to the ferry, ferry ride and a drive along the new almost finished road which took us about 4 hours door to door.

There is a large ferry that takes cars across the river, but it is slow and reportedly not fully reliable in term of schedule. We used a small passenger ferry of which there are several and they run every 15 minutes or so.  Ferry crossing is an experience in itself as this is a regular public ferry used by all the residents on both sides of the river going to and from work, shopping and outing.

Figuring out how to get a ticket and where to line up for the right boat is not exactly straightforward and if we were not accompanied by our local guide it would take us awhile. Once you are on the boat the crossing takes only about 10 minutes. Soon though it should be possible to skip this hectic albeit very authentic experience of ferry crossing.  There is a bridge under construction connecting to the new road to Ponta and then to South Africa. This will cut the journey time in half and undoubtedly will make the entire coast south of Maputo much busier than it is now. The word is that the bridge should be done within a year’s time or so.

Ponta do Ouro is a small town with a market and a few restaurants. There are several hotels on the beach and plenty of self-catering accommodation ranging from villas for rent to camp sites. We stayed at Ponta Beach Camps which has a number of rooms and a large camping area.  There is a restaurant in the Camp and some around town. One can also cook own food at the public kitchen at the Camp. We bought some fresh seafood and had a braai – South African for barbeque.  We visited around Christmas time and the place was filling up with tourists. Reportedly the beach gets absolutely packed for the new year.

We dove with the dive shop at Ponta Beach Camps which runs a well organized operation. Closer to the shore there are many dive sites with depth of less than 20 meters. We saw all kinds of large rays including round ribbon tail, honeycomb, blue spotted and eagle rays, variety of reef fish, and good macro. Further out there are 35-45m depth sites where reportedly one can see all kinds of sharks, tunas and other big stuff.

We saw a couple of devil rays on a safety stop on one of the deep sites but otherwise did not see much fish on the 3 deep dives we did.  Reefs on deep sites look very impressive and visibility was excellent. The fish is definitely there too as we saw some jumping out and chased by birds – but did not see any under water on our deep but short dives. Given the depth bottom time is only about 10 minutes with long safety stops on the blue.

All in all Ponta diving was great and gave us a good sense of diversity of marine environment in Mozambique in combination with our diving in Tofo. In addition to diving, there is also surfing and kite boarding as well as fishing.  Not too far from Ponta in the direction of Maputo is Maputo Elephants Reserve with elephants, giraffes, zebras and other animals. Humpback whales migrate between July and November. There is surely much more to explore.

Tofo beach or praia do Tofo on the coast of Mozambique has a beautiful white sand beach, good surf, and excellent diving. We were traveling around new year time and saw manta rays, whale sharks, variety of large rays and schools of fish. Mantas are seen year round with one of the largest recorded resident populations. Humpback whales pass through on their migration between June and October.

What to see

Logistics

Tofo beach in Inhambane province of Mozambique is about 500km north of Maputo along the coast. We flew from Maputo to Inhambane airport and took a taxi to Tofo which takes about 20 minutes. Tofo beach has several resorts, self-catering accommodation and a bunch of restaurants and bars. The place is small and you can walk around everywhere.

We were in Tofo for new year’s and the beach got busy with tourists and locals coming to celebrate the new year’s eve and day on the beach.  By January 2 most people were gone and life was back to chilled-out normal on the beach. During our stay at Tofo the winds picked up for a couple of days and the sea was too rough to go out diving.  We walked along the beach to the light house and the next beach called Barra. It was also nice to just hang in one of the restaurants along the beach enjoying the view and nice cocktails made with fresh fruit.

We dove with Peri Peri divers who run an efficient and professional operation.  We usually did two dives out.  The idea is to combine a dive at one of the further reefs either south or north of Tofo with a dive in the bay which allows for an “ocean safari” looking for whale sharks in transit during the surface interval.  We were lucky and saw a whale shark from the boat and then it came past us on the dive. We saw mantas on 5 out of 8 dives in Tofo.

Mantas come to get cleaned on cleaning stations along the reef and according to the researchers at Marine Megafauna Research Center who came along with us on some of the dives mantas can stay on the reef up to 8 hours getting cleaned. So basically we were diving in a manta’s spa!  The reef is at about 25-28 meters and it is best to dive on nitrox to maximize bottom time. All in all Tofo has exceptional diving and was an excellent trip in combination with Ponta do Ouro. Having heard amazing stories about humpback whales arriving in large numbers to the waters along Mozambique shore it is definitely on the list for a repeat visit.