Who to stay and dive with in Pemba

1.For the wealthier diver travellers - try Manta Reef Lodge

2. For the less financially burdened diver traveller visit Raf's place - Swahili Divers Lodge, based in Chake Chake

Manta Reef Lodge

Getting to Manta Reef:

Dive Centre at Manta Reef:

Set in a beautiful and very remote location on the northern most tip of Pemba, a step into what is known thesedays as 'barefoot luxury'.

The simple open-fronted wooden chalets overlook the sea and sunsets and offer basic but very comfortable accomodation. We were there during a quiet period but were assured that the atmosphere around the lodge was always very friendly and informal. This lodge was built with divers in mind instead of many in East Africa that just cater to beach holiday guests who perhaps want a couple of dips underwater. Manta Reef was also running the liveaboard SY Jambo, detailed below

An absolute bugger to get to if you do it the way we did (8 hour ferry from Zanzibar and 3 hours in a cramped, jolting Dala Dala from Mkoani port) but not if you're the sensible type who has enough cash to plan a holiday properly (transfer 2 hours by boat from Kenya or fly to Chake Chake and get comfortable...ish taxi transfer 1 hour)!!

The diving at Manta Reef is very well run by Instructor and General Dive Nut, Eddy Verholen. Large range of equipment and PADI courses available. Dive schedules are organised around the customers rather than pre-scheduled. A recommended day's diving incorporates the mind blowing sites of Manta Point, Mandela Wall and Fundhu Gap with a basic lunch on an idyllic deserted beach.

Cost to stay at the lodge is presently US$180 (£110) per person per day including 3 dives. Great location for diving groups/clubs accomodating up to 24 divers. If 10 book, one goes free.

For a holiday of diving, sunbathing, eating, stargazing, forest rambles, and more diving, find out booking and transfer details by emailing Veronica or Ranjit or visit Manta Reef Lodge Website.

Swahili Divers Lodge

Diving at Swahili Divers:

Getting to Swahili Divers:

A recent development in the Pemban capital, Swahili Divers offers a chance for us 'not so monied masses' to explore the, up until now, exclusive dive sites around the island. The friendly and very welcoming guesthouse offers simple but comfortable accomodation in the form of dorms (£3) and double rooms (£18). Mealtimes are usually very sociable occasions and the meals themselves set at reasonable prices. eg. £2.80 for ample main meal and pudding.

On first meeting the owner, Raf, you might think him an obnoxious, overbearing meglomaniac but after 24hours you start to see his true soft and squidgy marshmallow side which has an overriding concern for his customers' comfort and safety....... Raf accompanied by the calming and organisational aid of the 'Princess' (Rachel) and Rasa, make Swahili Divers a home from home for the travelling diver....gee that sounds corny but how else do you explain cosy, friendly atmospheres?!

Courses up to PADI divemaster level offered. See www.swahilidivers.com for details. The diving set up is already pretty organised in such a short time and promises to be even better. Having only been open a few months, Raf has oodles of equipment on order including 2 fast rigid inflatable boats with total capacity for 20 divers on a 2 dive boat trip. The romantic traditional wooden dhows are presently used for the daily dive trips. With the emphasis on safety, dive briefings on board were very thorough and this was the first Dhow we'd ever come across that actually had a lifeboat, oxygen, life jackets and a mobile phone on board.

2 dives including lunch cost $70 including equipment. Certain dive sites are located within Marine Parks and incur an extra minimal charge.

Dala Dala (shared pick-up truck) from Mkoani Port will cost around £0.50p and take approx 1 hour. Taxis will try and charge about £20 and it'll still usually be a rust bucket - Bargain with a patient smile until you are happy. Do not feel sorry for the taxi driver and give in. A taxi from the airport will probably charge between £10 and £20. Bargain down to £5 if you dare.

As a general rule, the diving on the west side of the island is more chartered, accessible and in many places protected from by the maze of coral reefs and islands whereas diving on the East Coast requires more diving experience due to the depths and strong currents. For deep, challenging, mid-water diving in search of big fish we dived around Mtangani Channel on the South East Coast on 3 day liveaboard boat trip.......Just Incredible! See below for details

Everyone raves about the visibility around Pemba. The quote is "You're having a bad day if the visibility is 20 metres or less". In fact so sure of themselves are the divemasters on Pemba that they guarantee the vis to be at the very least 20metres.

So you can imagine the poor dive guide's 'slight' (ahem) embarassment when we dropped in on 4 metres on our very first Pemban dive!!! Aaaagh, Dive the Dream strikes again. Don't worry it did improve and we can safely say that 20 metres is most definately the average and 30 -50metres is pretty common. East Africa in general is susceptible to plankton blooms which usually hang around for a few days before the clear water returns. Pemba is affected less often, we just turned up on the one day in 2 years when it hit.

October to March - before the long rains hit and affect visibility - supposedly higher possibility of seeing Mantas around January time.

Very warm. Registered 30 degrees at 25metres. But we were still wearing 5mm full length wetsuits due to the high number of dives.

Comments:

Liveaboard Option:
Although it is wonderful to stay on the island if you have the time to explore, what if you only have 10 days holiday? To get the best out of Pemba diving has to be from a liveaboard boat. On a liveaboard, you can get up and dive at the crack of dawn. For less than the price of luxury land accomodation, the liveaboards charge on average $150 per day including all food, equipment and as many dives as you can handle. We dived from SY Jambo, excellent 3 day liveaboard trip arranged through Manta Reef Lodge skippered perfectly by Hans ........ and diving was very well organised by Jens ........... . Taking us to the less frequently dived reefs on the South East Coast around Mtangani Channel, the aim was to search for Hammerhead Sharks. These, because Dive The Dream is completely jinxed, didn't show up but the dives were nevertheless spectacular.

Ten dives in three days all at around 30metres depth and most at great speed - 3 knot drifts were usual which meant we covered near to 2 km in a 40 minute dive. Zig zagging in and out from the reef to blue water hoping to bump into some big fish. That we did. Shoals of Big Jacks would every now and then glance into sight and with a bright reflection of sheet silver would turn and instantly vanish into the blue. When finning past Mtangani Channel going North, we would generally pass schools of large Tuna just hanging there seemingly motionless facing into the current. A couple of times Eagle Rays were spotted gracefully flying below us and two little White Tip Reef Sharks graced us with their presence (we were beginning to think that there were no sharks at all in East Africa). The reef on this side was beautiful, undamaged and full of life. Not that our interest lay too much in exploring the reef life, but each time we veered in from blue water, it was a welcoming change from the endless blue and lack of Hammerheads.

Warning for diving the South East Coast of Pemba. This is only really recommended for very competent divers, happy with deep mid-water (ie. no reef reference) diving and ability to cope with very strong up and down currents. When hanging happily at 30metres you can very easily and in a couple of seconds find yourself at 50m. The only indication of a down curent is when you find it incredibly hard to fin upwards with your Buoyancy Jacket fully inflated!