Diving in Mozambique (Imhambane/Barra/Tofo) with Dive the big 5 Tours

Inhambane is one of the oldest towns in Mozambique dating back to the 10th century when Arab traders were active in this area. It was in 1534 that the Portuguese established a permanent trading post at Inhambane. The atmosphere and architecture in the town reflects this exciting and diverse history and it is no wonder that so many people want to go scuba diving in Mozambique.

500km north of Maputo, Inhambane, can be reached by tar road although a 4x4 may be necessary to get to some of the resorts in the area. Inhambane is served by an airport and a port, and has petrol stations, banks, public phones, shops, markets, a bus terminus and a museum. Side-walk cafes are dotted along the narrow streets.

The town itself is set on the bay of Inhambane where you can spend leisurely time watching dhows cruise across the bay – you can even hire a dhow to sail you around the bay or up to the LingaLinga Nature Reserve. This fascinating area used to be a whaling station but is now the home to some of the last remaining dugong in Southern Mozambique.

Apart from the beautiful historical town of Inhambane the main attraction to this area are the idyllic beaches of Jangamo, Tofo, Tofinho and Barra. It is a great area for snorkeling, fishing and surfing. There are many beautiful reefs in the area perfect for scuba diving in Mozambique, including the aptly named Manta reef, and Praia de Rocha where the rock and coral formed a spectacular landscape of pinnacles, gullies, and overhangs. There is also the opportunity for dolphin and whale watching safari’s.

“At Barra and Tofo, our diving is year round, different times of year can offer us different sights, above water and below. Because Mozambique is in the southern hemisphere, our summer is from December to February, and our winter is July to September, though because we are not too far from the equator our winters are not extremely cold.

From December 15th until January 15th it is the South African school holidays and because Mozambique is close to South Africa, all seaside resorts tend to be quite busy during this time, so if you would like to come and visit us during this period, you need to book early! It can get very hot during this time (temperatures can get up to 40 ˚C) and quite humid. Water temp: 27 ˚C-29 ˚C.

From February until May: February is considered cyclone season in this part of the world. Most years this does not affect us and we have gorgeous calm weather, but if the conditions are right for it, cyclones can form out in the channel and send us big waves. At Easter, because of the South African school holidays, the dive resorts are very busy, so if you would like to come during these two weeks you need to book early. Outside the Easter period, it tends to be fairly quiet so it’s a great time to visit us if you want to escape the crowds. The days are still nice and hot but the evenings are getting a little cooler. Water temp: 23-27˚C

From June until September: The whales are here, it’s sunny and warm during the day, and the evenings are cool enough to wear long sleeves. If you come in late June, it is possible to see both the humpback whales and the whale sharks! Water temp: 20-25˚C. This is however the main windy season so be prepared for some choppy sea conditions.

From September until December 15th: It’s starting to get a little warmer at night, the dive resorts varies between very busy and not busy, though these times are unpredictable, so book early or check with us.The water temperature is rising steadily from 23-27˚C.

Visibility, wind and sea conditions: You will need to remember that this is Africa! It is impossible to compare our conditions to other parts of the world. The sea conditions can range from lake-like to very rough with swells sometimes reaching over 5 meters and wind speeds up to 30 knots. We will not launch our boats and take you diving if the sea conditions are too rough (decided by our experienced dive and boat staff) or unsafe. You will find, that if you have never dived here, or along the south-eastern coast of Africa, that the conditions can be quite challenging one day, and very easy the next. Visibility can range from 1 meter to 30 meters and none of the conditions are predictable. We can also get very strong currents on our deeper dives and this is why all our deep dives are considered drift dives and done with negative descents. Having said all the above, we can also experience very calm and pleasant sea and diving conditions.”

Diving

When scuba diving in Mozambique, especially in this area, you are sure to come across amazing sightings of Manta Rays and Whale Sharks. There are amazing varieties of coral in this Indian Ocean paradise that support Harlequin Shrimps, Frogfish, Sea-horses, Turtles, Dolphins, Humpback Whales, Eels, Rays, Barracuda, Kingfish, Paper fish, the list is endless.

The water temperature is lovely all year round from 29 degrees in the summer to 22 degrees in the winter and visibility can be up to 40 metres! Dropping to 9 metres when the plankton bloom.

Whether learning to dive, refreshing and improving your skills or finding a new challenge there is something for everyone. Photographers love this area with several shallow reefs allowing lovely lighting conditions.

Still relatively undiscovered the dive sites are not crowded and the dive operations in the area are responsible and careful with this wonderful and pristine area.

This is the world famous Manta Reef on everyone’s must dive list.

[show_more]Distance: 24km
Minimum Qualification: Deep Adventure (which you can do on this dive, experience and conditions permitting) Maximum Depth: 30m
Average Depth: 21m

A multilevel dive profile, that gives you a dive time of 45mins, if done correctly.

This is the world famous Manta Reef on everyone’s must dive list. Not only is the topography of the actual reef absolutely stunning but also close encounters with Manta rays are practically guaranteed at the three cleaning stations, making this a phenomenal dive site.[/show_more]

Bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘this is my office’ and our divemasters love it!

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Distance: 10km
Minimum Qualification: Deep Adventure (which you can do on this dive, experience and conditions permitting)
Average Depth: 23m

Our slow ascent to our safety stop so we can watch for Devil Rays means we have a total dive time of 40 mins.

This dive site brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘this is my office’ and our divemasters love it!
The topography is reminiscent of Manta Reef and Office even has its own Manta cleaning station, so encounters with Manta’s are very common.

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The Barra / Tofo / Guinjata area offers some of the best sites for diving in Mozambique. It is over 3 000 km of coastline and Manta reef is only one dive site off Barra / Tofo / Guinjata. There are literally hundreds of "spots" like Manta Reef within 25 km's of Barra / Tofo / Guinjata.

Why I refer to the area as "Barra / Tofo / Guinjata" is because these are all names of areas along the beach within 25 km's of each other, each with its own lodges and all three areas dive exactly the same dive sites, one of which is Manta Reef.

I think the set-up at Barra Beach Club and diving with Barra Reef Divers is far better for international divers than the set up at either Tofo Beach or at Guinjata Bay. Barra Reef Divers, the dive operation associated with Barra Beach Club, is less than a kilometre from Barra Beach Club, a 2-minute drive or a 10-minute walk. They will “fetch and carry” at no additional charge. Barra Beach Club offers international divers accommodation in en-suite, air-conditioned "casita's" on a dinner, bed and breakfast basis which is linked to a dive package of your choice in conjunction with Barra Reef Divers. Whereas in Tofo, which is a very small town, the accommodation varies from “basic” to "more-basic". Most places are standalone lodges, which offer self-catering type accommodation, and each accommodation establishment has a "partnership agreement" with a local dive operator. Not ideal for overseas divers who want an all-inclusive package of accommodation, and meals and dives.

Now that I've advised you of the type of accommodation available at Barra, Tofo or Guinjata, let’s address the diving.

The diving is very relaxed and laid-back and we cater for the most novice of divers. The first dive is always done as early in the morning at possible, and is normally on one of the far reefs, like Manta Reef, which is about 25 km's out to sea from the launch point. All dives are done from "Rubber-Ducks" (Zodiacs or RIB's). You kit up on the beach, your tank with BCD and Reg is stowed by the staff in the centre of the Duck and you, kitted up in your wetsuit with your mask, fins and weights being stored in the centre console, sit opposite your tank. When you get to the dive site the skipper and Dive Master help you don your weight belt and helps you into your BCD, they then hand you your mask and fins. Once all the divers are kitted up you do a backward roll into the water and descend to the reef. Once the DM is satisfied that all the divers are safely down and have their buoyancy right you commence with the dive, with the DM leading and holding onto the surface marker buoy. When a diver gets to 50 bar that diver ascends up the buoy-line to the surface where the skipper on the boat is waiting to help you back into the boat. Easy and effortless.

Once all the divers are safely back in the boat you return to the lodge for breakfast and surface interval time, before going back out for the second dive of the day which is usually on one of the closer "house" reefs which could be anything between 5 and 10 km's out to sea from the launch site.

The main attraction along the Moz coast are the Manta's and the Whale Sharks and each dive operators knows full well that people often come diving in Mozambique mainly to see these two marine creatures and do all they can to ensure that you get to encounter these animals. But being Nature, you have to take what Nature dishes out. There are no guarantees. The dive operators know where the Manta Cleaning Stations are and concentrate the first dive of the day at these Cleaning Stations. Whale Sharks are nomadic and cruise just behind the back-line in search for food which is krill and plankton with the result that you don’t have a specific area where they are found but they are normally found on the boat ride out to the reef and on the ride back to shore. The skipper and DM are always on the lookout for the tell-tail sign of a Whale Sharks dorsal and caudal fin which is the only way you are going to recognize them from the surface. When they spot the fin they then drop the divers, usually on snorkel, in the path of the on-coming Whale Shark and you then wait for the Shark to swim up to you. Depending on the actual animal they might hand around and "play" with you or they might carry on with their journey, ignoring you completely. In which case you jump back into the boat, get in front of the animal again and wait till it comes up to you, and so it could go on indefinitely with you leapfrogging in front of the Shark till either you or the Sharks tires. Normally the divers tire first!

All the dive operators along the Moz coast have signed a code of conduct which they adopt when encountering either Whale Sharks and Manta's so please don’t expect to get within touching distance of either or expect to "touch" one.

The stories that you have heard regarding currents around Moz are applicable only to divers who stay on any of the islands of the Bazaruto Archipelago or the Quirimbas and dive the dive sights off these islands. Because these islands are close to the mainland and because the continental shelf is very shallow around these islands, and because the difference between high and low tide is 3 meters, there are extreme currents during at the change from high to low tide and again from low to high tide, with a result that you must plan your dive from 1 hour before high tide to 1 hour after high tide and 1 hour before low tide to 1 hour after low tide. Diving in Mozambique at any time in-between these "windows" is nigh on impossible because of the currents. We once did a dive and the current was ripping at between 4 and 6 knots making it impossible to stop and see anything. It was like a roller coaster ride on the sea-bed! But we would never subject our clients to that type of diving.

The reefs where we dive off Barra Beach Club are where the continental shelf is deeper, where we are not that close to the mainland and where the effect of the change in tides is not that extreme, so currents and the time we plan to do our dives is not dependent on high or low tides.

The only way to get to Barra, Tofo and Guinjata is to fly from Johannesburg to Inhambane where Barra Beach Club will meet you at Inhambane Airport and transfer you directly to Barra Beach Club. There are return flights only on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

To drive from Johannesburg to Inhambane would take about 14 hours on a good tar road.

Dive the Big 5

info@divethebig5.co.za

+27 13 750 1832

Inhambane/Barra/Tofo

Diving in Mozambique

Best time for diving in Mozambique (Inhambane/Barra/Tofo)

Diving

Manta Reef

The Office

Mike’s Cupboard

Salon

Giants Castle

Anchor Bay

Amazon

Barra Lagoon

Chamber of Secrets

Simon’s Town

Buddies Reef

Sherwood Forest

Praia da Rocha (Beach of Rocks)

Coliseum

Praia da Rocha (Beach of Rocks)