Diving Zanzibar
The waters of the Azanian sea offer some of the best swimming, diving and snorkeling experiences in the world. There are several Dive Shops in Stone Town and also at some of the larger beach resorts. All rent and service diving gear and can arrange diving excursions to the nearby reefs and small Isles.
A National Marine
Park was recently established around Chumbe Island, just a few miles SW of Stone
Town. There pristine coral reefs and an amazing variety
of sea life offer unparalleled diving or snorkeling experiences. Charter boats
also leave Stone Town regularly for dive safaris to Pemba. Live aboard diving in
the warm, clear waters (visibility up to 60m/200 ft) off of Mesali Island gives
new meaning to the term "rapture of the deep".
The following is an
incomplete list of the small Isles, Cray's, sandbars and atolls suitable for
diving around Zanzibar and Pemba. The ratings come from a great new (1997) book
by Anton Koornhof "The Dive sites of Kenya and Tanzania" (pub. by
Passport Books, Chicago Ill. USA)
Dive sites close to Stone Town:
Changuu
(Prison Island)==good snorkeling 35 meters NW of the main beach.
Chapwani Island (Grave Island)== good
snorkeling 50m NW of the east tip of the island
Bawi Island == Koornhof rated this site 4
stars for diving, 3 stars for snorkeling. The reef wall is about 150m east of the
east edge of the island.
Fungu Chawamba (the Sand Bar) == about 3 km
due west of Stone Town. Several Stone Town Dive Shops use this site for beginner
scuba lessons.
Nyange (unbuoyed dive site) == K rating--4
stars diving,4 stars snorkeling.
Pange Island == K rating--3 stars diving, 3
stars snorkeling
Pwakuu Island == K rating--4 stars diving, 3
stars snorkeling.
Murogo Reef == K rating-- 5 stars diving, 3
stars snorkeling.
Boribu sandbar (also called Bokibu) ==K
rating --4 stars diving, 0 stars snorkeling.
Chumbe Island == 5
stars. A permit is required for
diving in the Marine Park but the small fee is worth the money and it goes to
further environmental awareness. There is an interesting light house on this
Island and an exclusive eco-lodge.
Other Unguja Island Dive sites:
Stingray alley ==K rating--4 stars diving, 0
stars snorkeling. This site is off the East Coast of Zanzibar Island, due east
of the Shehe Guest House, near Jambiani village.
Jambiani Reef (also called Unicorn reef)==K rating--4 stars diving, 0 stars snorkeling.
Levan Bank ==K rating--5 stars diving, 0
stars snorkeling. This site is off of Nungwi village, on the northern tip of the
main Island.
Mnemba Island ==K rating--4 stars diving, 3
stars snorkeling. This is a "private Island" off the north east coast.
Pemba Dive Sites:
Mesali Island == My personal favorite! Also
called Capt. Kidd's Island and reputed to still contain his buried treasure.
It's due west of Chake Chake. The top K rating of 5 stars for diving and 5 stars
for snorkeling is well deserved.
Uvinje Gap == There are two dive sites at
this location NE of Chake Chake. The"Northern Wall" gets a K rating of
4 stars diving, 0 stars snorkeling and the "Southern Wall" receives 4
stars Diving and 4 stars snorkeling.
Panza Island == There are two dive sites here
too, near the southern tip of Pemba Island. The first is called "Southern
Wreck" after the nearby sunken freighter. It has a K rating of 4 stars
diving 0 stars for snorkeling. South of the wreck is "Emerald Reef",
which is a 5 star diving site and again no stars for snorkeling
Manta Point==is off the NW coast of Pemba
near the Fundu gap. K rating--5 stars diving, 0 stars snorkeling. This site is
renowned for the large numbers of giant Manta rays in the area. Manta Reef Camp
on the Pemba shore is sometimes used as a base camp for diving parties.
Note: There are very few land based diving support facilities on Pemba.
Other info for divers:
Water temperature at all sites ranges from 25
to 29 Celsius.
Visibility ranges from 15m to 60m. It's
usually best to dive or snorkel as the tide starts to come in, an outgoing tide
may bring sediments that lower visibility at close-in sites.
The "Diving Season" is from
September to March but in reality good dive sites can be found at any time of
the year.
It is agaist the law for tourists to
spear-fish but Zanzibari's do it regularly.
The closest recompression facilities are in
Mombassa, Kenya at the Naval station.
Some Zanzibar Diving related Web Sites:
One Ocean Zanzibar Dive Center = One of the best Dive Shops on the Islandsand the coolest Dhow dive boat anywhere:
http://www.zanzibaroneocean.com/
Dive
Africa WaterSports =
has links to interactive dive map of northern Unguja:
http://www.diveafrica.com/zanzibar/index.html
Rising Sun Dive Center = East Coast Dive Shop:
http://www.risingsun-zanzibar.com/
UV-bilder frn Zanzibar-1998 = Lots of Beautiful underwater photos:
http://www.eminds.se/jka/uv/Zanzibar-1998/
Chumbe Isle Home page = Dive in a protected coral garden:
Mawimbi Watersports Ltd = Fully equipped Dive Center operating out of the Zanzibar Safari Resort in Uroa.
http://mawimbi.discoverzanzibar.com/index2.htm
Funda Lagoon (Pemba) High class resort on Pemba. No road access.
http://www.fundulagoon.com/homepage.htm
Diver 1998 Magazine = Article on diving Pemba. Note: The prices are dated.
http://www.divernet.com/travel/pemb698.htm
Kinasi = Dive the Mafia Island sites, Wonderful descriptions.
http://www.mafiaisland.com/dive.htm
Manta Reef Lodge - Pemba = Remote luxury in a beautiful setting.
http://www.mantareeflodge.com/
Has a fully equipped diving operation, see price list = http://www.mantareeflodge.com/activities/pricelist.html
Night Diving:
For a special thrill try night diving at one
of the shallower sites listed above. The clear water and the numerous
phosphorescent sea creatures make for amazing sights. I once snorkeled off of
Prison island during a full moon and it was unforgettable. On dark nights, if
you are lucky to get the right water conditions, you can see a show even without
going into the water. Adrian Conan Doyle spent some of his fathers' book
royalties on a trip to these waters in the 1950's. Here is his description of a
night spent anchored in a lagoon south of Zanzibar Island.
"Silently, we stood and watched. It was
apparent that this great patch of light, burning with a weird electric blue
color, was well below the surface of the sea, and as it moved nearer the whole
ship beneath the waterline commenced to glow with the radiance of it's approach.
It was passing directly under the keel when, seizing a lead sinker from the
deck, I hurled it into the depth. In an instant the whole mass disintegrated
into tongues of blue flame streaking away like meteors through the blackness of
the water. It's a school of big fish... Over there cried Anna, there too. Oh
what a marvelous sight!
From all directions slow-moving masses of
submarine light had begun to drift about the lagoon, glimmering palely at a
distance of some hundred yards and gradually warming into wonderful shades of
blue and green as they moved nearer to the ship. By watching very closely it was
possible to discern that some of these mobile patches of light were caused by
great sharks while others were whole schools of middle-sized fish.
The hours passed, and at length Anna retired
to rest. The moving masses had become markedly fewer and I was on the point of
descending when suddenly there appeared far away beyond the bows of the ship a
distant patch of submarine luminescence of immense size. Nearer it came, and
nearer, and now I could count no less than three great disturbances of greenish
light proceeding in line formation one behind the other.
Straight past the ship they swept, their
diamond-shaped forms lit up in a livid radiance, their great flukes thirty feet
or more from tip to tip and so on into the darkness, streaming with heatless
fire like ghost coaches gliding upon their way. Thus passed the Mantas."
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