Scuba Diving Africa

[Jay.]

As a new goal i'm trying to travel a new place every month. I have 5 out of the next 6 planned w/ various friends but for next month i'm stuck. So next month will likely be on my own so the plan was an activity trip.

From my quick reading around Africa seems to have some great dive sites. Mozambique and Sudan seem most ideal plus i get to see Africa but i haven't read up on these places yet and i have no clue if they are even safe to travel.

Any done any diving in Africa? Anyone visited these places? or even heard anything? Or anyone got any other dive sites i should go to or other idea of an activity holiday?

[Jay.]

From quick reading Mozambique seems nearly safe to travel, but lots of trouble needed to be avoided.

[ChromePony]

Sharm el Shiekh in Egypt is generally regarded as one of the best dive sites anywhere. Its probably a little more accessible but this also means that its over developed and packed with tourists...your call.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Sharm_el-Sheikh

[Jay.]

Did Sharm el Sheikh for my advanced dives, liked it a lot.

[TheWorstPlayer]

South Africa has three main dive sites, all awesome. Aliwal Shoal is sometimes murky but you can dive with hammerhead sharks and other fun little beasties. Hit or miss, but the chance of hitting makes it well worthwhile. Also fun launching from a rocky shore into pretty big swells, so you get the full South Africa dive experience.

Sodwana Bay is an easier dive spot and quite beautiful (think it's the Southern-most tropical reef in the world or something like that). Visibility is usually better than Aliwal, but you won't have the fun of diving with the sharks (although you can see some there, too, occasionally). When I was there, the visibility was basically infinite and the reef looked incredible and there were many many amazing things to see, so I'd highly recommend it - although those perfect conditions are apparently not the norm, it's always very good.

Then off of Cape Town, you can do wreck diving and some other fun stuff, but those are again difficult dives and the water is pretty cold. Apparently there is some great dry-suit diving there, but I don't do that so can't comment from experience.

In Mozambique, I went to Guinjata Bay which was pretty amazing (and very remote - fun to get there). It's somewhat lesser known, but the village has very limited electricity and running water and stuff which makes it very cool and rustic. And the diving was incredible. First dive out, saw a huge whale shark with a young one underneath her. They have HUGE manta rays and many other things there. When I was there, there was a team of about 10 professional dive photographers there taking pictures and film for some documentary, so that should give an idea of how awesome the site is.

If you have any other questions, AIM/email/PM me since I'm not checking this site much these days.

[Caldarooni]

I enjoyed my dives off of Zanzibar.

[Jay.]

Thanks TWP.

For those interested final decision has been this tour:

Itinerary : 'Shark & Reef Diving Adventure'
Day-1 : Arrive Durban -- Transfer to Sodwana Bay -- Overnight Sodwana Bay, South Africa
Day-2 : 2-dives Sodwana Bay -- Overnight Sodwana Bay, South Africa
Day-3 : 2-dives Sodwana Bay -- Overnight Sodwana Bay, South Africa
Day-4 : Game Safari -Hluhluwe Reserve -- Transfer KZN South Coast -- Overnight KZN South Coast
Day-5 : 2-dives Aliwal Shoal -- Overnight KZN South Coast
Day-6 : 2-dives Aliwal Shoal -- Overnight KZN South Coast
Day-7 : 2-dives Protea Banks -- Overnight KZN South Coast
Day-8 : 2-dives Protea Banks -- Overnight KZN South Coast
Day-9 : Full Day Tiger Shark Diving - Aliwal Shoal -- KZN South Coast
Day-10 : Airport transfer to Durban International Airport

Decided to do this in March which was $2.5k for dives, transfers, breakfast and accommodation + single supplement).

Sodwana Bay

Aliwal Shoal

Protea Banks

[jfish]

this is very cool.