Kenya

by Trevor Thorpe

I've been to Kenya 3 times, although only once as a qualified diver. It will always be special to me though, because I learned to dive here too.

The first time, I visited Malindi which is roughly 2 hours north of Mombasa & is much closer to an authentic African fishing village than some of the commercialised resorts further south. There are very few hotels - which is why I went there – for peace and quiet, but unfortunately I didn’t dive at this time.

My second visit to Kenya was to Diani Beach, south of Mombasa which is much more commercialised and it is also where I got hooked on scuba-diving. I was staying at an all-inclusive resort that offered many water sports and one of them was free try dives in the pool. Despite the fact that I am slightly physically disabled, I decided to try one and was so impressed that the following day I signed up for a scuba introductory course. This consisted of more pool dives plus 3 open water dives. For the open water dives, we visited a number of sites. My first dive was at Galu where I dived to 12m for 40 minutes and then 2 days later they took me to Shimoni Marine Park were we did 2 dives, the first to 12m. for 40minutes and then after a surface interval we did a 15m. dive for 35minutes.

My third visit was the best of all because I was a qualified diver. I visited Watamu which is 1.5 hrs. drive north of Mombasa.. I picked November specially because it is the time of year that Whale Sharks migrate up the coast. The other reason I chose this time of the year to dive was that Hayes & Jarvis do not charge single supplements during that month which saved me £2-300. I usually holiday alone. My fortnight's holiday was about £850 which seemed to me a very good deal. I stayed at the Turtle Bay Beach Club which is a very nice hotel with very good facilities and has entertainment most nights. The dive shop was attached to the hotel and run by Barracuda Dive. They are a very good operation, if somewhat basic. The dive guides were very friendly and helped me get my kit together which I rented from them. They also carried it to the boat for me as I am very slightly physically disabled. Another nice thing about this trip was that I met several members of the Shrewsbury BSAC. branch who also helped me if I needed it. If possible I prefer to dive without a suit as they tend to restrict my movement. The water temperature was always around 25-28°C so this was not a problem.

As I am a single traveller with no one else to please I went diving most days although when in Kenya it would be a travesty not to do a small safari, which I always do. Most of the Safari Lodges are extremely comfortable and all have a waterhole to attract the wildlife. I have visited Voi, Saltlick, Taiti Hills & Nguilia and can highly recommend this add on to your holiday.

Some of the dive sites I visited were; Octopus Reef, Whale Shark Reef and The Canyon where we saw some White Tip Sharks. I also dived Canyon North, South Reef, Whale Shark ( a beautiful drift dive), Deep Place & Verona. They had a pretty fast skiff which was just like a rowing boat with outboard engines fitted. None of the dive sites were more than 20mins. away. The weather while I was there was very good, in the low 90s and very sunny with low humidity although on the last day of my holiday it did rain heavily. I live in Langley Mill which is right on the Notts./Derbys. border & cannot drive so I tend to fly from Gatwick which is easier for me although it means getting a taxi into Nottingham to catch the National Express to Gatwick which takes around 4-5 hrs. & then the flight from Gatwick to Mombasa is around 9hrs.


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