Diving Pemba Under Sail, February 2007

by Dave Martin

My wife and I have recently returned from a weeks diving around Pemba in the Zanzibar islands, topped off with 4 days in Stone Town (the capital of Unguja which is the main island of the group). The trip was put together for us by Maldives Scuba Tours who we use regularly to organise our holiday and about whom we cannot speak highly enough.

We flew with Kenya Airways into Mombasa via Nairobi. We had checked about additional luggage allowance for dive equipment and were asked to phone in advance of departure and an extra 10k would be added to the record of our booking. There were a few hiccups but this all went as promised. The carrier and the flight were fine and we were met at Mombasa arrivals by Ali Allport who is the land based half of Tony and Ali who run Kenya Dive Safaris.

Then a short drive to the sailing ketch, Aristos, where we were met by Tony who was to be our skipper and dive guide for the week along with Caragh who looked after us on the inflatable and crewed the boat, and last but by no means least, Sandy who was first and foremost the boat's chef but also did her share of the crewing. Although the Aristos can cater for a maximum of 6 we were fortunate in being the only 2 guests on this trip. This is something which initially made us a bit apprehensive but we really needn't have worried as within an hour or so we felt really at ease, largely due to the balance struck by the crew between professionalism and relaxed informality.



Having had several Red Sea and Maldivian liveaboard trips, it was certainly going to be a new experience living and diving from a 57 foot sailing vessel but once we acclimatised to the relatively confined space and found out what to hold on to and what not to trip over, it all seemed to fall into place.



The dive safari itinerary:

Having stowed our kit and had our boat orientation we set sail down the Kenyan coast from Mombasa to Shimoni where we spent the night and sorted out our exit visas for Kenya. This done, we set off bright and early across the Pemba Channel to the north of Pemba Island, often accompanied by spinner and bottlenose dolphins and even the occasional leaping sailfish. On reaching landfall, first stop was the Fundu Gap where we moored in the lagoon against an idyllic backdrop of azure seas and palm fringed golden beaches with the added bonus of Vervet monkeys playing on the shoreline.

Over the next couple of days we did a total of 5 dives from this mooring, mainly wall/drift dives of which more later. We then sailed down the coast to Masali Island Marine Park and did a further 4 dives on the reef around the island before heading back up north to the Njao Gap where we did our final 6 dives on the reef and in the lagoon. Nights were spent tucked into the lagoons where the seas were flat and there was the added opportunity of some visits ashore.



Trips ashore:

For instance we spent a couple of hours in Wete which although hardly the hub of westernisation was a lively and colourful town. We were the only westerners that we saw in the time that we spent there and were the focus of a fair amount of attention, especially from the children. The fish market was the centre of mid morning activity with everything on sale from piles of bait fish to huge game fish caught by hand line. Also in the trees above the town streets there were huge numbers of roosting Pemba flying foxes all of which added to the experience.

A second shore trip was to a small fishing village, accessible only by sea and on the edge of Ngezi forest, with a name that I have still not been able to uncover. The happiness, friendliness and curiosity of the local people and their eagerness to show us around their village, and the jungle that lay next to it, was a rare treat. With dug out canoes and hand built dhows there were only limited signs of the industrialised world, that is if you ignore the occasional Man.Utd and Liverpool shirts!

Finally on a couple of occasions at the end of the day we had our G and T sundowners and pre dinner snacks on a deserted beach, watching the sun go down with the sea lapping at our toes. It really was that serene!

The underwater experience:

What then of the diving? Well we were apprehensive as we had read an article in Dive Magazine before we left which had said that the weather was cold, there was sparse marine life (with especially few pelagic species) and the reef and coral was decimated by dynamite fishing and plagues of crown of thorn star fish.

Whilst I have no reason to doubt that this was the experience of the author of the article, I am very pleased to say that it was not ours. At no stage was the water temperature below 28 degrees and a 3 mm suit was more than adequate for this time of year. The marine life was well up to average Red Sea standards in terms of both diversity and quantity although if you choose to dive the more scenic and sheltered west coast of the island then you need to accept that beyond the occasional turtle, Napoleon wrasse, barracuda, tuna etc you are unlikely to see much in the way of big stuff such as sharks.

If however you go with that understanding, then you should be more than happy with the quality of the hard and soft coral which, having dived all over the world, was amongst the most pristine and varied that either I or my wife had ever experienced. And as for star fish at the start of one dive we saw an unusual number on the reef but other than that we saw hardly any at all on the whole trip. All the usual Indian Ocean suspects were there with many species of butterfly fish, angels, gobies, parrot fish, wrasse etc etc along with some stunning scorpion fish, lion fish and leaf fish of all shapes and hues and 5 species of eel.

Of particular interest to me, however, was the quality of the macro life and this certainly didn't disappoint. Helped by the fact that Tony was an accomplished underwater photographer and also had a keen interest in the smaller stuff which gave him a very keen eye, we saw 15 or so species of nudibranch and flatworm, and more crabs and shrimps than you could shake a pointer at.


















But one of the key features of time spent underwater was the total lack of other divers. We once saw another dive boat from one of the land based lodges, but that was in the distance and in transit. Even now these reef systems are relatively unexplored and especially with the flexibility of a liveaboard there is ample scope to stray away from the more renowned dive sites and try somewhere new.




















Life on board:
Living and diving from a 57 foot yacht will not be everyone's cup of tea.

Let's be honest: if there is a continuum of luxuriousness then you have the Red Sea gin palaces up there as the sanitised 'multinational chain hotels' of the diving world. Everything you might want including embroidered bathrobes and slippers but a bit short on character. Then maybe the Maldivian small group boat sits in the 'fine country guesthouse' slot. Well keep going and you get to the 'Winnebego' section. Following my analogy that is where you might put the diving/sailing experience.

But that is in no way a criticism. It's just to say that if you want luxury or the dynamic of 12 or more divers to chill out with at the end of the day then this isn't likely to be for you. If however you want something a bit different with flexibility, fun, exceptional personal service and the opportunity to have a dive experience focussed totally tailored to your needs then you are in luck. Space was certainly limited and life on deck could be busy at times but this soon fell into the background and was outweighed by features such as the superb catering with fine hotel quality food throughout the day, climaxing at dinner with aperitifs, three superb courses, and good wine. Afterwards all lying on deck in the balmy evenings, being given an astronomical guided tour around the star systems by Caragh made it feel good to be alive.

Back to Kenya:

Diving over, we headed out from Tanzanian waters, back over the Pemba Channel to Mombasa. This time the winds had got up and we crossed under sail at about 8 knots (with gusts of 20) which made for an exhilarating few hours at sea. All part of the fun and once safely back on the home mooring, Ali picked us up for breakfast at their 'homestay' a few miles down the coast. Just completed after a major refirb and extension, we had heard about this in the course of our travels but this hadn't prepared us for what we were to experience. They have built 4 bedrooms onto their own home to cater for visitors who can either use it as a base for local shore based diving or as a stepping off point for land safaris which they are happy to arrange in one of Kenya's many game reserves. It was an amazing place sat on a hillside overlooking the Indian Ocean with its own beach access. Lovely rooms and a pristine pool, deep enough for dive instruction. Very impressive.

Onwards:

Having scrubbed up and eaten, Ali and Tony drove us to the airport for our onward flight to Stone Town. Disaster threatened when on arrival we were told of a several hour flight delay but this was all taken into the stride of our hosts who then put the day aside for a tour round Mombasa - the castle, the old town. An unexpected bonus and well above and beyond the call of duty.

Belatedly and after fond farewells, we eventually flew from Mombasa (via Dar es Salaam as opposed to direct as originally intended) to Zanzibar/Stone Town. It was a short and uneventful flight which still got us to the hotel in time to settle in and spend the rest of the day getting ourselves oriented.

Stone Town:
We stayed at the Dhow Palace in the heart of the Old Town and in the middle of a hubbub of human activity. The hotel was well situated, full of character, clean, comfortable, had a nice central courtyard with a pool and a rooftop restaurant in which to have breakfast. Physically it had everything going for it but the overall experience was diminished by staff with an almost total disinterest in their guests. They weren't rude but rather just didn't seem to care much about what sort of experience you may or may not have been having. This included forgetting to pick us up from the airport which they saw as fully addressed by paying for the taxi. No apology or explanation was seen as necessary or indeed appropriate.

Their sister hotel, the Tembo House Hotel, situated on the beach seemed to have a bit more about it in terms of customer care and would be my choice were we to go again. Stone Town itself was a real thrill with its maze of small streets, with an amazing array of small shops, markets and workshops. The doors of Zanzibar are a particular feature and everywhere you went you tripped over huge studded and carved doors, many of which gave entry to very unassuming premises that would not seem to warrant such flamboyance. We got lost on a number of occasions which was not a problem as it was always possible to find a way out onto a main street....just not the main street that you wanted which often meant a fair degree of extra foot slogging in blistering heat.

Still the ready made solution of stopping off for a beer or ice cream was always available.

The prices were really reasonable and we usually managed to eat out in one of the many and varied restaurants for about £10 a head. There is a lot to see such as the House of Wonders (named such because it was the first building with an electric lift), the castle and many vestiges of the slave trade as well as just observing life in a town which (like the aforementioned hotel staff) just seemed to get on with business despite the smallish transient population of tourists and backpackers. As an example there was only one bank in the whole town that would have anything to do with traveller's cheques and then only very grudgingly. Most of the tourist trade goes straight to the beach resorts from the airport and only steps briefly (if at all) into the capital. Personally though I wouldn't have missed it!



Whilst we were there we went on a couple of sorties out of the town...one to a local spice farm and the other to Jozani Forest which is the remaining part of the lush vegetation that used to cover much of the island. Both of which were very inexpensive and organised through Eco and Cultural Tours who could have taught the Dhow Palace all they needed to know about pleasing their customers.

The trip to the spice farm was well organised with a very knowledgeable and attentive guide. We saw every manner of spice, vegetable and fruit growing and sampled more of them than was probably healthy. We were then treated to a traditional lunch in the communal home of a local women's cooperative.

With regard to the forest trip, this too was first class and the undoubted highlight was getting up close and personal with a troop of red colobus monkeys which, though rare and endangered, just played and ate in the fruit trees around us, oblivious to our presence ( can you see a theme emerging here?).

All in all this was a great 'step down' from our diving safari and one which we are glad we took. The alternative would be to have gone off in a landrover into mainland Tanzania or Kenya in search of the big 5 or to climb Kilimanjaro. A tough call if cost and stamina aren't an issue.

....and finally:
We eventually got home after a long wait in transit at Nairobi airport, which must rate as one of the worst organised and inhospitable of the worlds 'major' airports.

And our conclusions....? As I've already mentioned, the whole experience was very different to the many other dive trips that we have been on and was wonderful for it. The Allports, their staff, their boat, their homestay, all rolled together made for a brilliant and very personal experience. Absolutely not everyone's cup of tea but no surprise there.




Tanzania main page