I was looking forward to this trip organised by Deco Divers, Mozambique Scuba and hosted by Gozo Azul in Ponta D’Ouro for various reasons, the main one being I was going home to Africa, the land where I grew up and lived for over 25 years.
My journey started on Friday 1st March where I left Bari in Italy and after transiting and changing flight in Rome and Doha I arrived 27 hours later in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.
I arrived at Maputo airport to that heat blanket that engulfs you when you step off the plane. I made my way to customs/visa/yellow fever check, which apart from being chaotic was quite efficient and being visa free I still had to pay a $10 entry in cash. Bags collected and heading through customs to by met by erm no-one. Was I early? Not sure. Anyway, my e-sim wasn’t activated yet so, and this was my first encounter with Moz friendliness, I was approached by a man who could see I was looking for my driver and offered me his phone to call our host, Lorrayne. I phoned Lorrayne and was assured my driver was there. Lorrayne sent a photo to the driver and all was resolved. My driver, Ziko, greeted me like a long-lost brother and all was good. We then headed out of the airport passing all the street vendors selling everything from Gucci to papaya to timber flooring. En route we were pulled over by the police and after a lot of laughing and joking especially when I said I was Kenyan they let us go. Although I know that aspect had nothing to do with it they just found it funny !!
Maputo town soon turned to the N1. Road heading to Ponta Douro. After approximately 2 hrs, and after driving through the game reserve, we arrived in Ponta and at our host accommodation, Planet Scuba.
Planet Scuba was situated above the main “road”, sandy track through town and I could not fault the cleanliness, facilities, and staff, just amazing. Later that day we were joined by the whole group, and what a group. Some of them I had met before, some I had not. The group consisted of: Sharky, Amr, Andreea, Lenka, Haytham, Ashraf, Dena, Sam and myself. By the end of the week we were all best buddies and I couldn’t have asked for nicer group.
Lorrayne joined us as we settled in and outlined the programme for the week, which consisted of two morning dives and afternoons were to be kept a mystery!!! That evening Lorrayne took us to Mamma Alice’s chicken restaurant, situated down a maze of alleys in Ponta, which was definitely a locals hangout, with restaurants, bars and small market. Wow what a meal, ½ BBQ chicken with local maize and spices, just simple but amazing, we all loved it. After finishing our meal we headed back to Planet Scuba to relax, me to sleep, and all anticipating the next day
3rd March
Day 1 diving. We arrived at Gozo Azul owned and run by Natalie, an amazing person, who I had previously met on one of Sharky’s liveaboards. Lorrayne was at the dive centre to conduct a thorough briefing on what the days diving was going to entail, and how the whole process worked in Moz. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Sarah, a lady that worked in Maputo who had also joined our group, an old friend from previous. After the usual first day of finding our diving feet, how everything worked and what we were required to do, we headed off on our transport to the beach. The transport consisted of a tractor pulling us in a semi enclosed trailer through town for 5 or so minutes until we arrived at the beach.
Once at the beach the staff from Gozo Azul unloaded our kit on the Zodiac. Must mention the staff, the most helpful and kind boys you could wish for, worked like trojans but were always smiling and happy. Once the kit had been unloaded we were told what to do by Lorrayne as the Zodiac was on the beach and we had to push into shallow surf, jump on, and strap our feet in, lifejackets on and break the shore surf before heading into the main body of water. What a ride out !!! Great fun and soon we were in the main body of water heading out to our first dive site, Doodles.
At Doodles we had a check dive to ensure we were all weighted properly, and all equipment worked. Doodles was a perfect first dive, an abundance of Groupers, Rays, Morays and a really healthy fish population, just amazing. Once the check dive was completed we headed back to shore through the surf waves and hit the beach at what felt like 50 miles an hour, loved it.
On shore we had our breakfast wraps prepared by Planet Scuba and prepared for dive 2. What a dive that was going to be. After our Surface Interval, we headed back out over the surf and proceeded to Pinnacles dive site, some 30 mins away along the bay. We dropped into Pinnacles and was almost instantly greeted by 14 hammerheads just passing us in the deep, magical.
Pinnacles was our favourite dive spot by far as we encountered Silver Tips, Black Tips, Leopard sharks, Hammerheads, Eagle Rays and countless marine life we could only be in awe of.
We headed back some 1hr later to the beach and were collected by our “transport” for the lift back to Gozo Azul.
On arrival the boys at Gozo Azul removed our kit, rinsed it and hung it in our designated area, all we had to do was take off our wetsuit and hang that to dry along with our boots, what a great service. That afternoon, and after a lunch at Tarragons, a little local run restaurant, and maybe a few coconut ice creams at the Coconut Can, we were surprised with a trip up to Sky Island, approximately 30 minutes up, and I mean up, the coast in Malangane. Sky Island is a wonderful setting for what turned into a thrill packed afternoon of Paragliding and chilling out. If you’ve never been paragliding I can highly recommend it and almost everyone had a go and some, Sam, went twice. Great fun.
That evening we dined at the Love Café, approximately 10 minutes from Planet Scuba. There was a great variety of food from Italian dishes to Chicken and Meat, something for everyone.
Most of our days in Mozambique were very similar to our first with regard to the diving, which was outstanding, and the afternoon activities were a surprise for everyone, what I don’t want to do is spoil the surprises for future groups, but rest assured, you will have the best time, we did. We ate at some amazing places every evening, the highlight for me was Mamma Alices, just delicious.
Conclusion
Lorrayne Mozambique Scuba
Lorrayne could not do enough for us and was the perfect host and guided us to some amazing dive sites and went out of her way to make sure we went home with some amazing memories.
Planet Scuba
Spotless, amazing staff, great food, and perfect location. Shout out to George and his chilli sauce!!
Gozo Azul
Run by Natalie with efficiency and that perfect blend of professionalism and fun. Could not fault anything and as for the staff, just the most helpful boys I have ever come across.
Sharky and Deco Divers
My mentor in so many ways and it’s a joy to be with him and be his friend and a business partner.
The group
Haytham and his wife Lenka, love them both and much respect to a great couple.
Amr a new friend who made me laugh so much even if I didn’t have a clue what he was saying half the time!!!
Andreea just a lovely kind person and awesome diver who had to juggle some work at the same time, I think she missed her cats and boyfriend, in that order, Ci vediamo tra poco.
Princess Dena who is the most down to earth person I have ever met, just a lovely soul and not a princess in any shape or form…I blame Amr lol
Barracuda Sam !! if there was ever a person you could call a rock, Sam is it.
Ashraf, I have met Ashraf once before and when you meet someone as genuine as the “coconut king” then you know you are lucky, an awesome man.
My time in Mozambique was filled with awesome diving, the best company, great hosts and even after a journey of 27 hours I would do it again tomorrow. See you soon.
