I dived out of Tofu and Vilanculos in January 2023 and as someone with decent experience around the world and an appreciation for the "bigger" animals, I was quite disappointed by my (albeit limited) dive experiences in Moz.
While Tofu was rather charming independent of whether you dove or not (and of course regular outings to snorkel with the many whale sharks in the bay, though it can be quite a zoo with lots of people and boats), I was not as fond of Vilanculos (despite having very nice seafront family-run accommodation) as a town (the water is of course fantastic and when the tides are low you get the most gorgeous views of the pools of water and sand which makes for fantastic beachcombing). It felt less safe to me (as a solo female I was endlessly harassed the few times I ventured out in broad daylight to take a quick walk) and did not have as much tourist infrastructure (shops, restaurants etc) as I was expecting. There are direct flights from and to Johannesburg with Air Link which appeared more on-time and reliable than LAM (which I flew to Inhambane via Maputo). There are really nice resorts right on the Bazaruto archipelago and I think if you are after just a beach and dive vacation, that may be your best bet.
I did however venture into the Bazaruto Archipelago Marine Park for double dives on 3 separate days. That was enough for me personally. It is fun to explore the dunes and landscape on your surface interval but I did not see the need to do it more than once/twice.
The diving is on large ribs which are less comfortable than an equipped boat, do not have toilets (or much, if any shade) and can make for a bumpy ride when the seas are anything but glass (I encountered both glassy calm days and rougher waters). You probably will have heard of the manner of ingress and egress from the beach and obviously are doing backroll entries from the rib. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the overall diving experience but that is relative depending on what you enjoy most and what your previous experiences were like. In Bazaruto, we saw a handful of individual reef sharks and one or two very large sea turtles with the standard mix of tropical fish. The topography underwater has some variety but visibility was not particularly good when I was diving. I run very cold but was happy in my 5 mm in January - I am unsure of water temperatures and conditions in April but believe it is the start of the dry season so you would expect it to have somewhat cooler water temps and clearer days.
