Dive conditions in January in Zanzibar?

[andyjh]

Hi All

We are looking at diving in Zanzibar January 2009.

From what I can tell there seems to be a general opinion that the south of the island is best for diving around January and the north of the island best in September.

Does this mean water conditions are actually bad with poor visibility, strong currents and dive sites closed if we go to the north in January or is it not that bad?

Also how does this leave conditions on the east coast in January ?

Our current thinking is a week in Paje and a week in Nungwi. Has anyone any hotel recommendations for these places? We are not looking for 5 star resorts!

Thanks

Andy

 

[Adriaan557]

Hi Andy,

We went to Nungwi beginning of Feb last year. The diving on the north-west side of Nungwi was excellent. Good visability, lots of sea life and hard corals - not a lot of tourists, we were the only divers at these sites at a time. Diving at Mnemba atoll on the eastern side is a 1.5-2hour dhow ride form Nungwe, if the wind is blowing then the visability is not that great at some of the Mnemba dive sites, and it is a lot more busy, because all the East coast dive operators go there so there is always a few dive boats.

Nungwi is a great place to stay and there are lots of restaurants, and the food is cheap, so no need to go for an all inclusive package. We stayed at a guesthouse belonging to one of the dive operators. Nice and clean but basic accomodation and it was very reasonably priced. Very friendly people and you just tell them the day before that you want to go diving and they will have a dhow ready the next morning. Sensation Divers, Zanzibar

Hope this helps,
Adriaan

 

[andyjh]

Thanks for the Info.

Anyone out there been to Pemba or Mafia and got any recommendations?


Andy

 

[off the pace]

I dived Pemba a few years ago from a liveaboard (Aristos). It was a very enjoyable trip overall but not worth the effort solely for the diving.

 

[stefo2]

There is not much diving in the south of Zanzibar, most is around the north and north-east, some from Stonetown (central west). There is diving from Paje, but I'm not sure how good it is, and recently a new operator has started diving from Fumba, which clould possibly be classified as south.
January is generally a pretty good time for diving Zanzibar (usually fairly calm waters and not much rain), and I have never heard of regional differences.