malindi, pemba in July???

[marga]

Hello,
I'm planning on diving holidays in July on the coast of Kenya/Tanzania (both time and zone are the only possibility). I've picked these 2 destinations for different reason but have a major doubt:
Is Pemba and/or Malindi good for diving in July? I've checked many websites but they are absolutely contradictory, specially about Malindi, from saying that it's a no dive time to assuring that it is (Malindi) the only spot good for diving in Kenya in that period... Please, can someone help me on this?
I would also appreciate any suggestions for that period and zone.
thanks!
m

 

[Christian]

July might be the worst month for diving this region. Murky, green, 'cold' water and rough sea.

/c

 

[marga]

Christian,
thank you very much for your reply! sorry to insist but from what you say... 'murky, green and cold water' is absolutely fine with me considering the zone and the usual visibility and temperature there... what I'm most concerned about is the rough sea. Should I expect lot of dive cancellations due to the sea conditions? I was hoping for 'diving only' holidays (everage of 3 dives a day) and if there is a chance half of it is going to be cancelled due to weather conditions, I'm not sure if there is a poit going...
thanks a lot!
marga

 

[Christian]

Marga,

I have personally not dived Pemba in this period, so I don't know if there are a lot of cancelled trips due to weather. I suppose you could always find somewhere to dive. But I'm pretty sure the choice of dive sites will be compomised from time to time, as longish boat trips might be out of the question. Better check with one of the operators to get correct info.

Regarding visibilty, even during the best season, it is very variable. To be honest diving is only good during roughly half of the day, when you have an incoming tide with clean, blue water (tide changes every six hours). When the water runs back out into the ocean from the inner archipelago, visibility drops dramatically, in some places to only a few metres. The overall impression gets rather dull. And inmo, Pemba diving is all about the scenery. Some of the operators have adapted their schedules to this and normally only run two-tank dives excursions, either in the morning or in the afternoon, according to the tide.

Water temperature should be around 24 Celcius. It's not cold compared to the Baltic Sea, but I would wear a full 5mm suit.

As you point out, the enjoyment depends on what experiences you have to compare with and what you're expectations are. It is off course possible to have good dives also in this period, but the odds of seeing Pemba diving from its best side isn't very good in july. Don't want to be negative here, just give you realistic expectations.

good luck

christian

 

[stefo2]

Marga, as Christian pointed out, the choice of sites may be a bit more restricted in Pemba than at other times, but most dive shops only dive the western sites anyway, since the shops are all located on the west side of the island (around Chake Chake or Wete) and some use slow boats.
I dived in Pemba in July and August last year and the weather was no problem at all, and the visability wasn't too bad, either.

 

[JFK73]

West coast of Pemba is protected and all the divesites are close to land although it might take an hour to get there but all along the coast so its rare to cancel dives.
Viz in Pemba is more tide dependent than most places and if you dive it at the right time of the day viz will not be bad,although not as great as it can be at other times.
If great viz in Pemba is 40 m poor viz is 10 mtrs.