Tanzania in December – Pemba or Mafia for diving?

[MatOo]

Hello everyone,

We’ll be arriving in Zanzibar on December 5th and plan to spend the first four days diving around Mnemba Island, staying at Sunshine Marine Lodge.

After that, we have 10 more days for diving - and we’re torn between Pemba and Mafia. We’d prefer to stick to one location to minimize travel and maximize relaxation and diving.

A bit about us:

• ~300 dives each (mostly Red Sea, Maldives, SE Asia)
• Love both macro and big marine life
• Passionate about underwater photography

Given our preferences and the time of year, which destination would you recommend?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Christian]

Close to each other but very different. Zanzibar and Mafia sits on the continental shelf and the surrounding waters are shallow. Pemba sits in the 1000+ meter deep Pemba channel and has 100+ meter deep, almost fjordlike, ”gaps” that run into the lsland with walls plunging down. Diving is extremely dependent on tides and inme there’s only a short window when the diving is good each day—so a dive guide with intimate local knowledge is crucial. I rate Pemba pretty high up—I stayed and dived with Manta Resort on the Northern tip many years ago—and we had all reefs to ourselves, gin clear water, healthy coral and lots and lots of fish. No sharks or msntas, but travelly and schooling barracuda of different spieces, wahoo … Island has little infrastructure for tourism compared to Zanzibar.

 

[MatOo]

Thanks Christian for the reply!
Any suggestions for a good hotel in Stone Town?

 

[Christian]

Thanks Christian for the reply!
Any suggestions for a good hotel in Stone Town?

Hi Mat, no I have no recommendations unfortunately. Did not stay in Stone Town. And my visits in The area was too long ago for it to be relevant. New people, new owners. I’m sure others on here have been to Stone Town recently.

 

[Tippytoes12]

We spent part of our honeymoon in the Serena Inn in Stnetown. It was fabulous !