Ponta was our last region, in a sense. We still had not received the permit for Issimangaliso, and were running out of days to get the boat through some really bad costal weather and down to Cape Town. We would have to leave the South African portion of the sample for later, so a false end in a way, but after what we had just come through over the past five months it was the best thing to an end we could get.

Two days, 13 dives, and home literally around the corner. 

Inhambane was a sweet relief, as we had fairly calm, blue water from top to bottom, even though the two reef dives we sampled we nothing really to write home about. It was another region down, and for the first time since we had turned around there was a definite air about the boat that a milestone had been reached. We were on our way to making this an actual success, something we had thought on many instances would be out of our reach.

We said goodbye to Caine in Vilanculos, and did a refuel of boat and got in a few days of much needed land time. But the weather was also closing in on us, and not in a gentle “Out of Africa” kind of way either. We miss timed a trip out to have a meal on land, and ended up having to hide under the port’s very sparse roofing while a electrical storm raged around us, lighting up the entire night. The electricity in the air was so strong that pieces of Tan and Linda’s hair was actually standing up on end. We had to sit the storm out for a day, and then hope for a window to get into Bazzaruto and try and dive.

From this point down is where we have begun to play catch up. Coming up the coast heading north we had faced bad weather and conditions that were un-divable and then there was all that drama with the last boat that forced us to bypass a lot more than we would have liked. Now three months later, heading south, we needed to complete all the dives we had moved past.

Another blue-sky day, another section of admin to do. We have a good system going with a shopping team, a passport and boat papers team and a sit on the boat and guard gear team. After the amazing day on Lazarus banks we headed to try and check into Mozambique in Pemba (we had finished all our dives in Tanzania so we could head straight to Mozambique)

Lazarus Banks is seamount, a unique ecosystem and habitat that lies 50 nautical miles out off the coast of Tanzania. The seamount sits at its highest point of 8 meters, covered in coral reef, and plunges down to the depths of over 150 meters. Imagine Table Mountain and its surrounds all-underwater, the tip of the waves cresting just eight meters above the top of the cable car docking station at it’s peak. Now imagine water that is so blue it gives you vertigo, and then being able to swim on top of Table Mountain, knowing that the drop off is 1000 meters deep. That’s why people drive all the way out to Lazarus banks. It’s a once in a lifetime, (twice and more if you’re a really lucky person) a knock-your-dive-booties off kind of place.

Our final region in Kenya came to a close today.

We were joined by a Kenya Wildlife Service scientist, Jilo, on the four dives, showing him how the equipment and diving plan worked.

With the boat officially having been turn now to face South we got wind from friends of our in the Watamu area that there was going to be a large anti poaching in Watamu, and would some of us like to join in and represent the expedition? We could not pass. Linda and Rich, the two camera people’s bundled into Che Shale’s vehicles and headed off to Watamu while the rest of the crew and boat hacked away at the dive sties heading south. I say hacked because the next morning the water was still in a very bad condition, and it was going to be a very long day trying to find clean water and reef to sample.

We are in Kenya!!! Our final country for the expedition before we turn south towards Sotuh Africa again, we only have four regions in Kenya and everyone is settling nicely into the groove of diving 8 dives a day. They actually become easier and easier to mange and the more days you dive, the less the fatigue sets in, although everyone is pretty much in bed before 9pm. We have also got our old cameraman on board again, Rich. We managed to pluck him off of a beach in Diani, after he spent 19 hours travelling to us via plane, tuck tuck and matatu. Poor fellow.

Tanga was our border town before hitting Kenya. What was suppose to be a simple day of stamping out, collecting a few odds and ends for the boat and refueling turned into quite a day. Mike and Linda had to do a run around town hunting down a number 19 spanner to be able to repair a part of the dingy. They must have visited every single tool shop this side of Tanzania, eventually finding one, that had been hand made, on the side of the road by a local repairman.

To complete a region takes us about 16 dives. The dives have to be spaced out, with at least half a mile to a mile between each transect. So in effect we swim about 420 meters. And if we do about 8 dives a day (four per team of three) we can pretty much cover one region in 2 days. One of our biggest challenges is to try and find the reef we need to dive (i.e. one without algae, or one that actually has some coral structure on it. And then it needs to be long enough to do at least two transects on. The longer, the better. Unfortunately as we are now finding this is not always the case.

After spending a nice day off in Zanzibar we touched base with a blast from Mike and Linda’s past, Sibyella RiedMiller, the lady who started Chumbe Island.

To get everyone up to speed Chumbe Island, a private marine reserve lies 3 km off Zanzibar. All water activities are strictly controlled, for example no scuba diving is allowed on the reef, which extends from 2 to 20 meters. The entire Island is also built around real eco-friendly experience, meaning that it produces literally no waste.

Unguja?

Recognize that name? Some do, but normally it’s only those who are interested in history and obsessively re-reading travel guides. Quick fact lesson; Unguja is actually what we many people call Zanzibar. Zanzibar is actually an Archipelago, made up of the islands of Unguja and Pemba.

This atoll, with its crystal, light blue waters and gentle sloping coral wall from the surface to about 35 meters is a key attraction for divers when they come to Zanzibar. When we ducked under the waters we found a sight that was less than inspiring. There was a fair amount of fish but not many that could be classed as large. What was in large abundance was the amount of divers, on one random day, crowded onto the atoll. Just in the space of three transects on one dive we came across three different groups of divers. On this day there was a tally of around 24 dive boats, each with 10-12 divers onboard, a real mardi gra of people and motors.

After island hopping around the Quirimbas for the past few days we arrived into our first big city or really large urban area since leaving Pemba Mozambique.

Dar may be East Africa’s second largest port, but for a big city town it still retains a less hurried and muddelsome atmosphere that some other larger African cities can often put on display. It’s not that we like to play favorites, but Tanzania might possibly have some of the most friendly and welcoming towns, cities and people on East Africa. And we are also not just saying that because Wilbert is Tanzania and is feeding us till we probably wont be able to fit into our wetsuits any longer.

The diving in mafia was not what we had expected. Mafia Island Marine Park is one of the largest MPA’s in the Indian Ocean and we had been given some great advice and GPS points from a local dive operation, Mafia Island Divers. But finding some sites to dive was not proving easy.

The pace of diving is fast and furious. Here’s a taste of a day in EAMT.

05:00 – Greg is up and having his first cup of coffee, checking the anchor line and the weather. Wilbert has probably been up since four making bread (something we found out he was doing in the wee hours only a month into his arrival)

05:30- anchor up and those on the boat crew who were not on night watches are roused form their beads and rounds of tea and coffee are handed out.

Caine, Rhett and Mike are normally up and running by now as well-checking potential dive sites and plotting the dives for the day.

Diving has kicked off with a vengeance, and like people possessed, our team of 11 (boat crew and EAMT team combined) are going full tilt to make up for lost time.