Blogs from Tofo, Southern, Mozambique, Africa

Today has been so eventful I really don't know where to start. I guess I will start this morning. Leslie (my roomie) and I walked down to the market, I wanted to buy a couple of things. She had to leave for an ocean safari after 30 minutes or so, at which point every guy in the market bombarded me. They need to eat, feed their kids, they are my friend, they make good price....omg. It went on and on. And yes, I bought. I also ran away, down the road to Fatimas, a sort of beach bar/restaurant. Two guys followed me, but when I shook my head they left. I guess they didn't want to get the Fatima staff upset by hassling their customers. Fatimas is nice...a lovely place to sit and just watch the ... read more

I was supposed to be on an Ocean Sarari today, but the wind was too high, so we dove instead. The dive had quite a bit of surge, but we did see a lot: blue spotted rays, torpedo ray, jenkins whip ray, leaf fish, porcupine fish (followed me around!), lionfish and a lovely octopus! Still have not seen a manta ray on a dive, or any whale shark, leopard shark, or guitar shark. We watched a documentary today called SHIVER, it is about Mozambique's diverse marine life and how they are fishing out the sharks and the mantas. Several sharks have been harvested and slaughtered right on the beach, you can imagine what is going on in more remote areas. All for shark fin soup. Absolutely ridiculous. The soup is made from the inner fibers of ... read more

The big event today was a non-event....nothing on the ocean safari. Two whale sharks have been sighted at Barra Point, so we are going to head that direction tomorrow. Also, four Great Whites have been sighted not far from here, apparently it is unusual to see them in these waters. After my last experience with one I can't say I'm anxious to meet one in open water, the cage was rather helpful last time. Today it rained, and it is cold for the first time since I've been here. Chilly. It will be cold on the water tomorrow. The water temperature has dropped 4 degrees since I've been in Tofo, so winter is coming (Stark words). Rain and wind shut down the power here in Tofo, so we've been without power a few times today. An ... read more

Back in Tofo after a LONG and bumpy ride back in a van that rides rougher than a go-cart! Ouch. Of course, in the 2 days I was gone a whale shark was spotted on a dive, a tiger shark, and a gray reef shark. Apparently the strong currents bring them in. Of course, the flip side is that the visability was 4 meters (12 feet). To see a tiger shark within 12 feet would be a harrowing experience I think, but often when you are afraid of something, if you dive with it once, you feel fine about it. I actually jumped in the water the other day when we sighted a Hammerhead Shark. Sadly, I didn't see it. I've always wanted to see one. So I am unsure about the way the rest of ... read more

What a day! I went diving this morning and went to a site called Office….very beautiful. I saw my first White Tip Reef Shark! It didn’t come close enough for a great photo, but any photo is good, right? I am totally comfortable in the water here now…just had a bit of a learning curve. Now my weights are correct, I have the hang of the negative entry, but I still cannot jump into the boat by myself from the water. I doubt I will be able to. The dive was really, really nice, and when we came back in I had an ocean safari straight away. No whale sharks, but a huge, glorious, beautiful Giant Manta Ray! I took video and photos….I swam above it for quite a long time, it was feeding and flying ... read more

Still having issues with the diving here. I feel like a complete idiot. It is not very buoyant here….and I am overweighted, so I slammed into a few things….not a good thing to do on a reef. Shit! I have felt bad about it today…I have not adjusted to the diving in Tofo…it is true that the conditions are not easy, though the sea was very friendly today. Sometimes I feel like I have bitten off more than I can chew (so to speak), but I am managing. I cannot heave myself into the zodiac from the water, and I hate that. I can feel the weakness of my left leg pretty keenly at times, it just won’t do what I tell it to do. Tofo is a young town. The 20s and 30s ... read more

Marcel, Ben, Pieter and I went on our first ocean safari today…sadly, no whale sharks. But I did see my first ever Hammerhead shark and Black Fin Reef shark. We also encountered two pods of dolphins, both bottlenose and humpback dolphins. I was not in good position to take photos of anything. The water is full of plankton, so in order to get a good photo you’d need to be within 6 feet, I think. It was my first time in a zodiac (a sort of rubber boat), well not the very first time, the first one was when we went to look at elephant seals in Great White Shark infested waters, so obviously the goal was to stay IN the boat. Getting in and out of a zodiac has its challenges. Also there are no ... read more