Road trippin' South Africa: diving in Sodwana Bay and short stopover in St. Lucia

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I decided to do the South African coast to coast drive from east to west; starting in Sodwana Bay and ending in Cape Town. Sightseeing and diving were the main goals.

I gathered information from different sources about places, things to do, dive companies, people to meet and stay with, etc.

I also picked up a copy of the "Coast to Coast Guide". This is the link to the guide's website: http://www.backpackingsouthafrica.co.za/index.php. It proved to be a handful little guide and it's oriented towards backpackers.



While I was in Nelspruit a few days before, Avi, one of the guys that was temporarily running the guesthouse I stayed in, asked me if I could drive him to Sodwana. He wanted to spend the last bit of time he had left in SA doing some diving, before returning to Israel. I agreed and told him we would meet somewhere in Pretoria two days later (that’s where I was renting the car).



After arriving in Pretoria I stayed a night with the Viljoen family and early in the morning I was driven by Johan to the "Centurion Lake Hotel", where I was to pick up a car. I arrived there early and had to kill time in the hotel. I asked for a coffee there and when I asked the waiter for the bill, he said he’d talk to his manager so I could have it for free. And he gave me a voucher for internet as well.



In the hotel I rendezvoused with Avi and we went to pick up the car. I was amazed by how cheap the rental was. About 25 USD a day with insurance (Budget Car Rentals). The GPS cost me about 75USD per week. The car was a brand new Toyota Corolla Sedan (1880km), so already it was a great start.



The GPS we had to go get in one of the offices in downtown Pretoria. I didn’t know how well I was going to do driving on the other side of the road and with a manual car (I had had some practice in Australia with an automatic), but I must admit I was quite impressed with my performance. No problem going to the center of the city and then onto the highway for the 7-8 hour drive to Sodwana Bay. The gas consumption was also very good: between around 650km per tank; not bad at all. And the GPS worked perfectly well.



The drive that day went by with no problems and we stopped a few times to eat, for toilet breaks and stretch the legs. On the road we only had two tolls; 27 and 45 RD. The roads were in very good condition and in general, I found SA drivers to be very polite.



When we got to Sodwana we went to stay in a place called “Sea Escapes” (http://www.seaescapes.co.za/). This place had been highly recommended to us by Zach, an Israeli we had met in Nelspruit.




Sodwana is one of the best places to dive in Southa Africa and has some spectacular reefs. Here's a link that has a summary of the different reefs that can be dived there: http://www.coraldivers.co.za/uploads/06-11/Reef%!I(MISSING)nformation.pdf.

Before I go on: I tried two different dive operators in Sodwana Bay and I wasn’t impressed by any of them. During this year I’ve done dives with 10 dive centers in 5 countries. Out of all the days of diving, I can think of only one with which I had a bad experience. But I had another great day of diving with the same company. And I’ve written nothing but good comments on all those companies so far.



I thought a lot about whether or not to write negative comments on these two companies, but I think that since I’ve written good comments about all of the other dive companies, this is also a way to share the not so good experiences.

This is my very subjective-personal point of view and I’m aware that maybe on another day the experience might’ve been different. Also, I had received good comments before about both companies from other people. And both companies are advertised in the "Coast to Coast Guide".



We met the owner of Sea Escapes and he showed us to our accommodation: an ensuite room with 4 beds (150 RD each). Not that cheap for what we were getting (compared to other places in Sodwana). The room was OK.

Then, we went to try on dive gear for the next day. The gear was in good condition in general, but nothing special. Sea Escapes is a small dive operation, pretty much run by the owner and one more person that helps him out.

I usually go for small operators, because most times they tend to treat customers in a more personal level. I also try to do dives with operators that won’t take many people in a group. That definitely makes a big difference.

When I asked him how many people were going, he said “with Avi and I, it’d be 9 divers plus himself leading the dive”. Too many people already (I’ve already had my share of bad experiences with big groups). When we told him we would consider diving on a less busy day he got defensive and convinced us to go diving the next day.



Next morning we were up and about early and went to the beach (there’s a 35 RD entry fee charge per person in a car). We went for the first dive in “2 Mile Reef” at around 9am. The other people were a SA family of 5 and a Dutch couple.



As I predicted, when we started the dive we had problems. Chances are, with a big group of not so experienced divers, someone is going to have problems and ruin the dive for the rest. There was someone who couldn’t get down and we spent the first 7 minutes or so in the bottom waiting to begin the dive. Having a big group of inexperienced divers usually means that the dive guide has to focus on them more than actually leading and looking out for stuff. The other thing that bothered me that the dive leader took his camera with him and seemed more concerned with taking photos than to actually lead the dive.



The second dive was better, with the divers getting more in their “A game”. The highlight of all of the dives we did in Sodwana came in this dive: a huge manta ray that we got to see two times and that was just swimming in circles and generally just chillin’ around a certain spot. That was great. I hadn’t been that close to a manta before and it was something really cool. And I got some really good photos and videos with the GoPro camera.



The reef itself was really nice and full of life. The first 3 days in Sodwana we dived different sites of a reef called "2 Mile". The dives in general were shallow and bordered 50 minutes. There was plenty to see: honeycomb moray eels and about 3 other types of eels, tropical fish by the hundreds, loggerhead turtles, honeycomb whiprays, blue spotteed rays, trigger fish, unicorn fish, scorpion fish, etc. and a lot of the macro stuff as well. Sometimes it's also possible to see sand tiger sharks (I used to know them as grey nurse sharks).



I really enjoyed the dives, but not the dive company. As I said before, a small tour operator’s greatest asset is the ability to create a more personal bond with customers and in time have regular customers. This also allows the company the luxury to charge more for the dives, but offering better service. This wasn’t the case. It may have been in part because the person who helped the owner was sick that day and the owner was doing a lot of the things himself and seemed like he had a lot on his mind. Still, it was no justification for the permanent attitude. This was both Avi's and my opinion.



After the dives Avi and I decided to ditch Sea Escapes for the next day and after the dives walked across the beach to ask in another company about diving (“Coral Divers”). This was also a company that had been recommended to me by two people. It seemed promising and we booked with them. This company is the biggest dive operator in Sodwana and the prices are very cheap. But cheap isn’t always the best, as we were about to find out (http://www.coraldivers.co.za/).



In the afternoon we checked out of Sea Escapes, paid for our dives and told the owner that we wouldn’t be diving with him the next day. He seemed annoyed, but we didn’t really care.



We went to a place in which Avi had stayed in the last time he was in Sodwana (“Blu Juice”). It’s a private house and in the property they have two fully equipped cabins. Each for the same price we were paying in the other place. A much better deal and the family are super chilled and very nice people (http://www.dablujuice.co.za/). This was a big change and we enjoyed our stay there a lot. Digger and Mich are awesome hosts.

This guys are also a small dive operator, but they weren't going out when we were there, so I didn't dive with them. Still, I think even without having dived with them, they'd be my first choice to try if I go to Sodwana again.



That day was a Sunday and the supermarket was closed, so we went to eat in a restaurant called “Lighthouse” which was excellent. The place itself was very nice and had very good food and service.



In the morning we were back in the beach and were ready to go diving. With Coral Divers I have mixed reviews. Some things I thought were good and other things, definitely bad.

The operation of Coral Divers is efficient in terms of timing and they have good gear. But there were omissions on behalf of part of the staff. No one asked us for certification cards in the 4 days we dived with them and the dive guides or Divemasters (DM) had no idea about the qualification of the divers they were taking. This was my first impression and was later confirmed. As a result, they usually put divers of different levels in the same group. Also, they have a lot of staff in the beach which I think could be reassigned (for example more guides and smaller groups).



The dive briefings were quite good and the DM’s knew what they were doing in terms of safety procedures, but when it came to guiding the dive, in most cases it was just a “follow the leader” kind of thing. Not much contribution to the dive itself (there were a few exceptions).

Each DM takes up to 10 people per dive. Big groups again. At least in a couple of dives we had problems because of this. One of the dives it just got ridiculous, with the group getting separated in 2 and a lot of wasted time (because of 2 divers that had NO IDEA of what they were doing).

Where am I going with this: with so much staff they can easily break the divers into smaller groups; just common sense. I’m a paying customer and I expect to be diving with people that are more or less my level of diving or at least experienced enough. That did not happen and 75% of the dives I did I was going in big groups with very inexperienced divers, which I think is not fair for them or myself. It’s not that hard to get an extra DM in the water and have smaller groups. Almost negligence or just not giving a damn in the way they organize the groups.

The impression I had from Coral Divers after diving with them for 4 days was: “as long as you pay, get on the boat and we’ll take you diving”. Very impersonal and I didn’t think much of their customer service. Maybe it’s different if you’re staying the night in the accommodation in their camp, I don’t know. After the 4th day of diving (and diving with more or less the same DMs), they still had no idea about my name.



The first 2 days of diving with Coral Divers we dived in 2 Mile again. The reef itself as I said is beautiful and again, I enjoyed my dives. But unfortunately the things I wrote about really bothered me.

The 3rd and 4th day of diving, fortunately, a group of pretty experienced divers showed up and we didn't have much problems with the dive, except in one other ocasion. So I did enjoy my dives much more these days. We did 5 Mile reef, 7 Mile reef and a few of the deeper sites in 2 Mile reef. We saw more or less the same things I described earlier, plus an octupus, paper fish, a rare crocodile fish, box fish, puffer fish, mantis shrimp, etc.

Usually after the dives we had the rest of the day to read, sleep and chill out.



The 5th night in Sodwana, Digger and Mich (the owners of Blu Juice) invited us to a Braai (SA word for barbecue) that was being organized by friends of theirs and people who worked with them. It was a great feast of crayfish (lobster) and fresh caught fish. All grilled in a bbq. Add that to beers, salads and good company.



To sum up the stay in Sodwana, I would definitely go back and dive there again. I can fully recommend Blu Juice as a place to stay and probably as a dive company as well. Though I didn't dive with them, at least they were a very easy going and very pleasant group of people and passionate when they started talking about diving. Avi dived with them a month before and it was his favorite dive company.

The town is a small beach town and a perfect place to relax.



I left Sodwana to continue my trip to the south. Early in the morning I dropped Avi at the "taxi station" so he could get a lift back to Johannesburg.

After that it was just a 2 hour drive for me to get to St. Lucia, my next destination. It was an easy drive and by that time I felt like a pro driving the car.



St. Lucia itself is a really nice little town, located at the south of the Isimangaliso Wetland Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISimangaliso_Wetland_Park) that has good quality accommodation and some very nice houses. I'd say by looking at it, a higher-end destination (http://www.southafrica.com/kwazulu-natal/st-lucia/).



I drove around for a while and checked out a few of the places to stay in. There are 3 backpacker places and I ended up staying in "Bibs Backpackers". As I had heard, the backpacker places are not among the best in SA, but the place was good enough.

There are several things that can be done in the town, such as tours along the estuaries to spot hippos, crocs and different birds, whale watching tours, cultural tours to Zulu villages, snorkeling, etc. Isimangaliso is also a great place to see big animals and there are several tours offered, including sunset and night drives for game spotting.

The beaches are really nice. Ample stretches of sand, clean and with a great breaking waves.

I stayed there for 2 nights and mainly walked around, updated the blog, went to the beach and just chilled in general. I didn't do any of the tours because I was saving myself for the next destinations; much to see and do still.

For me it was good enough as a stopover and to check out the place. Before heading off to Ballito Bay - Draakensberg - Durban - Werner Beach...

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Photos

@ Coral Divers
Avi and myself

Comments

[Andres]

saludos desde Lonquen
Hola Daniel, muy buenas tus fotos. Por acá todos bien. Nos fuimos a Puerto Montt a ver a nuestros amigos Bertolotto para las vacaciones de invierno de los niños. Allá recorrimos bastante. Fuimos a un festival de jazz en el teatro del lago, hicimos cabalgatas vimos unos pumas en rehabilitación y Pablo voló en helo por lo que estaba feliz con esa experiencia. Llegamos ayer en la noche y hoy los niños fueron a su primer día de clases. Espero que todo te siga saliendo tan bien como hasta ahora, un abrazo Andres