Spectacular Diving and Incredible People in Tofo, Mozambique

Our arrival to Inhambane involved the use of a plane which had faulty brakes that were being fixed as we were boarding and bald tires so when we landed in one piece on the uneven and completely shoddy tarmac, I was relieved and very happy. We got off the plane and paid for our visas ($85 USD/person) and then rode in a little mini van to Tofo. Along the drive there were small mud huts no bigger than the average room in an American families home that had thatched roofs, no running water, and no toilet or shower. The local women walked down the roadside carrying their babies wrapped in a shawl around their backs. What surprised me was how happy they were, despite their living conditions. They were living a simple life rife with daily struggle but still had a smile on their face. I feel that in the US we make our lives so complicated with technology and gadgets and big houses and fancy cars trying to be happy but sometimes, all we need is to live simply to find happiness.

Upon arriving to Tofo (pronounced Tofu) we checked into our beachside room that was situated right next to the dive shop. The sun was shining and we were quite happy to be back in warm and sunny weather again after Aliwal Shoals.

  

The sunshine quickly disappeared and gale force winds and clouds replaced it by the next morning along with poor visibility on our dives. In spite of the weather, we still got to dive twice a day and the diving was incredible. We even found time for swimming with a couple of whale sharks, watching a training session of a mother and calf humpback whale, and loggerhead turtles mating on the surface on our way back from our dives.

I was so close to the tail!

Underwater, each dive had something amazing, a leopard shark, manta rays, mubula rays, massive potato groupers, stingrays, schools of jacks well over a hundred strong, and I saw my new favorite reef fish, the Lacey Scorpionfish.

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One of the most amazing things I have been lucky to see, and incredibly twice on one dive, was the small eyed stingray. The small eyed stingray was considered extinct up until 5-10 years ago when it was spotted in Tofo and now Tofo is home to the only known concentration of them in the world. They are still very rare in Tofo so seeing 2 in one dive was almost unheard of. Ronen has made a video of some of our best experiences while diving in Tofo.

Tofo was a special place for us and was one of our favorite destinations we have visited so far. It was safe to walk down the sand road at night and the people were genuine and kind. The feeling you get from spending time in Tofo is almost a relaxed island vibe with an African twist, which we loved.

 

We also met a number of incredible people during our week in Tofo:

Daniel and GK, sorry we never got to say goodbye, we hope the rest of your trip was spectactular!

Andrew and Eric, it was phenomenal diving with you guys, maybe we will meet again at another incredible dive destination!

Sam, it was refreshing to meet another American who was really traveling, we hope you have a safe journey and incredible adventures!

Dave, thank you for showing us your project and we hope it continues to thrive and be successful!

The entire Tofo Scuba crew, thank you for showing us some of the best of Mozambique, it was incredible and we will be back someday.