Zanzibar Diving vs. Stonetown?
 

I've recently discovered these boards and want to thank everyone who has posted so much helpful information! I am planning my first trip to Africa with two friends over the New Year's holidays and am so excited!

The details are starting to come together - 2 days trekking with the gorillas in Rwanda and a quick 4-5 day safari in Tanzania (Serengeti and Ngorogoro - I wish we had more time!). We're planning on ending the trip in Zanzibar for 3-4 nights.

We are all certified divers and are not big into shopping or too much of the "touristy" things, but not likely to spend a full day at the beach (although a couple of us wouldn't mind a nice afternoon reading).

We've heard great things about Stonetown as well as some of the beach locales and we're confused about how best to spend our limited time in Zanzibar.

We appreciate any help you can provide!!

Thanks :)

TTT - Can anyone point me to YvonneM's trip report for diving in Zanzibar? I can't find it on the boards - thanks!!! :)

Was it her Aug 06 trip?

That's at
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34865981

Hope this helps!

Hi LyndaS - thanks for the reply. That post is her Part 1 which ends just before Zanzibar...leaving us in suspense.

It was so well written and informative I'd love to here how the trip ended up for her...

Anyone else have experience either in diving in Zanzibar or staying at the beaches vs. Stonetown?

thanks:)

We spent two nights in Stone Town and three at the beach on the East Coast. If I could do it over again, we would have spent all our time in Stone Town. This is because we really enjoyed wandering around Stone Town, especially after the time on safari...and going out for dinner at different places. It seemed possible to do lots of trips from Stone Town, (Spice Tour, Jozani Forest, Prison Island), and I imagine that you could organize diving trips as well. This is all very personal though, as I have read reports on other forums, which recommend leaving Stone Town well alone!!

Didn't dive, didn't bring cards but did snorkel. Also spent a little time in Stonetown last year. Snorkeling was on reef at Mnemba. Good but not fantastic. Diving was done on the other side and may be better there. Travel to reef was by dhow and on the way back they did it under sail. Was pretty cool. Other things to consider are a spice tour and visit to the Jozani Forest. On a side note, I had a very bad experience flying soon after diving (in USA) and I now have sinus problems that I never had before so if it were me, I'd skip the diving.

Thanks so much for the help allycb and tuckeg - we're still trying to figure out our plans - I appreciate your posts!

The distances are not great so you could book Stonetown and if you are bored, the forest and the spice tours are 30-45 minutes away and you can get up to where the boats go to the Mnemba reef in an hour or so. You can probably book tours for all including diving a day in advance. So you don't have to plan everything in advance.

We were in Zanzibar in Jun-Jul. We did not see one street sign the entire time so our map was not very useful. I have heard that due to the coruption, it is very hard to drive as the police pick you up for anything and then you must pay a 'fine'. This was from a couple living in Zimbabwi and they did not drive in Zanzibar. I did not drive but after being there do not think I would. I would not stay more than 1 or 2 nights. Don't go to the west coast.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, no need to drive yourself. Tours including driving can be arranged to all the places I mentioned.

If you stay in StoneTown, you could arrange a snorkeling trip out to Prison Island. There are also some large tortoises there that are fun to feed. Alternatively, if you should decide to go diving, start out on the eastern side of the island, perhaps at Matemwe Bungalows or another property that has diving, then spend your last day in Stone Town. That will give you a day before you have to fly out, which would help you avoid the problems Tuckeg is talking about.

Here's a link to flying and diving:

http://www.pilotfriend.com/aeromed/medical/diving.htm

my problem is covered in the last paragraph.

We just returned from Zanzibar. We spent 4 days, 3 nights at Ras Nungwi Beach Resort (5 star PADI onsite), then 2 days, 1 night in Stone Town. We were happy with the split. Ras Nungwi is about an hour drive from Stone Town.

Thanks everyone for the tips. We will definitely be careful about not diving too close to departure.

Ben - how was the diving? Did you like the dive shop? Any particular sites you'd recommend? I think we are only going to have time for 2 full days of diving.

Thanks again!:)

Hi all, did I not write the final part of that report? I can't believe I was so remiss. It's been a while now but I have been back to zanzibar diving since so I have quite a good take on it. I'll put something together tonight and post it...just a couple of years late!

So diving in Zanzibar ... here goes. I had booked into the Kempinski on the basis that after a mobile tenting moment I needed some air con, some civilisation and of course some company. That was supplied by my best gay loud friend Greg ... who also happens to be a dive master. I was relying on him to give my daughter enough confidence to face the sea after our adventure in Mozambique.
By the time I arrived Greg was already whining “This isn’t a 5 star resort” he moaned... this is Africa I replied. You can’t expect Western service and Western food in Zanzibar. Hmmmm its hard sometimes when you travel with friends to Africa and they don’t really understand... and to be fair the Kempinski is a strange place, rather soulless, with the mainn building constructed like an airline terminal. And the service was laughable, you could wait until you were dead for lunch to be served. Still we were there for the diving so who cares. At that time the local operator Kempinski used took you to the reefs around Mamba Island on motorised dhows. All very romantic until you realise the transfer is 40 minutes each way and with the swell rising you’re not sure if that bailing out procedure they have going really works. Still Greg managed to really enthuse Carmen again and persuade her to try and complete her PADI course. The diving really is very very nice. Not big walls and nothing scary in the way of currents, but reasonably good visibility and loads and loads of fish...and turtles we saw quite a few over the days we were there . We returned to the Kempinski 6 months later and they were using another operator , with rather more substantial boats. I think Matemwe bungalows would be closer to the key Mamba dive area, and possibly more attractive an intimate, but Kempinski does have a realy beautiful rustic beach club a few kilometres down from the main buildings ( you can walk or transfer arranged). I think the diving was great in Zanzibar, we did have one experience of quite big waves but apart from that all good. Carmen did get her PADI certificate and since has been back to Zanzibar and this summer we went to Sulawesi and dived some big walls. I have a lasting memory of a huge turtle heading straight for her, it was literally inches away from her.. quite cool really for a 12 year old and it was Greg and Zanzibar that made it all possible. I’m going back to Mozambique to dive this April, I loved Indonesia this summer , it was beautiful, and travel was so easy, everything went perfectly, but you know something, it wasn’t Africa... I’ll say no more. Yvonne

Thanks for the report but do you mean Mnemba Island?

You are so right I meant Mnemba, if there is any specific information I can help Travelbug19 with just ask. For my money I would much rather spend a couple of days diving than in Stonetown. I know many love the place but I found it pretty hot and tiring, while the coast is really beautiful.. possibly the whitest best quality sand I 've ever seen and the diving at Mnemba should not be missed.