YvonneM

So the final chapter. My husband says don’t tell them. Let everyone think it’s a second rate Caribbean, not as posh as Mauritius, not as beautiful as the Seychelles. But you are my friends and I’m sure I can rely on you fodorites to keep my secret. Its magnificent! I have read the previous reports on Bazaruto and I understand what people say but I think everyone has missed the point. The Bazaruto Archipelego has something unique, its unspoilt. Its breathtakingly beautiful and there is really virtually no one there, and that is priceless. Carmen was still sick the day before we left but I was determined to make it. Poor kid, she gets airsick as well and it was 2 more flights one back from the Kruger, and the next day a flight to Bazaruto. We reached the mainland Vilanculus and yes it was one more flight from there to the islands. 2 cool pilots in aviators and smart uniforms greeted us, very topgun. The plane took off and the view….. well it just was out of this world. Every shade of blue, amongst which lay the islands, a mirage of green and white sand dunes. Indigo Bay is, for me perfect. I’ve been to much more posh resorts, The Four Seasons in Bali, Aman resorts, and various places in the Carribbean, but this was really special. Its lovely a small pretty pool, nice grounds beautiful beach and an island with absolutely no, I mean no development. The coast line is amazing. Just enormous beaches, huge dunes, no one there. The food is fabulous as much lobster as you can eat huge huge spreads of salads meats everything ( and I generally hate meals you serve yourself). OK the room was average but you know what I didn’t care!! Some of the other rooms on the beach are probably better and this year they are upgrading them all ( so sadly its shut from April to Nov, or so the activities manager said)

We had booked our open water section of our PADI course but they had messed up and the dive master wasn’t there so we had to transfer to Baz lodge for the course. So Baz lodge, reputedly the haunt of Prince Harry. Very very friendly nicer atmosphere than Indigo Bay, possibly nicer rooms ( I wasn’t in them ) awe inspiring beach (but yes it is very tidal) Not as nice a pool. One reason we loved Indigo Bay were the horses, sooooo well trained beautiful horses, you can ride them right up the dunes and feel like Lawrence of Arabia.

So back to the PADI course. Carmen freaked out on the first open water dive, she is only 10 after all. Stupid hubby had scared her with stress of lungs popping and the conditions were far from perfect. So up she went back to the surface while we dealt with the strong current and low visability. I didn’t want to end with a bad experience so asked our dive master the delightful Carlos if we could take her somewhere shallow and calm the next day. The next day we took the 1½ hour trip by landrover to a deserted beach where we had agreed to meet Carlos. I can’t describe how beautiful it is to drive across the sand from one huge empty golden crescent of dune and beach to another. We waited 15minutes - then out of now where Carlos appeared in a car pulling a rubber dingy om a trailer. Out he tumbled and announced we would go down into the “aquarium” a shallow circle of sea surrounded and sheltered by the rocks and full of fish. We would do our PADI exercises and to look after Carmen and make sure she felt confident he had brought Logon – the PILOT, yes the Topgun pilot who had flown us over to the islands and his very hot Topgun co-pilot Brad. How funny! So we motored out, dropped anchor and down we went to the warm colourful world of the aquarium. Only pausing momentarily to glance at the ominous clouds closing in on the horizon. 40 minutes later, Carmen’s fears were cured and we had seen some beautiful fish including a gorgeous blue spotted ray. So we surfaced…into hell. The storm had come in and was just right on top of us. The rain was more like hail, the sea was completely chopped up and the boat (unmanned remember) a distant blur on the horizon. Carlos immediately set off for the boat and some time later we could see him struggling onto it. Meantime I was concerned about drifting onto the rocks. Carlos pulled up the anchor and then he kinda disappeared into the grey haze. Hubby waved manically - how would Carlos see us? For a moment the rain eased I saw the dingy almost vertical against the sea with Carlos a lone figure struggling upon it. It looked about to topple any minute. Time dragged, eventually the boat reached us and Carlos screamed for Carmen to be handed up to him. Somehow we clambered on. I took one look at Carlos, he was shaking…are you alright I asked, poor guy, what a nasty moment. We got back to shore to find Brad soaked, shivering and waiting for us. Hmmm can’t we do anything without a drama? So eventually we did finish our course ( with a couple of more adventures along the way) For you divers out there the fish are undoubtedly fantastic, but the visability was very limited while we were there due to some strange weather they had recently ( stop using you cars so much everyone the planet is hurting!).

So again to summarise I really loved Mozambique it was the perfect end to a safari experience for those of you who value the magic of untamed Africa.

PredatorBiologist

Yvonne: thanks for posting your report -- I have been anxiously awaiting your Mozambique portion.

I am glad to hear you found it so wonderful. Thus far there is very little information on this board about the area and more than a few people have emailed me directly about it since I wrote one of the only reports. It will be good for people to see a few different experiences.

What a paradise it is. Your report makes me hungry for the nightly braai -wow all you can eat lobster tails and giant prawns, to die for. I would love to be back in the 'aquarium' right now too, an amazing spot. I'm glad you survived your surprise storm, it makes for a great adventure tale but I'm sure it was quite unnerving at the time!

YvonneM

So for now its our secret! I can almost smell the lobster myself

cruisinred

Yvonne-
Thank you for posting your Mozambique report. Bazaruto is definitely now on my list for 2007. However, I have to admit that I was somewhat dismayed that that Indigo Bay website says they are building floodlit tennis courts and a minigolf course during their renovation this year. For me anyway, these kind of things detract from the natural beauty of such a place.

PredatorBiologist

cruisinred: you should look at Bengeurra Lodge, Bazaruto Lodge, and Marlin Lodge as they are much smaller, island type lodging whereas Indigo Bay is more resort hotelish.

cruisinred

Predator-
I read your report about Benguerra and have seen their website, but the price just seems a bit steep to me for the quality...I don't mind rustic chic...but for $400pp it better deliver.
Have you heard anything about Marlin Lodge or Dugong Lodge?

PredatorBiologist

Benguerra is a little pricey for sure. I spoke to an agent who went to check out Marlin and she seemed pretty impressed but I don't have any first hand knowledge.

The problem with Duogong is you are going to want to be out on the islands and you will probably end up taking a lot of trips across the channel which takes a little while. I would definitely go for one of the island options. Even if Indigo Bay is not your style it is a good base to explore the islands and you do not need to stay around the lodge, but I would say take a look at Marlin as Benguerra Island is a real jewel with virtually no development.