Zanzibar-Matemwe

After a beautiful week on the island of Pemba, we flew back to the main island to spend some time on the Northeast coast.  The Northeast coast is known for its beautiful beaches and the amazing diving around Mnemba Atoll.  As diving was a main focus of this trip we scheduled to spend a few days in the area. 

At Matemwe we stayed at a small Italian operated beach resort.  I can't boast the same good things about it as the other places we stayed but I guess it was a place to sleep.  We were less than impressed by the cloudy pool, mediocre menu and horrible service.  We tried to not let this get to us as we spent most of our days exploring the other resorts and sampling food from them.  Most days we spent our afternoons at Seles Bungalows, a quaint backpacking joint just down the beach.  They had the most amazing food and lots of games to play.  It was a great atmosphere and we even ran into a lot of the dive masters at night.

Matemwe beach

Most of our time in Matemwe was spent diving.  Josh and I had made reservations with One Ocean Dive Center which has about 5 diving facilities on the main island of Zanzibar.  Its one of the most highly recommended companies on the island and after diving with them for three days I can see why.  The first day was a bit crowded with about 10 divers and 5 snorkelers but we all fit comfortably on their large dhow Caroline (for the entire three days I had the song "Sweet Caroline" in my head!).  The dive masters split us up into groups of four and we got to do two dives each.  The first day we had beautiful visibility and were able to dive two of the best spots on the reef.  We saw frog fish, puffers, groupers, nudi branches and even a Spanish dancer! 

The second day Josh and I split up for the first dive.  He went with one of the dive masters to a 40 meter wall on the east side of the atoll.  Despite the high winds and uncomfortable boat ride, he had an amazing dive.  He says the minute he was in the water and looked down he could see the bottom.  I went with another group and did a more shallower dive.  The visibility wasn't great and my dive partner had a hard time maintaining buoyancy.  I definitely have more to learn in this field but it does get frustrating when a member of your group constantly drags their fins along the sandy bottom.  It really limits the visibility of everyone else.  The second dive Josh and I got to do together and were able to see an octopus and a small reef shark! 

On the diving boat ready for another day in the water!

The third and final day of diving was probably the least exciting of all but it was still great to get into the water again.  Josh took off to do another deep dive and I got ready to go with another group.  Just as I was getting ready to go in my fin strap broke.  Luckily the dive masters had brought along an extra set of fins.  Even though they were about 3 sizes too big, I made them work.  I was going into that water!!  We didn't see anything new during our dives but we did experience some strong currents.  I had never really done a drift dive before or felt currents underwater.  It was a new experience and I was happy to see that I could handle it.  On the way up of our last dive, the dive master Omar took some pictures of Josh and I.  Its so funny to see these pictures after the fact because you feel like you're smiling but you don't really look happy at all! 

"Smiling" for the camera

"Nope.  I'm not taking this regulator out for anything, not even a kiss!"

The diving was really the highlight of our time on Matemwe and despite not seeing any whale sharks or manta rays (our main purpose in diving on Zanzibar) we had an amazing time.  I don't know if we'll get back but I would love to check out some other dive sites around the island and make our way south to Mafia to see those whale sharks and rays!