Diving Pemba | Mozambique

DESTINATION OVERVIEW | Not to be confused with Pemba island in Tanzania, the small coastal city of Pemba sits right at the northern tip of Mozambique and is the gateway to scuba diving across the Quirimbas Archipelago. Pemba is also located on the edge of the world’s third largest bay – local residents claim only Sydney harbour and Rio are bigger.

The reefs are fairly unexplored and the diving is unexpected. Around the outer edges of the massive bay are small cliff walls, lush mangroves and beautiful white sand beaches that lead to prolific, small reefs consisting of hard corals and masses of small fish.

Most dives are shallow but there are a variety of sites and even some incredible muck diving if you head inside the bay and past the shipping port. The visibility tends to be low, especially in the rainy season as several rivers dump freshwater and sediment into the bay, but the critter life is unbelievable. Seahorses and octopus jostle with juvenile lionfish and flying gurnards.

Pemba scuba diving features

PROS AND CONS | It's not easy to get to northern, or indeed any part of Mozambique as the lone national airline only connects with other regional cities just once or twice a week. Pemba has an international airport and is a fairly neat town despite being the major port for the region. However, tourism is still in its infancy so the local infrastructure is minimal There are just a couple of top calibre hotels and a few small ones.

SCUBA DIVING | This part of Mozambique has yet to hit the diver radar while further south (nearer to the South African border) has become quite popular. That seems like a big positive to us – no crowds, no boats, almost no divers! There isn't a huge variety of dive sites as this is still a developing diving destination and that seems like the best reason to go.

OPINION | There is nothing quite like finding a destination that is so under-dived, even the divemasters are surprised by what they see. Our only real disappointment was not having enough time to do all the available dive sites. We dived from the Pemba Beach Hotel, owned by Rani Resorts. It's a top-notch resort style complex with a very good on-site water sports operation. They also own the blissful Medjumbe Private Island.

MOZAMBIQUE | Explore other diving destinations in East Africa

RESORT REPORT | Pemba Beach Hotel

SAFARI | combining an East African diving holiday with a wildlife safari

ORDER | Images on this page are available as prints. Take a note of the name then go to the photo order form.

SEARCH SeaFocus | Looking for something on this site? Type in a few words and google will take you there.