Dive Review of Mafia Island Diving Center/Mafia Island Lodge in
Africa/Mafia Island, Tanzania

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Mafia Island Diving Center/Mafia Island Lodge, Oct, 2013, by Susan K Foster, WY, US ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports). Report 7419.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I should preface this report by saying that I am 68 yrs old and my husband is 71. Our traveling companion is 84. We are all in decent physical condition and were all able to haul ourselves up the ladder to get back on the dhows. This was our Africa diving portion of our 5 week trip on the continent. Most of the diving is within a Marine Park. Some local controlled fishing is allowed. We wish we had allowed for more days of diving! We dived 5 days of two tank dives (afternoon dives available but we were too tired, also night dives and shore dives available depending upon the conditions) and did a whale shark swim excursion on another day. Highly recommend the excursion. The visibility varied because of the currents or lack of. Some dives were with no currents and a couple with strong currents. We had some anchored dives and some drift dives. On the one dive outside the marine park, the swells were big but other than making it a hassle to get back on the boat, no one was bothered by it. A couple of folks got sea sick! The dive boat excursions were dependent upon the tides. Sometimes we went out at 6:30AM and sometimes at 9:30AM or early afternoon. We took box breakfasts on the early days. Tea/coffee and snacks were served between dives. No toilets on the boat. In to the water with back flips from the edge of the dhow. One day we came back to dock under sail. The wind gods were with us! The Mafia Island Diving Center is great and the owners are on site and very personable (David and Danielle). Great crew of instructors, dive masters and boat handlers. They provide a dive master for every five divers. They were great at finding the little stuff! If you are looking for a beach experience after your safari, this is the place to be. The center has good rental equipment. We wore their full length 3mm wetsuits with our Lava Core shirts underneath and were comfortable. A non-diver friend enjoyed the snorkeling trips that go out separately from the dive boats. The dive center has several boats and when we left, they were taking out a group of 16 Russian divers. Not all on the same boat! The dive center is located on the grounds of the Mafia Island Lodge. Not a four star lodge but adequate and very convenient. The rooms were large and had porches and air-conditioning. We enjoyed the management and the staff who all tried really hard to please everyone. Sometimes there were facility malfunctions but you ARE in Africa. The food was good. We are vegetarians but eat fish and we were very happy. We were sorry to leave and we hope to go back again. It is a long flight from Wyoming, US, though.
Websites	Mafia Island Diving Center Mafia Island Lodge
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, all over the Caribbean, California coast, Turkey, Thailand,
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy	Seas	calm, surge, currents, no currents
Water Temp	75-80°F / 24-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-75 Ft/ 9-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	If you had a dive computer, you could dive your own profile.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	> 2
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	no rinse buckets on the dhow but places to keep the cameras dry, safe and out of the sun. Big rinse facilities back at the dive shop

Subscriber's Comments

By Kelly Price in TX, US at Jan 27, 2014 18:34 EST

We are trying to decide if our $5,000 is best spent for diving at Mafia (Kinasi Lodge, 1 week all inclusive with 10 dives) or if better saved for another destination at another time (from USA). This would be mid-November 2014 following a safari. We are decent/comfortable divers (<100 dives) but not advanced (Heron Island Australia and various Caribbean). Struggling with the decision and your post was best info we've seen as there is not a lot to go on - anything you could add to the post or advice would be much appreciated. Regards, K

By report author: Susan K Foster in WY, US at Jan 27, 2014 18:44 EST

folks from Kinasi went diving on Mafia Island Diving boats. Kinasi lodge is more expensive than where we stayed and the boats were right there on the water within walking. People from Kinasi had to be picked up on the beach on the way to the sites. If you are comfortable in the water, you will be comfortable diving in Mafia. The whale sharks still should be moving thru in November. I don't remember our diving package hitting the $5000 mark. The fish are different here than in the Caribbean.

By Kelly Price in TX, US at Jan 27, 2014 23:52 EST

Thanks,

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Dive Review of Mafia Island Diving Center/Mafia Island Lodge in Africa/Mafia Island, Tanzania

Mafia Island Diving Center/Mafia Island Lodge, Oct, 2013,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Mafia Island Diving Center/Mafia Island Lodge in
Africa/Mafia Island, Tanzania