Dive Review of Manta Reef Lodge in
Africa/Pemba Island, Tanzania

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Manta Reef Lodge, Apr, 2003, by J. Allen, NY, USA . Report 479.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I do not recommend diving at Manta Reef Lodge. The owner gave highly misleading information about the dive conditions and facility during our exchange of several dozen rather detailed emails. Based on that exchange, I decided on a dive package of 10 dives, to include 2 night dives, and I prepaid for the package to avoid a surcharge for payment upon arrival. Upon arriving I was told that my dive package would not be possible and that it might not be possible to dive at all. At best, due to the tides, one dive per day might be possible, though not daily. Night dives, and even night snorkeling, were out of the question. The hotel staff and the dive master said that I would have to wait, day by day, to see what might be possible. Staff was unaccomodating and the dive master was rather new. Dive master told of going out in a boat a few days before and having great difficulty, due to the surge, getting a young and able couple out of the dive boat, which is kept in the bay. Dive master also told of taking a diver out recently to see whether something could be seen in the water only to find that it was necessary to hold on to the anchor line or be swept away, and that almost nothing could be seen due to sand and mud particles. When I told the key staff person that waiting day by day to determine whether it might even be possible to go out in a boat to consider diving where there might be zero visibility was scarcely the stuff of a dive holiday, much less the conditions of my dive package, he responded that one can dive in 1 meter of water and with zero visibility and that he was not responsible for my arrangements with the owner. In our correspondence the owner had stated that visibility on Pemba is "fairly consistent" with "50/100 feet minimum." This patently is not true. The owner refused to speak with me while I was at the lodge and later sent an email in which he refused to reimbuse me. According to the taxi driver with whom I, along with four snorkelers who were similarly disappointed and who felt that the conditions at the lodge had been misrepresented, road to the airport after staying only one night, there has been a turn over in dive staff at the lodge and many people leave early. Now, I have missed a dive vacation, I am out payment in full for the dive package, and I must wait for Visa or my travel insurance, Travel Guard, or the Tanzanian Embassy to intervene. I might add that PADI has contacted the lodge to remove its PADI logos and list of PADI courses, since the lodge is not currently certified by PADI.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Bali, Sulawesi, Caribbean
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy,rainy	Seas	choppy,surge,currents
Water Temp	0-0°F / -18--18°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	3-1 Ft/ 1-0 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]Note--no rating of corals, fish, etc., as they could not be seen.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Manta Reef Lodge in Africa/Pemba Island, Tanzania

Manta Reef Lodge, Apr, 2003,

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):

Dive Review of Manta Reef Lodge in
Africa/Pemba Island, Tanzania