Diving in Kenya – North Mombasa
We arrived in Kenya on 23rd December 2007, just 4 days before the general election, and then promptly left again, on the Royal Star, a 51 year old cruise ship that left Mombasa for a week, visiting Zanzibar, Mayotte, Nosy Komba Island (a lemur sanctuary just off Madagascar), Anjouan and back to Mombasa. She was a lovely lady, just 200 passengers, teak decks, brass everywhere and great service and good food provided by the Filipino and European crew. I would not pick the Royal Star as a luxury cruise liner, but as a comfortable bus to get you to places you might never go again, she was ideal. The islands we visited each had there own character, and one unifying factor. They all produced spices, fruits and flowers in profusion – gloves, pepper, ylang-ylang, mangos, pineapples – an endless list. There were a few chances for a bit of snorkelling, but I only availed myself of the one opportunity at Nosy Tanikely, a small island reserve near Nosy Komba. It was described as one of the best snorkelling spots in Madagascar, but it had obviously been affected by regular invasions of visitors who did not respect the corals and the local wildlife. I saw people standing on coral heads and kicking lumps out of the reef. There were some divers on the island, who were extolling the virtues of 20 metres plus away from the tourists, and it began to make me feel excited about the diving I had promised myself when we got back to Mombasa. Many of our fellow passengers were off on safari when they arrived back on the coast, but as we had lived in Africa in years gone by, we had decided that a week relaxing at the hotel was all we needed.We arrived back in Mombasa on 30th December, into the political turmoil and violence following the election. We had a police escort to the hotel, and were met with the instruction that we should not leave the immediate area until things had settled down. Things got more desperate as the week went on. Beer supplies at the hotel got really low (some other hotels ran out), and new supplies only arrived the day before we were due to fly home, and when they were literally down to their last crate.
Fortunately, the dive centre at the local marina was considered safe, so my diving was on. I had pre-paid a 6-dive package before I left the UK, and as it turned out that was a wise move. Supplies of fuel were restricted, and some divers were complaining that prices were higher than they were expecting. I arranged for my first dive on New Years Day, and while I was not very bright eyed and busy tailed, I was ready when the transport was due to arrive at 7.45 am. But I think the dive crew had all partied the night before, and after a few phone calls the start was move to 10.30 am. When we I got to the dive centre, I was pleased to see the equipment was up to date, Mares regs and stabs, and they had a wetsuit to fit me. I was a bit surprised that no one asked to see my qualifications, nor asked me when I had last been diving. I was buddied with Dave, a face I am sure I have seen at Stoney from time to time.
We hit the water at a place called Shark Point, and indeed others did see some white tipped reef sharks, but only in the distance, and as usual, I was on the wrong side of the group when they swam by. We dropped down to about 24 metres, with 20 metres plus viz, and sauntered over some pretty good coral. The usual suspects greeted us, and a few that I had never seen before including a “leaf fish,” a bright yellow trumpet fish, and shoals of golden sweeper who would “reform” around your arm if you pushed it gently into the throng. After about 25 minutes our group began to thin as people got low on air, and in the end there were just four of us. I think the guide wanted lunch, so we came up and headed for shore.
Rather than dive over four days, I decided to go for a shallow dive after lunch, inside the reef. Just me, a guide, 5 or 6 metres depth (snorkelling with an aqualung) and thousands of fish. Got close to a number of blue spotted rays, some skunk anemonefish guarding a big anemone, while underneath it were a colony of 3 spot dascyllus. We also met a reef lizardfish, speckled sand perch, horned sea star, and some big morays. We did the usual thing with some bread rolls and were smothered in fish of all shapes and sizes. A nice little dive, and because of the shallow depth the great light would have been superb for photographs if I was a decent photographer.
Overnight someone poured loads of plankton into the sea, and viz was down to 15 metres max, 10 in places. Still good for an English Channel man, but not so good for Kenya. But the locals were all happy. “The whale sharks will come now!” “When?” “Wiki kesho – next week!!” Why is it always next week? It was next week in Costa Rica, next week in Borneo, next week in South Africa and now it was next week in Kenya. It is not like I can go to a aquarium to see them!
Malaika reef, was an easy 50 minute dive. We spent most of our time at 15 metres or more, so we lacked bright sunlight. That causes a bit of a problem for my happy snappy camera. If you use the built in flash you get loads of scatter back, but without you just don’t get the colour. You miss the vibrancy of the corals and sponges unless you put some light on them. But there was no shortage of fish life; a black spotted moray with cleaner wrasse, a giant flathead 60 or 70 cm long, longfin bannerfish, which look quite like the moorish idols that were there as well and a black spotted porcupine fish. But my favourite challenge was the small fire dartfish. They do exactly what their name implies. They hang around in pairs, and just as you think you have got close enough to get the photo, they dart away into the most unlikely hole or crack. You hope you have the shot, but all you get is empty water or a blur. Again, after about 30 minutes divers began to head back to the surface, but three of us and the guide “toughed it out” for another 20 minutes.
Dive 4 was another new site - Brain Coral. Loads of it, and plenty of anemones with their attendant guardians. Anemonefish are a bit like the dartfish. Their trick is to keep getting closer to the camera (a defensive gesture I suppose) so they are never in focus. Thank goodness for digital. They would have cost a fortune in film in the old days to find that you didn’t have a decent shot. Got close and personal with a hawksbill turtle while it happily grazed away. Judging by the amount of algae growing on its shell, it had been grazing for some time! A couple of minutes later we bumped into some lion fish and rock lobsters with their huge feelers. I also found something with just a Latin name “bohadschia graeffei”, a type of sea cucumber – or holothurian.
The next day dawned bright and sunny again, and we headed off to Shark Point again for dive 5. This time a gentle current took us the other way – it was the start of a great day for the beasties. We saw undulated morays under rocks, in cracks and swimming free. Our eagle-eyed guide spotted another leaf fish, this one much darker than the one we had seen a couple of days before. There were some perfectly, and not so perfectly, camouflaged scorpionfish, a very tame hexagon grouper that allowed you to take some very close up photos, and to top it all a pair of white tipped reef sharks, in the distance, but this time I had seen them. Just towards the end of the dive I found some interesting “eggs” – not sure yet what they are. They were about 2cm or 3cm across, grey and shiny. A great dive – I could go home a happy diver.
But dive 6 was even better. We headed back to Malaika Reef. There were only four of us in the group, and were kitted up and in the water quickly, 5 minutes ahead of the bigger second group. We were greeted by a swarm of golden sweeper and more morays. One black spotted moray posed beautifully – my, what big teeth he had! We had a number of blue spotted rays as well as a green turtle this time. Then there was a great deal fining and pointing, and in the distance, two more white tips. Two sightings! Great! So we pottered on, moved up the reef a bit to the edge of a round patch of white sand about 20 metres across. On the far side were two white tips, lying nose to tail, side by side. We watched for a couple of minutes before I remembered the camera. The water was a bit milky and I was not sure about the photos, so I started to move forward. When I was about 15 metres away, they decide to move, slowly at first, but as I kept getting closer they just flicked their tails and disappeared in different directions. But what a thrill! My camera is not good for reviewing what you have taken when you are underwater, so when you get back on the boat, you just hope. Thankfully I had at least one good memory.
Back on shore it was time to pack my stuff away and thank the guys that had looked after me. Tips all round; handshakes; come and see us again next year; come for the Whale Sharks – did they have to remind me? Back at the hotel they were doing try dives in the pool. A reminder that it was on a similar holiday in 1995 that I was introduced to the joys and pleasures of scuba diving.
Would I recommend Kenya for diving? Bear in mind that the majority of my diving abroad is a “quicky”; Merrilyn cringes at the idea of scuba. She will only snorkel in very special circumstances. I do not stray far from the hotel; I tend to go with the local dive centre, and where there is a choice I try to read reviews and check websites before I get there. Barracuda were OK; the equipment was fine, the boats got you there and picked you up when you were done, and the guiding was OK. I didn’t see a great deal of TLC for the less experienced divers. Nor do I think that the sites are that special or varied. The reefs we visited were in reasonable condition and there was abundant life both holding on to the rocks and swimming around, but there were no great drop offs, towering coral heads, caves or other features that make the diving particularly memorable and set the blood racing a bit. But it would be unfair to say don’t go. What you can do in Kenya is combine safaris both above (in some of the most famous game reserves in the world) and below the water, and that does make for a great and memorable holiday combination.
Philip Berry
