We can’t not go to Mozambique, I mean, it’s right there. This was our wild card vacation. Phil and I never thought we were beach people. And when we thought of Mozambique we just thought of one massively long beach that looked the same for it’s entire 1,600 mile coastline. Where all there was to do was sit in the sand and take long walks.
A vacation we weren’t enthusiastic about ended up being Phil’s favorite trip of the year.
What convinced us to go was a super short direct flight into Tofo (a place I ignorantly kept calling Tofu) and a gorgeous beachfront house Phil found on AirBnB. Excited that there were some popular dive sites where we could test our our newly acquired scuba certifications, we decided to bring our nanny to help watch Sonja.
The evening before our trip, we were notified that our 9am direct flight had been changed. It was now leaving at 6am with a layover, more than doubling our travel time.
For those of you who don’t know, some members of our family are NOT morning people. Therefore, it was no surprise that we ran late waking up and getting to the airport that next morning. To add to the chaos, the parking garage where we had pre-booked a spot days ago was completely full. After circling the lot frantically we tried to leave to find parking elsewhere only to be trapped inside and had to call for help to get someone to lift the boom.
We finally arrived at the ticketing counter with about 45 minutes until our flight was scheduled to depart. Sadly, we had forgotten we needed to purchase a lap ticket for Sonja and were told to go to another counter to buy one. At the other counter, we were informed the system was currently “offline”. It was now 6 am, surely there is no way we’ll make the flight. The system is back online, we pay for Sonja’s lap ticket which costs about how much our seat bookings cost, and run back to the other counter to check our baggage. After taking our luggage, the airline crew at the counter personally escort us through the front of security, immigration and finally to the bus which was waiting to take us to the plane…we made it!!!
As we approach Inhambane (regional airport for Tofo), the views are spectacular. Beautiful stretches of white sandy beaches, palm trees and clear blue water. However we only get glimpses of this paradise between the dark storm clouds. At one point the airplane does a ‘fly by’ of the beach. While it provides for a great view, it was certainly not part of it’s normal route, we’re circling and turbulence is rough. It’s clear the pilot is struggling with this storm and were told that if the next landing attempt is unsuccessful then we’ll have to turn around and go back to Maputo.
Fortunately the second attempt worked. We didn’t die and successfully landed in Inhambane in the pouring rain. The airport is small, only one ‘terminal’. A few guys approached us and asked if we needed a taxi. We picked the one with the biggest car … an old beatup hatchback. In the downpour the driver struggled to load all of our suitcases. They didn’t fit. Determined, he used whatever he could find in his car to somehow tie the trunk closed with our suitcases hanging out. With bags and strollers on our laps we set off on our 30 minute drive to Tofo - everything soaking wet.
left: The approach to Inhambane aiport ❖ right: The tiny one-room airport. Pick your luggage up on the tarmac!
On the road we made our best attempt to ask the driver, who only spoke Portuguese, if he had a card reader. He didn’t, so he took us on a detour to find an ATM. The ATM was “offline”. We had no way of paying him. We foolishly thought about how we had just spent 2.5 hours killing time during our layover in the capital Maputo and never thought to get cash. He kindly took us to our AirBnB and we assured him that we would call him at the end of our trip to go to the airport and hopefully then the ATM would be working. An IOU.
The house was stunning. Beachfront views, lounge chairs and a pool. Also, no neighbors yet still within walking distance to the town.
Relaxing at the airbnb in Tofo
Each morning we would wake up to see people down on the beach looking into our windows holding up fresh caught shrimp for sale. Sadly, we didn’t have cash to buy any…although that might have been a good thing as I’m not sure we would have known how to cook them - they didn’t look like the debodied versions sold in the supermarket :)
Tofo is unique from many scuba destinations as it requires beach launches. Each dive begins with a tractor pulling the boat out onto the beach. All divers and some extra employees grab hold on either side of the boat and walk it out into the surf - the tractor pushing from behind. The captain then yells ‘ladies in’ and any ladies have to pull themselves up and in. Then as the boat gets deeper and surf rougher he yells ‘all in’, the remaining divers jump in while the skipper cranks the motor and the employees still continue to push the boat. At this point waves are pummeling us and crashing over the boat. There are loops on the floor and on the sides for you to secure your feet and hands in so that you don’t fall overboard. Finally, the boat is past the surf and you cruise out to the dive side selected for the day.
The dive sites we did were anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes by boat. Since Tofo has many deeper dive sites, Phil and I decided to do our deep dive certification, extending our allowed depth from 60 feet to 130 feet. Going down 130’ below sea level was wild to say the least. Seeing the giant expanse of blue nothingness as you drift back up to the surface was a unique and chilling experience. You can’t help but be in awe of how massive our oceans are.
Similar to how we launched the boat going out to sea, coming back was similar. The captain would alert us to ‘hold on tight’ and floor it full speed directly onto the beach trying to get the boat as far up on the sand as possible. If you weren’t holding on you surely would have gotten thrown from the boat!
We ended up doing 6 dives in total with Tofo Scuba: Office, Salon, Manta Reef, Giants Castle, Rob’s Bottom, and Fingers. Sadly we did not see any of the Mantas or Whalesharks that frequent these sites, but we still saw and experienced so much underwater life!
Laura looking up from Manta Reef towards ~100 rays swimming above us
Besides diving we also took surf lessons and did some shopping in town. Yet again, we struggled as the street vendors only took cash. We finally found one guy with a card machine that agreed to serve as our unofficial ‘ATM’.
I realize that the majority of this blog is about our comical struggles to get to Tofo and that I didn’t spend much time talking about the town itself. However, it truly was paradise for us. The town is very small, yet has a number of nice shops and restaurants to enjoy. It was the perfect rustic adventure beach town with just the right amenities and no crowds. Furthermore, this trip really built up our confidence and ignited our interest in scuba diving.
Having experienced Tofo, we now have a deeper yearning to see more of what Mozambique has to offer.
Photos
