Pemba, an island group off the coast of Tanzania is not virgin diving territory. People have been there before, but it can claim the virtue of relatively unspoiled water, with abundant marine life and almost untouched by the outside world. Diving Pemba and the live-aboard M Y Kisiwani can take you there.

Pemba is an island group to the north of the Zanzibar archipelago. Pemba Island is a mosaic of forest, swamps, mangroves and lagoons is scattered with ruined mosques and tombs, now reclaimed by the forest. These sites date back to the Arab conquest of the 10th century. Until British intervention in the 19th century, the islands were a crucial staging post in the Arab-controlled slave trade. It was not only Islam that ruled these shores: Pemba is the last bastion of African witchcraft; it is said witch doctors come from all over Africa to probe the deepest mysteries of voodoo. Today the cult still flourishes beneath the surface. What lies beneath the water's surface is equally bewitching. In the channels between the islands are submerged reefs, thickly crusted with a mixture of sponges, corals and seaweed. In the water above, schools of manta rays feed on the rich supply of plankton. Diving typically takes place in any one of the narrow channels between islands where currents may drift you along at anything up to six knots. Pemba is also noted for its superb night diving where a motley crew of nudibranchs, pleurobranchs, squid, mantis shrimps and other strange life-forms come out of hiding.

Pemba has more interesting, more varied and often more spectacular diving than anywhere in East Africa, which easily justifies the additional cost of getting there. Spectacular underwater sights, stunning blue-water drop-offs, magnificent hard and soft coral gardens, magnificent scenery, a sparkling clear blue sea - everything combines to ensure the diving holiday of a lifetime,

Diving throughout the season is rich and varied. There are a number of pelagics, including whale sharks, which migrate through the Pemba Channel southwards towards their feeding ground in the southern oceans during late July, August, September and October. Pilot whales and numerous dolphin species can be seen in the channel throughout the season. Manta and eagle rays, barracuda and tuna are also spotted in and around the water of Pemba Island through the season. November sees the wind changing round to the north-east monsoon and at this time of the year the surface of the water often resembles a millpond and slack currents make for easier diving. In January, February, March and April, when the wind is coming in from the north-east, and if we are ale to go around the eastern coast of Pemba Island to Mtangani, there can be large numbers of hammerhead sharks, dolphins, turtles and dog-tooth tuna. White tip, leopard and grey reef sharks are frequently spotted too, but it is the hammerheads that steal the show and there have been many close encounters. These wonderful creatures are spotted on a regular basis around Manta Reef and we have seen Striped Marlin on a number of occasions. Coral spawning usually takes place during the equinox months when the sun is directly over the equator, this in turn attracts huge numbers of krill, drawn to the coast by the prospect of feeding on the eggs.

Our night diving is our speciality and it is absolutely superb. Spanish dances, giant nudibranches, pleurobraches, basket starts, brittle stars, frog fish, squid, mantis shrimps , turtles, puffer fish, octopus, ribbon tailed eels, cuttlefish with the phosphorescent Indian Ocean only adding to the magic,

Welcome to Diving Pemba. Welcome to M Y Kisiwani.

Jacques Cousteau once remarked that Pemba rates as one of the best dive sites he had ever seen - an accolade it comfortably lives up to. We have explored and charted numerous spectacular dive sites around Pemba Island, a few of which are listed here - Manta Point, Mesali Island (a protected marine park), wreck of SS Parapotiani, Fundu Lagoon, Mtangani, Mchengazi, Ras Miungani.

A one week's cruise will take you to a variety of sites around the Island. We include the coral clad western side and some superb drift dives around Manta Point to the north, and the wreck of the Parapotiani in the south. If the weather allows M Y Kisiwani will do a day trip to the deep blue diving on the eastern side
No two weeks are the same and every day holds a new surprise.

TANZANIA, A LAND OF SUPRISES!