Latest News and Information

We have decided to use this page to share with you what is happening on the best beach in Zanzibar! You are welcome to contribute your photos and stories, simply e-mail them to us at do-scuba@scuba-do-zanzibar.com ...


	*MAY 2006* The water temperature in Zanzibar is now 26-27C which probably seems warm to most of you, but for those of us used to 28-29C water... we will be snug as a bug in our new "Scuba Do" wetsuits modelled here by Divemaster Dan and Instructor Grace.. For those of you looking for keepsake, we also have a limited number of "Scuba Do" rash vests on offer. Soon we will also have "Scuba Do" polo shirts, so you will have your choice of memories to take away with you.

*APRIL 2006* The 28th of April was a very sad day for us as approximately 600 dolphins stranded two kilometers south of Kendwa and many of them washed up dead on our beach. The dolphins were not from Zanzibar, but pelagic dolphins likely from South Africa or Madagascar. It was a huge loss nonetheless. For the most logical explanation of why this tragedy happened, please visit Captain David William's website http://www.deafwhale.com/stranding/zanzibar.htm. This lovely drawing was a gift to us from our very special friend, Sasha Forbes - age 4 - Johannesburg, South Africa.

	*MARCH 2006* Dive Master Dan's daughter, Merina, is following in her father's footsteps... at age 9 she is a PADI Bubblemaker!! Dan and Merina come from Malawi and Merina moved to Zanzibar two years ago. As she was used to swimming in Lake Malawi, the salt water was a bit of a change. Merina learned to snorkel in November 2005 and we haven't been able to keep her out of the water since! In March she became a bubblemaker by trying scuba for the first time! When asked what she thought of it, we received a big smile and two thumbs up! Merina's says her favourite fish is a pinapple fish. Now we have the agreement if she learns to read fluently in English by the 1st January 2007 (her 10th birthday), she can begin her open water diver course! Everyone wish her luck with her studies!!

*FEBRUARY 2006* For the second year running, we were fortunate to teach an amazing group of students from the International School of Tanganyika (IST) in Dar es Salaam to be open water divers. Matt and Viv did a supurb job getting the students prepared with their pre-work and keeping the schedule during the course. In addition to learning to dive, the students also learned to identify fish, visited the dhow building area, the turtle sanctuary and many experienced their first night dive!!! Congratulations to all the students for their achievements: Alice, Chloe, Dan, Eimear, Inti, Jess, Julia, Katie, Kim, Linden, Mari, Mattia, Missy, Nichol, Raph, Tamarat and Thomas!! Well done and keep diving!!

	*JANUARY 2006* January was a month of PADI news... first, PADI awarded Scuba Do with the rating of PADI 5-Star, Gold Palm Resort!! Second, effective 1st January 2006, all students on PADI courses must purchase a manual for use during the course and must retain it for reference after their dive course. Obtaining PADI products is quite expensive in East Africa especially when buying through the PADI redistributor! we have joined together with the more reputable dive centres in Tanzania to form a constorium. Through the consortium, we are jointly importing PADI products directly into Zanzibar so that we are able to offer these products to you at prices similar to the rest of the world.

*DECEMBER 2005* Congratulations to Grace B. Kanza, PADI OWSI #631184 on becoming the first and only female, Tanzanian PADI Instructor!! Grace first joined Scuba Do in May 2002 as the front office receptionist... and in those days she could not even swim! Grace has tenaciously learned to swim and worked her way through the PADI Curriculum and became a divemaster for Scuba Do in February 2004. Grace travelled to Dahab, Egypt where she completed her IDC and successfully passed her Instructor Examination. Well done Grace! Pongezi!!

	*NOVEMBER 2005* Must be tough going from the sunny, warm beaches of Zanzibar back to the snow of Cleveland, Ohio! Advanced open water diver, Paula Goodell, sends us this photo holding her mask, fins and a sign which reads, "I'd rather be at Scuba Do!" Paula, we want photos of you ice-diving in the creek behind you!!

*OCTOBER 2005* 31st October, a brave group of divers ventured out for a frighteningly good Haunted Halloween Night Dive to Mwana wa Mwana Reef!! We had an eventful evening complete with our jack-o'-lantern (carved from a Zanzibari watermelon - bonus points for creativity!) and trick-or-treat scuba snacks. On this beautiful, moonless, starry night we saw a starry pufferfish, sleeping turtle, guitar shark ray, many squid, calamari, a creepy sea spider, huge lobsters, shrimps, blue spotted stingrays, many moray eels, phosphorescence (dinoflagellates), etc. ... and no haunted halloween night dive would be complete without seeing a ghost... or at least a seagrass GHOST pipefish!! Brave enough for next year?!?

	*SEPTEMBER 2005* On Saturday, the 17th of September, Scuba Do hosted the 1st Annual Kendwa Beach and Underwater Cleanup as part of the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) sponsored by Project AWARE and the Ocean Conservancy. More than 100 countries participated in cleaning up coastlines around the world and it was the 20th anniversary for the international event. Our local event was a huge success! The turnout of people and rubbish collected far exceeded our expectations and Kendwa is looking more beautiful than ever! Our favourite quote of the day was from a returning guest who was looking at the pile of rubbish bags and commented, "This place is so clean I didn't expect you to find anything." We think that sums it up nicely - Kendwa is one of the most beautiful places in Zanzibar and with the environmental awareness of our community members and guests, we will be able to keep it this way! As for our results, from our best estimates we had approximately 82 people participating in the cleanup! Nearly 75% of the people participating in the event were from the local community with the remainder being overseas holiday makers visiting Kendwa. It was wonderful to see the Kendwa villagers, businesses and guests united and working together for a common goal... we collected 108 bags of rubbish with a total weight of 729 kilograms! Both underwater and on the beach we coverd a distance of 1.5 kilometers of coastline. We plan to continue educating the local community and school children as to the effects of rubbish on environment and make the cleanup day an annual event. Many thanks to all of you who participated in the event as divers, snorkellers or beach combers and we hope to see you again next year!

*SEPTEMBER 2005* We had a whale of a day today (8th September)!! Yes, the Humpback Whales have returned to Kendwa on their annual migration. We spent more than an hour and a half observing a mother and her calf who appeared to be sunbathing just out past Kendwa Reef. Nungwi village is in the background of the top photo and Tumbatu Island in the centre photo. It was absolutely magical to feel the mist of the whales exhalation showering our boat. The whale we believe to be the mother was approximately 15 metres long and positioned herself with her tail out of the water three times, each time holding the pose for several minutes. Can anyone explain this behaviour? We used to believe photographers were extremely lucky to get these shots, now we know they have time to compose a great photo!

	*JULY 2005* On the morning of July 30th, we had an extraordinary dive on Hunga Reef. As we were busy kitting up and launching the boat, no one questioned why Tony requested to take a slate along on the dive. Perhaps he was "under pressure" at 18m where he proposed to his girlfriend, Liz! The slate in the photo says "Will you marry me?" ... and luckily Liz responded, "YES!" Congratulations to Liz and Tony and hope to see you again for the undersea wedding or honeymoon dive holiday!

*APRIL 2005* We had a lovely experience on a training dive on Zanzibar's east coast when two, large bottlenose dolphins decided to join our dive! The dolphins were amazingly inquisitive and circled our group spending several minutes in our company. We were without camera, but training rescue diver, Keiko from Japan, made this beautiful watercolour painting to capture the moment. Instructor Tam comments on the exemplary buddy contact the dolphins had in comparison to the diving students! Hester, George, Clair and Dave have no idea how lucky they were - especially Dave on his first ever scuba dive!!! Many thanks to Keiko for her beautiful artwork!

	*FEBRUARY 2005* During their "Discover Tanzania" week, 14 students from the International School of Tanganyika (IST) completed their open water scuba course at Scuba Do! With big thanks to Matt and Jules for organising the troops, all successfully completed their training in just over four days! The new divers had a chance to explore Tanzania's underwater world and have opened the door for many new adventures to come. Everyone at Scuba Do extends a big congratulations to Andreas, Anita, Bas, Emily, Hemontika, Jordan, Kavita, Kelissa, Lizzie, Rebecca, Sakina, Shanil, Stine and Toral!! Hope to see you all diving in Zanzibar again soon...