Tumbatu Island and the smaller island on the Northern tip, Mwana wa Mwana, offer some of the best corals in the area which are home to a diverse selection of marine creatures.
TUMBATU REEF
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 5-20 m
Tumbatu Reef has a stunning shallow coral wall which drops from 5 metres down to 10-12 metres then a gentle sloping bottom with coral bommies continuing to around 20m as the sand bank continues down to 30+ metres. Here we can see lots of reef fish, groupers, nudibranch, Picasso triggerfish and moray eels.
RAS MSIKITINI
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 3-20 m
From a small walls slooping down on a fringing reef the corals range from a depth of 3-20 metres with mild currents.
Some of the species found on this reef include frogfish, stone fish, leaf fish and a resident school of batfish.
MWANA WA MWANA
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 3-20 m
Mwana wa Mwana on the Northern tip consists of a gradual sloping fringing reef with corals from 3 metres down to 10-12m then a sloping sediment bottom down to 20-30m. Some of our more camouflauged species found on this reef include scorpionfish, ghost pipefish and seahorses.
Hunga and Nankivell are patch reefs located four nautical miles out to open sea. They are made up of a series of interconnected bommies consisting of hard and soft corals at a max depth of 16-18m.
HUNGA REEF
Level: Intermediate-advanced
Depth: 16-18 m
Warning: It is important to dive on the slack tide to minimise current as you will want to stay on the reef.
This site is characterized by large schools of fish: yellow snappers, twin stripe fusiliers or emperors. You can also expect to see parrotfish, unicorn surgeonfish, brightly coloured coral groupers, moray eels, crocodile fish and trevally coming in to feast on the small fishes.
NANKIVELL
Level: Intermediate-advanced
Depth: 16-18 m
Warning: It is important to dive on the slack tide to minimise current as you will want to stay on the reef.
Nankivell Reef is a sister reef to Hunga. The structure is one large coral area with various rooms you can go explore inside. This reef is home to rays, red-tooth triggerfish that like to sleep inside the crevices, leaffish, clown triggerfish and sometimes large groupers hanging out in the current on top of the reef.
KENDWA REEF
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 10-12 m
The top of Kendwa Reef can be exposed on an extremely low spring tide and drops down to a depth of 10-12m. It is a very long reef and a lovely drift dive on a shallow depth full of many juvenile fish!
RENCO BOMY
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 8-12 m
Renco Bomi is a large coral bomi structure, the top of the reef is at a depth of around 5m and drops down 16m. While this reef has sustained some damage from local fishers, there are quite a variety of corals and fish. We have quite often found frogfish, pipefish and even the rarely seen harlequin shrimp feasting on a seastar.
SHAMZI
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 12-25 m
Shamzi Reef may not have the most impressive corals but we can find creatures on this site that cannot be found on the other sites! It is a fringing reef just off of Nungwi with only a few small sections of corals mostly between 12-14m deep, the slope continues down to a small wall which drops from 18-23m and continuing a slope down to 26-28m depending on the tide. On top there are plenty of nudibranches, octopus, pipefish, thornback boxfish, helmeted "flying" gurnard and for the lucky even seahorses and weedy scorpion fish.
CHAKATUNI
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 12-25 m
Chakatuni Reef is located right at the northern tip of Unguja island and can be a little tricky for currents so it is best dived on a slack tide. We prefer the low slack, so if the current starts to pick up it will take us to the shallows rather than to the deep. Because of the currents, it is a great place to find schools of fish!
CORAL GARDENS
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 8-18 m
Coral Gardens has a mix of hard and soft corals creating a very colorful reef which is home to a variety of marine species: moray eels, octopus, and the usual reef inhabitants as well as small things like nudibranches, shrimps and even seagrass ghost pipefish on this site. When lucky we can also spot green sea turtle!
MBWANGAWA
Level: beginner-intermediate
Depth: 10-18 m
Mbwangawa has two separate patches of the plate corals and then a mix of hard and soft corals on the other areas. Starry pufferfish are commonly seen swimming on top of the reef and sometimes small to medium size groupers hiding in the crevices. We are likely to find peacock mantis shrimps, cuttlefish, octopus, and many different scorpionfish.
KICHAFI & HAJI REEF
MISOLI REEF & LEON’S WALL
Level: intermediate-advanced
Depth: 10-30 m
Around 30m there is a dropoff which has an interesting cave where you can find larger groupers. The shallow part from 10-18m depth has very nice coral cover with a large diversity of species!