Tofo is a cute, touristy, beach town about 400 km north of Maputo. Beautiful beaches, friendly locals, and a chill atmosphere—this is why I came to Mozambique. Chris and I met our PCV friends, Kjessie and Andre, at Turtle Cove in Tofinho, outside of Tofo, at a sweet surfer hang-out just a few minutes from the ocean. We were pretty beat after the 9-hour bus ride from the capital, but we couldn’t resist the atmosphere. We sat down with the surfer crowd and enjoyed the local beers (Manica is best, 2M most popular) while we waited for our fish kebab dinner. We’ve met some awesome people here.
The next day, the four of us and four others went out on an Ocean Safari led by Dave and Sean. They said the conditions were perfect for finding whale sharks—so we grabbed some snorkeling gear and jumped on the boat. When we reached the beach, we were informed that we would be helping with the “surf launch”. Basically, we all pushed the boat straight into the waves and jumped in as quickly as possible before the engine started. Then we blasted over the waves at full speed, bouncing up and down. Just the surf launch was exciting. After just a few minutes, Sean spotted some porpoises. We drove up next to them and everyone frantically put their snorkel gear on—mask and fins. It was so fast and exciting that I had trouble breathing calmly in the water. Luckily I didn’t miss the pod of dolphins a few meters underneath us—maybe two dozen or so. Naturally they swam away after a few minutes, then it was back in the boat off to find more sea creatures. We saw a whale breach in the distance soon after. Dave floored it and got so close to the whale we nearly hit it. As we approached it, the humpback whale launched out of the ocean again, turned mid-air, and landed on its back with a splash—breath-taking! It was really close to us, I’ve never seen anything like it. THEN we again got ready to jump in the water with the whale. I was ready this time with full gear already on. Kj and I were the first in the water and got to swim with the whale for an ecstatic few seconds before it swam off. Kj saw the head, I saw the ass. As soon as I saw it underwater, I froze. Kj swam after it. I just watched it disappear around the other side of the boat. That was crazy—a humpback. Then we drove after it, but it obviously wanted some alone time so we let it be.
Eventually, we spotted a whale shark! We ended up seeing two that day. I didn’t get a good look at the first one. All I saw was SHARK! And again froze in the water. I was much closer to the second one and stared at its gorgeous white on black pattern for a good couple of minutes I think. In a nutshell, I had an unforgettable day swimming in the ocean with a whale, dolphins, and whalesharks… oh yeah, and turtles too!
The last couple of days have been rainy, so hopefully the weather improves! We had a fabulous beach day yesterday.
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