MEET THE AUTHOR
Traveller, hiker and scuba-diver Fiona McIntosh is the former editor of Divestyle magazine. She’s dived all over the world, but she’s especially passionate about our coastline. Her new guidebook Dive Sites of South Africa & Mozambique is a first of its ki
Where did you learn to dive? I did my open-water course in Scotland’s Loch Long while I was still at school. A scuba-diving course sounded adventurous, but I was the only girl stupid enough to sign up. We changed in a howling wind at the side of the loch. Then, in my over-sized wetsuit and booties, I was so buoyant that I struggled to even get beneath the surface. The visibility was about a metre. After freezing my butt off for half an hour and seeing nothing but a couple of brown fish, I emerged underwhelmed and unconvinced. When I moved to South Africa in 1996, I redid my dive course at Sodwana Bay with 30 m visibility. After seeing vibrant corals and tropical fish for the first time, I was hooked.
What’s so special about being underwater? It’s like entering another world. Everything seems bigger but it’s calm. The colours are different. Weird. The sun’s rays filtering through the water can be dazzling, especially if you’re in a kelp forest or exploring a wreck. Like being in a disco. Being weightless is a wonderful feeling. Obviously the animal life you see depends on where you are. I love all the colour and activity on a coral reef; in a kelp forest I pause and gaze up through the swaying fronds at the waves on the surface.
What makes our coastline so varied in terms of diving? The combined length of the South African and Mozambican coastlines is close to 5 000 km, with a latitudinal range of more than 20 degrees. This results in a huge range of climates which, combined with cold and warm currents, leads to a huge diversity of marine life. We also have incredible underwater topography – arches, caverns and pinnacles rising from the ocean bed. You’ll find some of the world’s southernmost coral reefs at Sodwana Bay – and the ancient coelacanth in deep canyons offshore. The reefs continue north all the way along the Mozambican coast. They’re healthy, too, brimming with life. In the cold water of the Cape, you’re more likely to see weird and wonderful crustaceans and molluscs. And sharks, if you’re lucky. You can dive the squid beds off Port Elizabeth and see an underwater feeding frenzy during the annual Sardine Run. Lastly, there are also a number of interesting inland dive sites where you can dive in clear spring water.
How does the diving in South Africa and Mozambique compare with the rest of the world? I’ve dived lots of famous places like Sipadan, the Galapagos, Truk Lagoon, the Sudanese Red Sea and Scapa Flow. They’re all world class, but so is Sodwana on a good day. The Manta Coast near Inhambane in Mozambique is consistently rated by dive magazines as one of the top 10 dive destinations in the world. Diving here is fabulous and exclusive. You don’t get the crowds that you’ll have at better-known dive destinations, partly because dive conditions aren’t as reliable year-round. Fortunately for us, it’s also not as well marketed.
How did you put this book together? There was no book on the market that showcased the dive sites of South Africa and Mozambique together. As the former editor of Divestyle magazine, I’ve been diving these sites for more than a decade – all in the name of “work”. It was easy for me to identify the top locations, then I had to revisit each one (with an underwater photographer) to get up to speed with conditions and operators. What a pleasure!
Who will find this book useful? Anyone interested in diving or snorkelling, or our marine life in general. It’s not intended to be comprehensive. Instead, I’ve cherry-picked 180 of the best dives, complete with site maps and key information including operator contact details. Even if you’re not a diver, the stunning photography makes it an intriguing book for the coffee table.
The marine species identification guide is impressive. How did this come about? Marine life fundi Georgina Jones, member of the Southern