Pemba Beach Hotel & Spa Fact Sheet

Pemba Beach Hotel & Spa is ideally situated in close proximity to the numerous attractions and activities of the Mozambican mainland, not to mention a mere boat trip from the spectacular Quirimbas Archipelago with its rich marine life and superb subtropical beaches. The entire region has recently been protected in a huge marine reserve.

The Pemba region is one of the prime fishing hot spots anywhere. With the famous St Lazarus Banks on your doorstep, experience superb tag and release sport fishing!

For those who dare to explore, our waters are rewarded with:

An extensive variety of hard, and soft coral
A vast array of marine plants
Countless different types of crustacea
An abundance of fish species
A great variety of nudibranchs and marine invertebrates
4 species of dolphin
Seasonal whale sightings from August to October
Occasional sunfish sightings (known as moonfish in Europe)
4 species of marine turtle
Pelagic (game) fish moving over our reefs

Current Dive Sites

The Gap
About 15 minutes by boat from Pemba Hotel, The Gap is actually an area south of the hotel, two thirds the way out to Ponta Maunhane, where the continental shelf comes very close to land. 600m offshore you have an almost sheer drop from 12m-16m down to anywhere between 80m and 120m. This is the area where we see all the big game fish coming through.

Pyro Banks
About 15 minutes out by boat, in the same area as The Gap, this is one of our shallow reefs, which starts off at 5m and runs down to 15m. Huge selections of coral razor fish are often found on the grassy patches in the beginning of the reef and there are guaranteed paperfish sightings. Visit our underwater boutique and have your nails cleaned by a station of hinge beaked shrimps.

Playground
About 20 minutes out by boat, on the northern peninsula of Pemba Bay, we have a shallow wall dive which drops from about 4m to 12m. Huge overhangs and caves are everywhere stuffed full of dusky sweepers, shrimps, firefish and scorpionfish. There is a cave with more than 20 crayfish packed inside. There have been reported sightings of dwarf zebra lionfish and other unusual discoveries. Unfortunately, this reef can only be dived in good weather conditions due to its proximity to cliffs.

Ponta Saide Ali
Also about 20 minutes out by boat, around the corner from Playground, is a reef with a huge bank of clubhorn and contoured coral, which slopes from 2m down to about 21m. Marvel at sightings of flying gurnards and Rinopius scorpionfish. Another favourite on this spot is the Valley of a Thousand Anemones, where we are sure Nemo is still hiding!

River Mouth
About an hour from the hotel, a reef is situated in the mouth of the Tari River. This reef runs between 3m and 24m deep, and consists mainly of huge boulders strewn everywhere, where big potato bass and huge Napoleon wrass hide underneath and shoals of gamefish pass overhead. Diving is only possible when it is high tide due to the flow of the river affecting visibility.