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29 10 2 0 2 2 Diving on Mafia Island
"I am absolutely unhappy out of the water. It's like being in heaven and then being banished to earth" — Jacques-Yves Cousteau
If you managed to combine a vacation with scuba diving, your vacation was a success. For me, this is an axiom. As you know, axioms do not require proof. If the Mafia would,nt have the opportunity to dive and something else unusual, living under water, so I would have nothing to fly there for. Basically there is nothing to do there. It already sounds like a theorem, isn,t it?
:)
Economy class has settled around the Butiyama lodge in the form of terrible garbage dumps and miserable shacks of local residents. Not good entertainment. Sights in the form of ancient ruins on the Mafia, oddly enough, are available, but they are difficult to reach. Well, you are sitting in the pool, walking along the sea, eating a lobster... and what,s more? You're starting to get bored...
We went to the Mafia for a fairy tale. Brochures and stories of those who visited the island promised chic diving and an unusual attraction - the pursuit of whale sharks. Whale sharks are the main magnet for tourists. Due to the unique microclimate of the waters surrounding the island, one can observe an unusual phenomenon, huge whale sharks devouring plankton. For this, it is really worth visiting the Mafia. The main trump card of the Mafia is the sea!
As I already wrote, the Butiyama Lodge staff immediately tries to prove to you that $ 450 per room was not spent by you in vain. The hotel manager personally gets acquainted with each visitor, meets the guests and again personally escorts them to the bungalow. During dinner, this manager comes to each table and makes a short speech, then asks the guests about their wishes. He paid special attention to the table at which sat an elderly lady in the company of an equally elderly and well-groomed Tanzanian. From snippets of phrases, I got the impression that the manager was reporting on the work done. Subsequently, it turned out that I was not mistaken - they were the owner of the hotel and his co-investor.
On the very first evening upon arrival, the manager asked us what we wanted? We were craving diving. The manager smiled knowingly - well, of course - glanced at our figures, estimating the sizes of wetsuits, said that he would organize everything, but for now he offered us to see the sunset, which, according to him, was especially good that evening. After contemplating the spectacle of the setting sun, in the interval between the lobster and dessert, the manager said that in the morning a shuttle would be waiting for us at the reception, which would take lovers of the seabed to the other side of the island
Thus, we were able to evaluate the second possible accommodation option BIG BLU MAFIA ISLAND DIVE CENTER, which I liked more. Less pathos, the natural nature of the reserve is not polluted around, cool people in the form of fellow diving ... The only unpleasant moment is the fees for staying on the territory of the reserve in the amount of $ 35 per day
The people you dive with play an important role. On the Mafia, we were kept company: the owner of the Butiyama Lodge hotel, his co-investor and a German-French family. Everyone quickly got to know each other and cheerfully talked on various topics, jumping from English to German and French. My wife attends a French language club, but after half an hour of timid attempts to keep up the conversation, she said that her head was about to burst. For me, any linguistic difficulties are only a joy - I love foreign languages ...
Usually I get a little nervous before diving, but this time I managed to catch a complete relaxation. Everything suited me: the weather, the dive master, the company... My constant dive companion (badi), who is also a spouse, absorbs a surprisingly small amount of oxygen underwater. Once, when we were diving in the Red Sea on the Thistlegorm wreck, I was suddenly picked up by the current and carried away from the group. Been frightened I devoured an excessive amount of oxygen. Instructor Kostya Gorokhov, with an experienced eye, immediately noticed a "bad sheep" in the herd. Having requested the volume of my "tank" and received a sad answer, he gave the command to my wife to share a spare regulator with me. We spent the rest of that dive as inseparable Siamese twins. Upstairs, Kostya laughed: "Man, what a great wife! Consider that you always have a spare oxygen bottle with you..."
The first dive took place in a rather difficult location Jina Wall (#21 on the map)
Dive Options:
Depth - 23 meters
Visibility 300 meters
Temperature - 26 Celsius
The rest of the air in the cylinder - 40 bar
Before diving, we warned the dive guide that my wife had a problem after otitis, she could not dive quickly, she needed adaptation within five minutes, otherwise she would start to experience pain. Ear problems are quite common among divers, so the guide confirmed that he understood everything and would take it into account. But as it turned out, man proposes, but God disposes...
On command, the divers poured overboard. After the traditional go-ahead "ok", the fall along the coral wall began. There was a strong current right away. The Germans "fell" to the bottom faster than anyone else, burning oxygen, fighting against the current. In order not to waste my air reserves, I caught on a stone protruding from the wall and began to survey the surroundings.
The owner of Butiyama and his companion, having decided not to trouble themselves with waiting, immediately left for "autonomy". The dive guide upstairs fought with my wife. Overcoming resistance, he gradually pulled her down. The Germans worked hard with flippers. A woman was attracting the attention of her companion with a stick-trap... and suddenly I saw a huge dark silhouette approaching the diver's leg... Dolphin! An inquisitive mammal became interested in an object that makes unusual sounds. This is the first time I have seen a dolphin in its natural environment so close! This is a real safari, this is real luck!
Finally, the guide was able to drown my wife. However, the way she moved told me that something was going wrong. My wife approached me and showed the most unpleasant gesture possible - "I can't breathe!"
For the uninitiated, this gesture looks like cutting the throat with the palm of your hand, it is usually used with the words "throat problems." I gestured, "You really can't breathe? Are you sure?" Having received an affirmative answer, I offered my regulator to my wife. She answered in the negative... The exchange of signs continued:
Are we going up? Sure?
I do not know. Something is wrong...
What's wrong? You're all right. You are breathing. The bubbles are coming. So the problem is in your head...
Something is wrong...
I gave her the command to cling to the stone with my hands and began to show the count with my fingers: one-two, one-two, breathe, everything is fine with us ...
Gradually my wife calmed down. We signaled to the guide that everything was ok. The guide showed the direction of movement. Oddly enough, we had to move against the current. Not only did they shied away in anticipation for a long time, but now they also fight with the current! It would not be easy to "drift" in the stream ... but ok, the guide knows better. After 15 minutes, the guide nevertheless gave the command to surrender to the current.
The first dive lasted 54 minutes, which is quite good, given the delay with the dive and movement against the flow.
The reasons for the incomprehensible behavior of my wife were found out. Butiyama's owner asked if we were on malaria medication. He claimed that antimalarial pills had such an unpleasant side effect.
The second dive took place in a comfortable and amazingly beautiful location of Coral Garden. There used to be a very popular Aquarium screensaver. So this place looks like this. Colorful corals, rays of the sun, shallow depth and a huge variety of marine life...
On the way back, the guys unraveled the sail and turned on some African music. Handed out fried fish for beer. Then they exchanged impressions - divers are usually very talkative after diving. Maybe this is how nitrogen intoxication affects? Oh, how I love this post-dive time. Why are these moments so fleeting like evaporating ether?!
Summing up, I will say that Mafia Island is a great place for scuba diving. Highly recommended!
