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Here we are, at last! Hongi
Island (Pic. 1;
Hongi Island.) stands in front of us, in
the bright African air, rising from the warm, clear, water of Lake
Malawi (see map: to guess where Hongi
Islans is). Almost
no wind, just a few clouds (or not at all), calm water. I know
it's going to be quite a dive. After having seen (many times) the
Red Sea (Egypt, Sudan, Israel), having visited the Caribbean sea (Cuba) with "tons" of dives logged on my
"dive-book" all around the Italian seas at last the time
has come: I'm about to discover the "Truth", to have a
close look to the origin of the dream of any Malawi cichlid lover.
Before carrying on I feel the
need to spend few lines to introduce you to, what I call "Safe
Diving"; this being quite different from simply
"diving":
Above all you must be a
Certified Diver: It's not that odd
(strange as it may seem at first) to be asked for a diving
certification (and I DO AGREE
with that) before diving here. Most of the dives (see dive log at
bottom of this page) happen in shallow (not deeper than 18/20
meters) water, hence a basic scuba training is more than enough. An
"Open Water Diver" certification from i.e. SSI (I'm an SSI
scuba instructor for 10 years now!) will fit all your needs.
Assuming you're a certified diver let's revise in brief, what sort
of diving equipment, in my opinion, best fit these dives.
-
Mask,
snorkel, fins: the stuff you commonly use
will do!
-
Gloves:
highly reccomended, because of the rocky layout of those places.
-
Regulators,
buoyancy jacket, tank(s), dive instruments:
no specific requests. Since dives are not that deep if you have a
choice choose small tanks, meaning less weight to
"handle".
-
Wetsuit:
here I need to go to more details: the water is more than warm but
if you plan long dives (which means about an hour or so of actual
dive time and remain still able to carefully look at fishes or shoot
photos) a 5 mm wetsuit is the best choice, otherwise also a 3 mm
will do. Thinner wetsuit will work only if you go snorkelling. I
used a 5 mm wetsuit.
-
Weight(s) and
belt:
keep in mind you 're going to dive in fresh water which means that
(because of a simple "bouyancy rule") you'll need about
half the weights you use when diving at sea.
-
General
(and final) warning(s): Always beware of
the sun. It takes minutes to turn you from suntanned into
"sunburnt". And finally before attempting something
"strange" while diving, ALWAYS, remember that the nearest
hyperbaric facility is as close as South Africa …
-
Medicals
tip(s): I'm not a physician, then all I
can suggest is to check your doctor, BEFORE your departure, for
medical suggestions and what precautions you should take (this
refers NOT only to diving!)
Finally let me spend some more
lines (just to make excite your curiosity) on the situation we faced
while at this Lake. Malawi (I refer to the Country) and Tanzania are
not only separated by the lake stretching between them. They also
are (from many points of view) as close as the moon is close to
earth ! In Malawi it's likely to find electricity supply, fairly
pavimented road, shops and some restaurants almost close to european
"requirements", we've even had a chance to give our home a
phone call ! On the opposite shore (it takes four hours to get there
by ship) we found no electricity (at all!) and no telephone. A
computer, even a fax, is something beyond reality. We faced the need
to refrain from drinking water (only beer!) for three days because
of the lack of bottled water. It's worth remembering that we crossed
Malawi from the airport at Lilongwe (Malawi's Capital), to the Lake
(Nkata Bay harbour) while in Tanzania we spent all the time on the
coast of the lake. !
Continued in
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