Dive Review of Buccaneer Divers/Sarova Whitesands Resort in
Africa/Mombasa

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Buccaneer Divers/Sarova Whitesands Resort, Oct, 2013, by Jayne Johnson, NH, US ( 1 report). Report 7398.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Buccaneer Dive Shop is located in the Sarova Whitesands Resort which is about 20 minutes north of the Mombasa Airport. Whitesands Resort: The resort is just incredibly beautiful with expansive grounds and meandering pools. There are several restaurants also located throughout the resort that served fairly good, expansive menus and buffet foods. The staff at the Whitesands were incredibly nice, professional and very, very helpful. I don't think I have ever stayed at a nicer, more beautiful place in my life. As a solo traveler, I felt very safe and protected within the resort and the staff seemed to actually recognize the people who were staying there and kindly greeted everyone. I can not recommend Whitesands Resort enough. Buccaneer Diving: Buccaneer Diving has 2 locations - one in Zanzibar and one in Mombasa. I reserved a couple dive days with Buccaneer Diving with a simple email to their shop. They didn't answer the first email, but the second email brought a quick, friendly response with my reserved space on the dive boat. The dive shop is located next to a beautiful pool with waterfall on the resort grounds. There is a dedicated dive shop space under a covered pagoda with couches and video equipment for pre-dive briefings and paperwork necessities. The staff brings out hot tea, coffee and biscuits snacks while you wait. There are great dive magazines and books on the tables for some inspiration as well. It was just a great spot to hang out and talk to the dive masters about the diving and meet the other divers. The dive shop had some fine rental dive gear with new-ish BCs and regulators. The wetsuit I rented was in great condition and it seemed they had many styles and sizes. I used my own dive computer and it was a good thing I did, as all briefings/limits were done in Bars and not psi and no one seemed to know the conversion. The dive briefing was okay, again, I had to compute and explain that I was used to and using PSI, not Bars. We carried all our own gear, except tanks, out to the boats. During low tide, the walk out to the boats can be about a half mile! It was a fun walk in tidal water about 3 feet deep with some sea grass, deeper holes and lack of visibility some places. This could be worrisome if you have ANY concerns about walking with your bags of gear. The diving here is just beyond the reef, so you have to cross where the waves are crashing over the outside reef - a bit exciting in a 20 foot wooden boat! There is NO photographic accommodation on the boat, but there is dedicated storage under the seats for all equipment. Tanks are set up for you at your station. The dive schedule is: one 50 minute dive, 45 minute surface interval spent in the boat and another dive for 45 minutes. There is the option of diving a deeper wreck called the Dania as well. Diving was challenging during my time there - LOTS of surge and current lessened the viz and negated all photo options. There were many seasick people during the surface interval which made it fairly unpleasant. The DM said the weather and conditions change all the time and the next day could very well be calm and beautiful - you get what you get pretty much, and we got a really wild ride. Underwater, you ride the surge, hang on and ride it again. A few times we had to make huge attempts to swim away from the reef, as we were being thrown into it by the currents. Another time, as we were surfacing, we had to hand on to the ropes along the outside of the boat to be towed away from the reef so the boat wouldn't crash into the reef while we were trying to get back on the boat. I thought all of it was a great adventure. It felt safe, but I would warn all beginners to be aware of the serious situations that may arise if the weather is not perfect here.
Websites	Buccaneer Divers Sarova Whitesands Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Red Sea, Sea of Cortez
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, dry	Seas	choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	-°F / -°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-40 Ft/ 9-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Water was just too surge-y to actually use my camera and water was very churned up and visibility was not good. Boat was a good size, but no dedicated photo area or rinsing bucket.

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Dive Review of Buccaneer Divers/Sarova Whitesands Resort in Africa/Mombasa

Buccaneer Divers/Sarova Whitesands Resort, Oct, 2013,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Buccaneer Divers/Sarova Whitesands Resort in
Africa/Mombasa