Sodwana Bay @ Coral Divers (on the beach)

Welcome to our road trip of December 2021. We are travelling by car across South Africa (from the west coast → north coast → KZN south coast → back to the west coast). The distance we will cover, will be around 5,000km (3,106 miles).

Our main purpose for this trip, besides seeing places we have not seen before, is for Berto to scuba dive in Sodwana Bay and then to be a little more adventurous … diving with sharks in the ocean in Umkomaas on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal. We hope to share lots of pictures to show you our beautiful country.

Accommodation – Day 4 to Day 10:

Coral Divers at Sodwana Bay

So, here we are … at Sodwana Bay for a wonderful week to have fun on the beach and for Berto to go scuba diving!

In this post we will introduce you to the beach, as well as more pictures form Coral Divers. In our next post, we’ll take you under the sea to see beautiful colourful fish, reefs and maybe a surprise appearance by a friendly sea mammal.

But let’s get to the beach! And what a welcome we received on our first morning … a massive thunderstorm!

A thunderstorm greeted us on our first morning at Sodwana

While Berto headed to the beach for his first dive (in the rain), I hanged on for a while in our cabin. Fortunately, it seemed the rain storm was on its way to the next town … and within an hour, the rain disappeared and the sun came out. Happy days and I’m off to the beach … in Coral Divers’ unique ‘taxi’ 😄.

A tractor with a trailer takes all divers and their families down to the beach … this is such a fun trip!

Sodwana Bay’s beach is pristine and I love to sit under the covers of Coral Divers and watch all the activities … beach goers, divers going in and coming back, tractors assisting with boat launching – you name it, and it’s all happening at Sodwana Bay!

A shallow river mouth, with the sea in the background
Tractors on the beach assisting boats into- and out of the sea
Scuba diving boats on the beach
While the smaller kids love the river, the others enjoy the waves in the sea

If there is one animal you have to be on the lookout for, it’s monkeys! These sneaky buggers are amazing acrobats when it’s coming to the stealing of food!

The monkeys will spot the food from high up in the trees before finding their way to a bin (or even sometimes the food that is packed out on the tables)
The river is not deep and on a hot day, it’s great to walk through (this way, you’re avoiding the hot sand)

As mentioned before, Sodwana Bay is unspoiled … no beach resorts, restaurants and bars. At the beach you’ll find only two shops. The one is basically just a kiosk selling something to eat and drink. There are a few tables where you can sit down or get take-aways – we loved their toasted sandwiches!

The Beach Kiosk

The other shop (the Beach Shop), sells beach clothes and other accessories that might come in handy, especially when diving. You might also be in luck to find a t-shirt or hat that can protect you from the hot sun!

The Beach Shop

While Berto was diving, I had long walks on the beach. There were not a lot of holiday goers yet, as the summer holidays are only due to start officially in a week’s time. I therefor had the beach sometimes almost to myself.

These trees give much needed shade should you arrive without a beach umbrella (but don’t you dare)
An almost deserted beach
Coral Divers’ spot on the beach – look at that thunderstorm approaching!
Children playing in the water and divers on their way to the boats
Boats with scuba divers on their way to the colourful reefs

Diving at Sodwana Bay:

The diving operations at Sodwana Bay is fascinating to watch … it’s like a well-oiled machine! Divers are scheduled on the different boats in different time slots. Divers have the opportunity to do two dives per day which is scheduled early morning and then another one just before lunch – diving conditions are generally good in the morning. In the afternoon the wind is picking up and the sea is getting rough, but it’s still great to spent time on the beach.

The dive schedule at Coral Divers
Every morning, the staff at Coral Divers pack out chairs for divers to use and relax in-between dives
Divers’ diving kit is packed into crates with the designated boat’s name and taken down with beach buggies to the boat

Before each dive, a dive master will call his/her diving buddies together where they will give an overview of the next dive and explain safety procedures.

Here, a dive master giving an overview of the next dive to her dive buddies
The divers walking to their boat to enjoy another dive
The tractor pushes the boat into the water

It’s organised chaos on the beach – tractors waiting to put boats in the water or waiting for boats to come out of the water. But funny enough, it never seems as if anybody is stressed about the commotion!

Tractors waiting to assist the divers’ boats
A boat coming back from a dive
The boats run out onto the beach with high speed
Berto’s boat arriving back from another spectacular dive
Once again, the tractor pulls the boat further away from the water and the beach buggies’ team load the diving gear
The guys on the tractors are masters at organising!
Berto finished another great dive

Coral Divers Accommodation:

We loved our stay once again at Coral Divers. The staff is always friendly and helpful. And once again, we had the opportunity of meeting great people from all over the country.

The dive planning for each day are dotted down on a board in the entertainment area at Coral Divers
The inside entertainment area
The braai area became a wonderful meeting place every evening
There’s even a play area for the little ones
And make sure not to miss out on the crystal-clear swimming pool

In our next post (read here), we do the “wet” part of our blog’s name, Wet and Dusty Roads. We are going to take you underwater at Sodwana Bay. Make sure you don’t miss the magical world of marine life underwater!

The monkeys at Sodwana Bay made pretty sure they were not missing out on anything