Our drive to Vilankulo went rather smoothly, although we started suffering from the slight side-effects from the anti-malaria pills we decided we ought to start taking, given the number of mosquito bites we have begun to accumulate. So far the side-effects haven't been too bad, just the slight feeling of nausea, the occasional headache and a persistent feeling of lethargy. We're not letting it get us down though!
Vilankulo is another seaside town, but a bit larger and more bustling than Tofo. We found a lovely resort to stay in with clean, comfortable rooms with air-conditioning right by the beach. Unfortunately, however, the weather took a turn for the worse, so we spent the first day and half exploring the town and watching movies on our laptop. We found an internet cafe to catch up on emails and our blog and booked a dhow (boat) trip to go snorkelling in Magaruque, the closest island in the Bazaruto archipelago, for the following day. The weather forecast wasn't great, but as long as the sea wasn't too choppy and there wasn't much rain, the trip would go ahead.
We were up bright and early the next morning and the weather wasn't too bad so we headed out. We motored to the island in about an hour where we were dropped off by the reef and snorkelled for the best part of an hour. It was a nice experience, though the current was quite strong so you couldn't spend long looking at each area of the reef. We then spent a couple of hours on the island (together with another couple who were on our trip), with a fresh fish lunch cooked for us, chatting and walking on the beach before heading back.
We sailed on the way back, so it took a lot longer, and unfortunately, seasickness got the better of me towards the end. Not a great end to a good day, but it was still a nice experience.
We spent the next day deciding whether to continue further up the coast or to stay a bit longer in Vilankulo and do another boat trip, this time to the well-renowned two mile reef, which is meant to be the most spectacular reef in the Bazaruto archipelago for diving and snorkelling. You can only reach this reef by speedboat on a day trip, and we managed to find a company that was going out the following day so we booked ourselves another place to stay for the weekend and went on the trip. The weather had improved and we had sunshine for the most part of the day. The first stop was Benguerra island, with beautiful white sand beaches (and a few exclusive resorts). We got our snorkelling briefing (there were 7 of us) and headed out to the part of the reef known as the 'aquarium'. Once we got there, we immediately understood the nickname. It was beautiful! All the live coral and the hundreds of different types of fish swimming around you. We spent about half an hour snorkelling in the 'aquarium', but the tide was so low that it was hard to avoid the coral (I got a nice scrape on one knee), so we were taken to another two places, but there was much less to see.
We then headed off to Bazaruto island where we had a few hours to have lunch, swim and chill on the beach.
Just before heading back, Joost was having a conversation with the skipper of our speedboat, and he let Joost drive the boat back to Vilankulo (a 45min ride). Joost's experience working for the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) shone through and he safely brought us back to shore through choppy waters. This time, no seasickness, great snorkelling, good weather and all in all a lovely day out.
Sunday was a day of rest, catching up on emails and planning the next leg of our trip. And it was decided, a little further up the coast we go...
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