Tofo

There is no shore diving at Tofo. Every dive begins with an inflatable pushed down the sand and driven out through the break, divers sitting on the pontoons and holding the straps while the skipper picks his moment between sets. A launch is normally a two-tank morning: a run along the coast, a roll entry and a quick descent onto the reef, then a surface interval offshore before the second dive. Snorkel-based ocean safaris run separately, looking for animals holding at the surface.

The reefs are rock rather than coral garden. Sandstone ledges and pinnacles lie parallel to the coast, cut by sand channels and coated in sponge, plate coral and sea fans. They rise off sand and shelve deeper the further out you go, so sites sort themselves by distance from the beach: the inshore reefs are shallower and busier with small fish, while the outer ones sit closer to 30 m, take more current, and are where the larger animals pass.

A manta dive is mostly an exercise in stillness. You settle low on the sand or the reef edge beside a cleaning station, stay off the coral heads the cleaner wrasse work from, and let the animals choose the distance; swimming at one ends the encounter for everybody. Whale sharks work differently again, since they are usually spotted from the boat while feeding at the surface, which makes those meetings a snorkel drop rather than a dive.

It suits divers willing to trade comfort for animals. Surge, current, wet boat rides and plankton-green days all come with it, and no single dive is a guarantee, so the case for Tofo is made over a week rather than an afternoon. Manta and whale shark research has been based in the village for years, and operators will often pass identification photographs on to the regional catalogues, which gives even a mediocre frame some use.