Mark Reaches 80 in Mozambique!

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Ha … number of countries visited that is (79 for Shauna). Since we were so close, we thought we’d hop over to Mozambique to check it out; well… after flying to Johannesburg, spending the night at the Joburg Airport Intercontinental Hotel (works great if you don’t have time to go into town or enjoy a boutique hotel), and flying to Vilanculos the next day, that is. But the travel was worth it for our gorgeous resort there, Santorini Mozambique. Again, thanks to #khashanatravel for this excellent recommendation.

  • We drove through the town of Vilanculos on our way to Santorini Resort.
  • Which we reached after leaving the pavement of the town and making a short drive on sandy roads. Santorini is managed by an absolutely lovely South African couple, Jason and Steegan. It was obvious to us that they are doing a great job because the service levels of the staff were consistently superb.
  • Santorini is a beautiful resort perched on a hillside above a wide beach and shallow water.
  • We waded out to a boat for a sunset cruise. The red cliffs in the background…
  • …were stunning up close.
  • We were happy to be on the water…..
  • …and the sandbar (in the middle of the bay) which appears at low tide.
  • As the sun disappeared over the horizon, we were teased with the beginnings of a beautiful sunset.
  • We weren’t disappointed.
  • The next day, we took off for a snorkeling trip to the outer reef. We were pleasantly surprised by the excellent condition of the reef – called Two Mile Reef. Lots of good color and an abundance of tropical fish.
  • On the way out, we passed by beachfront resorts on one of the barrier islands off the coast.
  • After snorkeling, we made our way to one of the barrier islands with orange colored sand dunes.
  • It also boasts a small flock of flamingos, which we walked toward in the hope that they would fly.
  • I guess they decided that they could walk in the deep sand faster than we could. The sand on this particular beach was wet and deep – we were sinking about 6″ with each step. Good quad exercises.
  • Our Santorini guides did a great job of setting up a picnic for us, complete with tent, beach chairs, food and drink.
  • We were pampered.
  • As we left the island, these kids were taking off in a Dhow, a ubiquitous type of boat in this part of the world. We estimated that the oldest was no more than 8 or 9 and the youngest looked to be about 5 or 6.
  • This is what a local Dhow looks like after the mast is raised and the boom/spar attached.
  • We had a lovely dinner overlooking the bay. The food at Santorini was superb.
  • And while we didn’t get close to the flamingos, one of us did get up close and personal with a peacock.
  • We enjoyed another gorgeous sunset.
  • The next day, we left at 5:30 am to try our luck at fishing. Unfortunately, the fish weren’t biting so we didn’t have a lot of luck. But it was a great last day, because later on…..
  • ….the weather turned really nasty with heavy rain and sustained winds in the neighborhood of 40 mph. It was a good finale to a relaxing couple of days.

While we don’t see a return to Mozambique in our future – and we wouldn’t choose it over most of the other beach/tropical places we’ve visited – we enjoyed our time at Santorini, and it’s always interesting to visit a new place.

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