Where to start with this trip? It was great. In the last week of August we had our spring break and a group of 14 of us took a big overland truck the 35 hours from Cape Town to Tofo beach in Mozambique. After driving through the first night (we had hired drivers, so we just relaxed), we spent the second evening in the capital city Maputo and drove the next day to Fatima's Nest Backpackers in Tofo, where we spent the remainder of the week. The drive itself was not as bad as you might think, and allowed me to really see some African countryside, especially in Mozambique where you are lucky if a road is paved outside a city center. Oh, and incidentally, Mozambique is a former Portuguese colony and so Portuguese remains the primary language, so I got to see how much of that I remembered. The place we stayed was basic, but nice, and about 50 yards from the ocean. As such, shoes and shirts were unnecessary, as were showers (the ocean is clean...). Most of my days were occupied with diving starting in the morning, followed by the beach or some excursion in the afternoon, then relaxing until dinner and hanging out around a fire until bed time. As for the diving, it was unbelievable! On multiple dives we saw enormous manta rays (10 ft wingspans) that came close enough to touch, and the reefs and fish were beautiful. We also saw lots of whales and dolphins on the drives to and from the dive sights, and one time got to jump in and snorkel with the humpbacks! It was incredible to see these enormous animals so close, as I could actually FEEL them swimming in the water and pushing me away as they swiped their tails. It was such an amazing, unique experience. Overall the trip to Mozambique was everything I wanted it to be. It was a great group of people and the trip was so culturally enriching as well as fun. It was truly unforgetable.