Maputo - Docking
Anchorages:
If just making a brief stop here to wait out strong winds, then there is a useful anchorage at approximately 25° 57.6’S, 032° 31.4’E.
Anchoring close to the Yacht Club is difficult for monohulls as the water is shallow within 200m of the Club. In strong easterlies and southerlies, you get a wave bouncing off the wall of the Club, creating uncomfortable conditions in front of this wall when the wind is strong.
The Club has reciprocity with some worldwide Clubs and offers reasonable services for visiting sailors including a restaurant, swimming pool, changing rooms and a safe place to park the dinghy. The guards can call a reputable taxi to assist with immigration, shopping etc.
As of 2016, there are two catamarans moored permanently on swinging moorings, with their sterns tied to the inside walls of the Club. There is space here for an additional visiting catamaran that can stand on its keels in the spring lows (thick mud base, not stone or hard sand).
Alternative Anchorages:
Southerlies create the worst sea conditions in Maputo Bay and tend to bring rain as well. Summer ( August–April) is the worst season for strong southerlies (30 knots +). As the bay is so shallow, these create a nasty short chop which can rise to 1.5m making conditions in the bay very uncomfortable.
Xefina Island
This is the closest Island to the City of Maputo and is the safest place to sit out a Southerly (photo courtesy of Mike F). There is a small hook to the island which is not well shown on the charts but gives one the best protection from the southerly seas. There is nothing on the island.
Portuguese Island
This is on the Northern Western side of Inhaca Island. The cruise ships from South Africa frequent this island and have established a ground infrastructure for only their purposes on the island. The beach is spectacular and it gives you good protection from a northerly wind. There is close to 16m of water within 5m of the beach on the South Western side of the island. There are no rocks to worry about close to the island and the shallow regions are all sand based.
Inhaca Island
Inhaca Island has a full-time maritime office and a small village (+-5000 local inhabitants on the island). There are a small market and restaurant in the village where one can buy limited vegetables and day to day needs. There is also an ATM (Barclays Bank) in the village.
There are NO immigration facilities on the island.
There is a good anchorage near the village. It has cell phone reception and airtime and data etc. can be bought on the island. There is a local 650m runway on the island.
The southern outer tip of Inhaca Island has a 100m wide channel between itself and the mainland. This entrance channel is locally known as “HELLS GATE” as in spring tides with high seas and strong winds you can have 3m waves breaking in the mouth. This is NOT the recommended route into the channel and to Santa Maria, but it can be done when the weather is calm and the sea is flat. At the height of the tide shift, there can be a 5-6 knot current flowing in or out of this channel, so it should only be those with local knowledge to avoid mishaps.
Santa Maria
The safest way to get to Santa Maria from Inhaca (from the village area) is to head south until the southern tip of Inhaca Island and follow the channel. The channel is not suitable for monohulls. It is a natural, sandy channel and is wrong on both Garmin and Navionics maps, but more accurate on Google Earth. The channel should only be attempted by catamarans with a draft of up to 1.5m, and then only 1 hour either side of high tide.
The channel on average takes 1 hour from the southern tip of Inhaca to Santa Maria but is quite spectacular with a small fishing village, flamingos and ancient fishing techniques, where poles are placed in the shallows and nets placed between the poles waiting for the tide to drop to trap the fish.
The channel leads to a section of the sea which divides the Island from the mainland. There are some private houses and lodges on Santa Maria, which is the mainland tips name.
Last updated: January 2017
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Related to following destinations: Maputo, Mozambique
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