Diving In South Africa

[scubby]

Hi there you fellow divers

All I here is divers diving everywhere else except SOUTH AFRICA come on guys and girls,we have one of the best coast lines to dive,you name it we got it.Ask any diver which hase dived in our waters.Make an effort and come experience it for your self or write about your experiences in SOUTH AFRICA or MOZAMBIQUE.

THANKS
SCUBBY

 

[Stephan Whelan]

I Agree

I agree!

Come on people, let's hear about Diving in SA and Mozambique - SA is somewhere i've always wanted to dive.

What about you Scubby? Have you got any good experiences you'd like to share?

 

[snorklebum]

Gawd, I´d love to. Is it true there is good diving right in town in Capetown? How good is it, Johhny?

 

[Abriapnea]

I have been diving in S.A. for 19 years ,10 of those working in Sodwana Bay ,our premier dive destination , located app. 80 km. south of the Mozamiqan border.
Summer water temp. : 27 C.
Winter : 21 C
Visibility ranges from 10 - 30 m.
We have 5 regularly dived reefs , the most accesible , 2- Mile reef is 1.8 km. long and .8 km wide.
All the typical Indian Ocean corals can be found here as well as the tropical fish.However fish from our more temperate southern coast also abound , giving a variety of fish I have not seen elsewhere.
Things you can expect to see :
Humpback whales
Whale sharks - average 7-9 m.
Turtles
Mantas
Dolphins
LOTS of sharks
Brindle Bass - up to 200 kg.
Marlin
Plenty for macro enthusiasts.
The resort is situated in a nature reserve with lots of opportunities to go on game drives
Plus lots more!

 

[balmain]

sth Africa

recently discovered that I'm off to a place called East London in Sth.Africa in August(my dear ol' brothers marrying out there) should I bring my diving gear?any places of interest I should know about?

 

[Nico]

Hiya,

SUGGEST YOU TRY THIS EXCELLENT NEW wEB-SITE ON S.AFRICA DIVING. Lots of great info here.

www.divesouthafrica.com

Good luck,
Nick

 

[SAFishShooter]

Dive Sites on the West Coast

Hi

I'm new in here. First Post.
Been doing Spearfishing for about 7 months.
Dive a lot of crayfish and perlemoen (Abelone).
There are a lot of places to dive on the West Coast.

Usually the water is too dirty for spearfishing but sometimes you get lucky and get about 5 Meter's vis. Once and only once I could see 10 M. It was stunning.

On the West Coast:

Strandfontein, DoornBaai +- 350 KM from Cape Town on the N7. Lot's of crayfish, The West Coast Type (Jasus Llandi, or something like that) Really big ones. The biggest one i've seen was 22 cm Front carcapce. Looked like a rugby ball.

Bit further down the Coast Elands Bay, Lamberts Bay. Elands Bay is THE Crayfish Mecca of the whole wide world. This is the place where the crayfish walk out of the sea on to the beach during red tide. This year it was about 160 tons.

If you dive here and the water is a bit clean +-3m you see only a red carpet. This is how the crayfish are here. You litterally go down and take out your qouta of 4 crayfish in one breath.

On one weekend my brother and I had a competetion to see how much we can take out in an Hour. We took out about 100. We returned them to the sea of course.

I will add on to this when I have more time.

Cheers Reinier

Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing.

 

[SAFishShooter]

Sorry can you move this previous post to freediving Wrong place First Timer

 

[SASpearo]

SAFishsooter ...

You just wait till I get back to Cape Town .... then I'll show you some good spearing spots. I'm in Durb's at teh moment, looks like I'm gonna miss the run by about a week. Gonna do some driving down to hibberdene / Scottburough / Margate tomorrow, teh sards have been reported off Margate .....

Will keep you posted.
PS: The thread's in the right place ...

 

[SAFishShooter]

Hi SaSpearo

How was Aliwal Shoal? What do you think the sea is going to be like around Cape Town and the West Coast this weekend.
I got this from Weather SA

WEST COAST OF WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE, LAMBERT'S BAY TO YZERFONTEIN
12 12/16 Showers and thundershowers (70%). Wind: Fresh northwesterly.
13 09/17 Showers mainly afternoon (50%). Wind: Fresh northwesterly.
14 04/18 Fine. Wind: Moderate westerly.
15 06/18 Partly cloudy becoming cloudy. Wind: Moderate westerly.
16 06/19 Fine. Wind: Moderate northeasterly.
17 06/18 Partly cloudy becoming cloudy. Wind: Moderate westerly.
18 03/20 Partly cloudy. Wind: Moderate northwesterly.

But I still don't know how it is going to Impact the sea conditions.
All I know the North Easterley is a good thing Right ?

Planning to shoot some fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers
Reinier

 

[SASpearo]

Should be OK ....

Sunday or Monday should be fine for diving off Cape Point ....

Didn't get to go to Aliwal, the weather kept us off the boats - did one or two shore dives that were pretty good though.

Check www.wavescape.co.za for surf conditions - if the waves are gonna be over 4" at Cape point it won't be worth it. I might make it out Monday afternoon, my folks are coming to visit for the weekend ... sigh.

Try either buffels bay or rooikrans - swim the stretch between the two gullies area and rooikrans, or if you wanna climb down rather than up, swim from rooikrans to buffels bay beach - once past the two gullies keep to the kelp wall, there's about 8m of water, lots of tail around there .... rooikrans has got some HUGE brushers waiting to be pegged - you can see them from the viewpoint up top ....

Lekka - I reckon I'm gonna make a plan for Monday.

PS: Water's gonna be COLD after Durbs ... he he he

 

[SAFishShooter]

I'm planning to go to Tieties bay (Close to Paternoster) this weekend. Lots of hotties around there. Might make it out to Rooiels on Monday though.
I've heard the galjoen are going crazy there.

Where is Rooi Krans ? And buffels bay. I know Rooiels. Is it around there or is it near Kommetjie?
Thanks for the Reply

 

[SASpearo]

They're both inside the Cape Point Nature reserve

Quite well marked on the roads and the map you get at the gate. The two gullies lies between the two, it's a 2km walk from either end, but most guys walk from Buffels Bay .... There's a nice grassy area and picninc spots as well, so you can braai your catch on return ....

Only crap thing is they charge you entry fee for the park - I think it's about R15 plus R10 fishing permit - which you need for spearing as well. Otherwise you can use your year card - if you've got one. They go for +- R75 and lets you in for free for a year.

You'd be nuts to go to Rooiels now - BIG sharks have been sighted there in the last month or so - some guys claimed that they saw the 'Submarine' in the area as well ..... I'd leave that area alone untill spring - rather do Cape Point / Millers (there's one or two nice spots there as well) or go up the west coast. Or even Arniston - some nice tail's been coming out there as well.

 

[The Fury]

Morning all!

Me and two of my buddies are going to be in Durban from 4th July until 4th August. We will be doing SCUBA, snorkelling, freediving, sightseeing, visiting relatives and maybe safari as well.

Can anyone recommend any goo spots for snorkelling/freediving? We will be staying at seafever lodge on the Aliwal shoal for the first two weeks and then moving between umkomaas, Carrington heights and pinetown for the second two weeks.

Also, I've been told that there has never been a recorded incident of shark attack on a SCUBA diver in the area. I'm sure the same is not true of surfers so if we do any surfing it will be in netted areas.
Question: What about shark attacks on snorkellers? Does the amount of time spent on the surface make us prone to attack from sharks for the same reason as surfers i.e. mistaken for a seal or some other typical shark snack?

One last thing, if anyone in durban area fancies hooking up with 3 English buddies for snorkelling/freediving/SCUBA, let me know!

Hope to hear from you soon!

 

[SAFishShooter]

Hi Fury

I read a bit about sharks and stuff. I like to know what I'm getting into... or hoping to stay out of.

This is quite a good link to check out

http://www.wavescape.co.za/top_bar/tidings/Sharks/sharkpage.html

Cheers Reinier

 

[SASpearo]

Shark nets in KZN

Remember that they lift most of the nets in Kwazulu Natal during the annual sardine run !

 

[The Fury]

Thanks for the info Spearo and Fishshooter!

 

[SAFishShooter]

Hi All

Last time I stopped at ElandsBay. Now to cover a bit more of the West Coast of South Africa where I've dived.

Tieties Bay and Paternoster.
+- 250 Km from Cape Town.



TietiesBay

This is a camping area with no houses or chalets. There is running water and toilets.
This is quite a nice place to dive. There is a lot of cray's and abelone.
When the water is nice and clear you can also spear here.
Bronze Bream and Galjoen are the two main species around here.

The one time I was there and the water was clear enough for spearfishing it was amazing. You would dive in about 7 to 10 m of water. I would go down quickly and 1 to 2 m from the botom I would turn around and swim backwards. A huge school of bream would be following you I would say about a 100. You then just lie on your back and look for the biggest one. You can also throw sand up. (wanted to say in the air but wouldn't work hey)
They will come to investigate this and now you pick the biggest and let it fly.
I shot 7 fishes that were in the 2.5 and 3.5 Kg range untill my wishbone broke.
Paternoster has a great hotel and is well worth the visit. The owner has displayed photos of his biggest catches on all the walls. Very interesting. Even more are the playboy centerfolds.

About 15 km from there is Trek-Os-Kraal. There is nice crayfish around here but you will need a 4x4 or absolutely hate your car.
Also a nice camping area.

Sahldana

+-200Km from Cape Town

The Sahldana area is next this includes Jakobsbaai.
There is some great crayfish and abelone diving to be had here. This is the place I took out my biggest ablone up to date. It was 2.5 KG AFTER being cleaned. HUGE.
There is also limited opertunity for spearing.

Langebaan

+-200Km from Cape Town

Langebaan is next on the list and I can't tell you how the diving is here because every time I was there I was to busy partying with the locals to worry about getting in the water. The lagune is also perfect for skiing and for other watersports. The fishing isn't bad Either. There are a few pubs here that must be visited. There is two next to each other that are really on the beach.
Club Mykanos is also a great Tourist attraction here. It is a casino with a weekend village around it. All the rich blokes from Cape Town own houses there. sic

Melkbos Strand

20 km from Cape Town

Melkbos Strand is also a favourite place of mine to dive. It is about 20 Km from my house so if I want to bunk work on some afternoons I'm there. Nice diving for Crayfish and ablone. Also a great place for spearing bronze Bream and other fish.
The main place to dive is reef that runs paralell with the beach.
It is about 100m into the sea. A bit overfished but a nice place.
There is also a few nice pubs thats deserve a mention.
On the beach and very calming. Nice place for sundowners.
Also a nice place for surfers.
This is also where the marine reserve starts. No crayfish diving or ablone allowed for 20 to 30 KM.
Pitty. I once put on a mask and crawled around in water that was waist deep in front of Blue Peter (another pub). This is where I saw the biggest crayfish of my life. A dammed shame I couldn't take them out.

Time to go home
Will add more when I have time

Cheers Reinier

 

[SAFishShooter]

This is a very simple map of the Places I've been describing.
Not drawn to scale.

 

[SAFishShooter]

Hi

Next Installment.

This time I move to around Cape Point and start at Gordon's Bay.
I've never really dived @ Cape Point etc so ask SASPEARO to describe this.

When you leave Gordon's Bay along the mountain road towards Hermanus you will pass several places that is great diving spot's.

First up is Rooi-Els. This is one of my favourite diving spots. There are a lot of crayfish and fish. There is a few ablone but not worthwhile to dive if you are looking for them.
The point of the bay is the place where I usually dive. There is a lot of kelp and there are a lot of crayfish here. The point is also protected from the waves by a little rock inland wich means that you can dive here even if the sea is a bit rough. In the kelp you will find crayfish and octupuss. There is also a little bay between the 2 pieces of kelp that has a lot of mullet, bronze bream, white stupnose and galjoen. At low tide the water is about 2 M deep but you can still make excelent catches here.
Just on the other side of the point the sea is a lot deeper. About 7 to 10 m. There is a lot of galjoen and bronze bream here. Also sharks, wich is probably why I dived on that side only once.

Next up is Pringle Bay and Hangklip. Nice bronze bream and galjoen bat A LOT of sharks. Not my favorite place either.

Betty's bay is next on the list and is a diving Mecca. Safe bay. Plenty sea life and sometimes the most amazing clear water.
There is also a lot of inspectors around so make sure that you measure and count your catch BEFORE you get out of the water. They won't believe you if you say you wanted to measure your catch on the side. Trust me.

This is the favorite excuse of the Ablone smugglers who are making life difficult for all of us recreational divers. These okes take out hundreds of kilo's of ablone from this area. Rumours has it that the ablone season will not open for the next 3 to 7 years to give the ablone chance to increase in numbers. I'm doubtfull that this will work because these okes have a system that makes it very difficult to catch and prosecute.
Because of this the normal bloke on the street will not be able to eat this excelent food for a while. And it SUCKS.

Betty's Bay has a lot of fish such as Red Steenbras ,galjoen, bronze breams, and other fish. You will also see rays. Small shatks also frequent here. Haven't seen any sharks here that made me walk on the water...Yet.

Cheers

Reinier