South Africa! Woo hoo!

[The Fury]

Hi there!

I am going to be in Durban from the 4th July to the 4th August. The first two weeks will mostly be spent doing SCUBA diving off the Aliwal shoal but I would love to do as much snorkelling/freediving as possible.

If anyone can recommend a good place for this then that would be really cool. Or if anyone would like to hook up with some English buddies to go diving with then that would be even better!

I've been told that SCUBA diving has an excellent record for safety from shark attack whereas surfing does not. If I surf, I will be sure to stay in netted areas but does anyone know how safe snorkelling is? Common sense would tell me that the danger is higher than SCUBA because a lot of time is spent on the surface where a shark is more likely to mistake you for a seal or something. But I don't think that the netted areas will be any good for snorkelling, will they?

Well, I hope to hear back from someone soon!

Cheers.

 

[Griff]

KZN diving

to the Furry Englishmen

If you want to dive in KZN area then i know a few spots north of durban that are pretty cool for freediving, it just depends on your skill level. are you planning on spearfishing? i'd show you the spots if you like, if i'm able to sort out my equipment woes by then.

at the moment i think that the best reef to freedive is called tiffanies reef, off salt rock (a town 50kms north of durban) the reef starts off the backline (4m) and runs out to 20m+. a lot of diving can be done in less than 10m of water. the reef is big and flat and can be boring if you stick to the centre, but the edges and dropoffs are realy cool. there are a lot of soft corals and sponges, a lot of reef fish and i've also regularly seen turtles, dolphins and big rays. one day there was a humpback whale feeding 50m off the shore. another advantage is that its generally the cleanest spot on the coast, but the sidewash can be pretty strong.

the whole stretch of coast has a reef that runs parallel to the shore, usually in 10m+ and 150m offshore. other good spots are westbrook and la mercy, if you can get it clean.

as far as sharks are concerned, i think that they are around, but you hardly ever see them, especially if you are just freediving.
still, i'd feel safer with a speargun, just in case...

cheers

Mark

 

[The Fury]

Cheers Griff. Some good info there. I am extremely excited about this holiday. Well, if you think you would be able to show us some spots then that would be really cool! You will have to let us have some contact details before we leave.

Well, speak to you soon!

 

[SAFishShooter]

cool site for info

hi Fury

You can check out this website for some great info about spearfishing in Natal.

http://www.spearfishingsa.co.za/

It also has some usefull tips on hunting common fish in Natal and also has some very nice mouth-watering photos of catches that has been made.

Enjoy your trip to SA

Reinier