If you are not too averse to cold water diving then Cape Town and environs has many excellent wreck, seal and kelp dives. Depending on conditions one can dive the Indian or the Atlantic Oceans, and often the site is only decided on the day of diving.
Visibility varies from 1 to 20 meters, and the water temperature in summer is 14 ° C and in winter down to 8 ° C. A dry suit is recommended. The depths vary between 5 and 40 meters and the dives are done either from hard boats, RIBs or by shore entry.
Cape Town, you're diving in chilly but beautiful kelp forests. These, too, are unique. There are three major types, or genera, of kelp, and a short portion of the Western Cape coast is the only place in the world that they all grow together. If you've always shunned cold water diving, consider it.
Sure, you do have to dress up in a great thick wetsuit with constraining hoodie and gloves, but it's worth it. Diving in kelp is like walking in a forest. You float beneath the canopy and admire the surprisingly colourful reef life.
Off Cape Town, divers regularly see anemones in colours ranging from electric blue or deep red to pale pink, nudibranchs of almost every colour you can imagine, and a whole range of small creatures in and around the bright orange and sulphur yellow sponges.
The coast is a graveyard of shipwrecks, most of which met their fate during spectular winter storms and many interesting wreck dives can be done from a boat or from the shore.
Kelp beds are dense and plentiful and take some getting used to. The reef life is spectular. Hard and soft cold-water corals in shades of pale pink, bright purple, red and orange are set off by a background of suplhur-yellow or bright orange sponges, and bright blue, violet or pale green anemones. It is not uncommon for observant divers to be rewarded by the sighting of between five and 15 different species of nudibranchs on one dive.
CAPE PENINSULA: EASTERN SEABOARD
The eastern coast of the Cape Peninsula comprises the western side of False Bay. The area is well populatred with a series of suburbs nestled in between the mountain and the sea.
In winter, the prevailing north-westerly winds bring rain, and celan and flatten the seas the they blow offshore. This is consequently a great time to dive this lovely coast - if you can brave the inclement topside weather. The good road infrastructure makes it easy to reach most of the dives sites from land, and shore dives are the norm.
The water along this side of the bay is always a few degrees warmer than that of the western side of the Peninsula and can reach as high as 18oC (65oF), although it can drop as low as 12oC (54oF). The visibility is usually between 5 and 10m (16 - 33ft) but can reduce to almost zero when the south-easter has been blowing (usually in summer). It can, howver, quite often be a spectacular 30m (100ft) in winter.
CAPE PENINSULA: WESTERN SEABOARD Cape Peninsula
The western seaboard must rate as one of the most scenic areas in the country, wiht spectacular drives along the steep mountain cliffs, leading to superb dive sites which often have excellent visibility in clear, cold water. While some of these sites can only be reached by boat, most are accessible from shore.
Popular Diving Sites in South Africa:
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