Western Province Scuba Diving

For the fans of wreck diving, the Cape Town area has a particularly strong offering, with a large number of shipwrecks in the waters of Cape Town and False Bay. In particular, The Smitswinkel Bay Wrecks is a dive site worth making the effort to go and see. Here, five ships were scuttled by the Navy in the 1970's to form an artificial reef system (The SAS Transvaal, SAS Good Hope, Rockeater, Princess Elizabeth and the Oratava). When the visibility is good, it is even possible to see all five of the Smitswinkel Bay wrecks at once. Nowadays, good amounts of coral and sponges can be found on the wrecks, and you will normally find a good amount of fish life on the wrecks on the surrounding sands. There are a number of excellent dive operators in Cape Town, and the majority of them will offer scuba diving in False Bay as a part of their packages.

Divers who are looking for something slightly more unusual can consider visiting the famous fur seals colonies surrounding Cape Town, and site such as Duiker Island provide an excellent opportunity to both dive and snorkel with these playful creatures. Once the fur seals of South Africa were an endangered species, however their numbers have now recovered somewhat, and it is estimated that there are over 2 million fur seals living in the waters surrounding Cape Town.

Outside of Cape Town, further down at Hermanus, it is also worth taking some time to watch the annual migration of Southern Right Whales, as they inhabit the bay whilst they calve. Each year, large numbers of whales migrate here, and during the months of June to November, up to 1,500 Southern Right Whales can be found in the Hermanus Bay area. Due to their protected status, it is impossible to dive with the whales, and you are in fact prohibited to go within 300 metres of them. However, spending some time on the cliffs in Hermanus, watching this awesome spectacle is a great experience, and on certainly worth making the trip down there for.

It would not be possible to look at the diving opportunities in and around Cape Town and the Western Cape, and not mention the cage diving with the Great White Shark. In and around the Gansbaai area, there are a multitude of shark diving companies, and each day they take large numbers of people out to see, and dive with the Great White Sharks. The majority of these boats take people to the waters surrounding Geyser and Dyer Islands, are known as Shark Alley.

Here, the large colonies of seals attract the Great White Sharks in larger numbers than found elsewhere, and they are slowly attracted to the boats over number of hours by a process known as chumming. When the Great White sharks arrive, divers are slowly lowered into the water, in cages which are attached to the side of the boats, from where they can view the Great Whites as they cruise around the boats. South Africa was the first country globally to give the Great White Shark protected status, and there is constantly a debate between the various parties as to the morals and ethics of cage diving with sharks. What cannot be disputed however, is that the Great White Shark is one of the earth's truly awesome creatures, and seeing one in the flesh, either from a boat or in a cage, is an experience you are unlikely to forget.