Dive Centres Used

Our first contacts in Cape Town were Andrew and Heidi Newby who run Far Side Adventures. Andrew an ex-ad man and documentary filmmaker has been instructing diving for nearly 20 years. He claims to have been amongst the first divers to have penetrated the Produce wreck at Aliwal Shoal and has been involved in many exploratory diving expeditions in Madagascar and all over southern Africa. Far Side Adventures is based in Simonstown - an old Naval Harbour built as an alternative anchorage in False Bay for when the Atlantic Side was inaccessible. A roomy backpackers, bar and pool room is attached to the dive centre with a restaurant, tour operator and language agency on the way. The dive centre itself offers a wide range of speciality courses including NAUI Nitrox and Technical (Trimix) training. As well as local diving around the Cape, Heidi, a registered SATOUR (South African Tour) guide, has extended their underwater guiding to include tailored dive / overland safaris throughout Southern Africa. See their website for more details.

A few of our dives around the Cape Peninsula:
Millers Point Launch - False Bay:Gateway to Smitswinkel Bay Wrecks and a variety of other dive sites
The 5 wrecks in Smitswinkel Bay were purposefully scuttled by the Navy in the early seventies. There are 2 frigates, the Good Hope and Transvaal 2 trawlers Oratava and Princess Elisabeth and the diamond dredger the Rockeater.  The photos taken on the Good Hope (left) depict the marvellous colours of macro life adorning these wrecks. All the wrecks lie at a depth of over 30 meters, making it a site for experienced divers.  Nitrox training is an obvious bonus and if qualified, penetration is an option on some of the wrecks.  We dived the Good Hope on 9th July 2000 and experienced a good 7 metre visibility in a wonderfully eerie light, perfect for wreck diving. As we descended onto this wreck, the dark metal structure of the radio mast loomed from mid-ship like the Eifel Tower in green fog. It immediately drew us towards it for closer inspection. Thinking we'd be able to re-visit this wreck for further exploration, we spent almost the entire dive around the mast which was crammed with colourful life. Lobster hid photogenically in convenient holes in the mast, a variety of Nudibranches were curled up amonst the soft carpets of corals and sponges. Although there was metal somewhere under all that life, it was near impossible to see. Venturing away from the mast towards the end of the dive, there was enough light to see through the cabins to the other side of the ship. Next time, we'll bring our reels and have a good nose about inside.

Plenty of shore diving options around the cape for the hardiest of divers. One stunning and relatively easy shore entry is Pyramid, just after Millers Point.  This is pristine Kelp Forest a few metres off the beach. The vis can be 20 metres (so they keep telling us) but our 5 metres was adequate to get an idea of the abundance of resident life. Graceful tall kelp stipes (stems) rising from 1 - 12 metres until they reached the surface and formed a dark canopy. Life is very different inside these kelp forests. The rocks are covered with brightly coloured sea urchins and the anemones look like sweeties recently spilled across the sandy floor. Some of the chameleon-like cheeky Klipfish seemed to enjoy nipping our masks and chasing our bubbles while others just arranged themselves actractively over the reef waiting for Mark to compose his shot. As we're close to shore here, we saw many of the whelks and sea snails familiar to seashore rock pools. Lots of swim-throughs, long tunnels and caves to explore around the pyramid-shaped rock that marks this site from the shore. A very enjoyable dive. In July 2000, we tried to redive Pyramid but the swells were too big. Instead we dived a popular site called A-Frame which houses similar life as Pyramid. This is where many locals tend to dive as the water is well protected by Millers Point from the sea swells....or so we were told. After stumbling down slippery rocks we tried to time the sets of waves and make a jump for it. Charlie washed up on to dry rock and Mark nearly saw his Subal disappear into the froth. While he rescued his camera, his fin and glove were sucked out by another set. We guessed that this was what they call pre-dive excitement! We decided that perhaps, shore entries were something you have to practice a lot before you begin to enjoy them! The dive itself was a little grim purely from the view of the strong surge, the low visibility and the nagging thought of getting out over those rocks....... judging by the amount of divers that visit, it must be a beautiful dive during calmer conditions. Actually our exit was reasonably elegant in comparison to the entry but during our swim back to shore, we had to negotiate our way through a sea of stunning box jelly fish whose lethal tentacles seemed to always dangle milimetres from the skin around our mouths - the only bit of exposed skin on our bodies.

Partridge Point was another site we managed to fit in before the wind and the rain hit full force. We spent the entire dive being inspected by about 30 seals and watching their playful efforts to either scare or annoy us - maybe they were just being friendly, who knows? Sitting on the sandy bottom at 7 metres, looking up to the light, we watched them rocket down from the surface stopping only inches in front of our faces. Intrigued by the lens, one of them positioned himself in front of it and proceeded to show off, baring his teeth and contorting his body into all shapes just to try and hold himself down. Needing to breathe, he floated up to the surface, only to come straight down and start all over again. One of the very large males decided a couple of times to show us who was boss. He approached Charlie quite slowly, and as she started to move back he made a sharp dart forward almost lunging and menacingly burped in her face! Charlie started laughing and the bubbles from her regulator seemed to make the seal mimmick as he seemed to let some bubbles escape from his mouth whenever she did.

THE ATLANTIC SIDE: Not through anyones fault but the perversity of the wind, we tried in vain to find good conditions to dive the Atlantic side before the calendar forced our departure northwards in November 99. The wind did not blow in our favour and we ended up in 1-2 metres of visibility on our last few dives. Di's Cracks was the only site to give us a good idea of what the diving can be like in the Atlantic.

The surge was unfortunately too strong for any good wide angle shots so we'll just have to describe the dramatic scenery. A sharp pinnacle at 13metres drops onto a plateau of kelp at about 18m. Walls of sponges, anemones, nudibranches drop further into gulleys and caves. The Atlantic water was ice cold, the vis about 8-10metres and the topography and colours reminded us very much of diving in Ireland. Playful and very inquisitive seals seemed to enjoy not just the jacuzzi our bubbles created but also the strong, erratic surge. On the surface, Andrew was saying the water seemed to be acting strangely. The boat was being swung around in no particular pattern but the anchor line was vertical suggesting no pull by any current. Every now and then a huge swell would pass through and that is when we felt it under water. At one point, after swimming through a narrow gulley into a cave, Charlie disappeared from vision after being pulled dramatically backwards through the gulley up 5 metres onto the kelp plateau. Her instinct was to grab hold of a piece of sturdy kelp to stop herself being dragged further upwards too fast. The kelp bounced her around like a rodeo bull and she just had to hang on until it stopped. Once the swell had passed through, she shakily made her way quickly back through the gulley to Mark, **Rob and Di to assure them she was OK....though a bit dazed and wide-eyed. The surge calmed down after that, but we've since been told that it's a pretty common occurence - you just have to go with it and hope for the best.

** Rob Erasmus of Enviro Divers is an experienced marine biologist who offers environmental courses on the local marine habitats specialising in underwater photography and *Nudibranches. During the summer months, he also runs activity programs for local kids.  Di Froude, a leading Cape Town CMAS instructor is a Brit who came over to South Africa for one year and has remained for the last twenty. She has a full-time career but manages to dedicate her 'spare' time to the ocean through teaching and working as a regular volunteer in the 2 Oceans Aquarium. She lends her name to the dive site - Di's Cracks as described above.

*See BBC Animalzone website - for an insight into the intriguing world of the Nudibranch (sea slugs) - accompanying pictures by Rob Erasmus.

The spectacular mountain scenery on the boat ride to and from all the dive sites all around the Cape should be enough to entice any Brit. Beats Plymouth Harbour anyday!