We did not quite reach the wrinkly finger clean and cold diving conditions we were hoping for this week. We have launched on every diveable day this week, but the water has remained at around 14 degrees and the visibility between 4 and 8 metres. After the dives today I ran around the bay looking for cleaner water but did not find much. There is some south easterly wind tomorrow which will not be a great help. I am out on Saturday for a private charter but plan to dive on Sunday if there is viz.
Text or email me if you’d like to keep in the loop about Sunday’s dive plans.
We have had a busy week and False Bay has been really good. We have dived mostly wrecks this week but did go and look for cowsharks yesterday (no luck). All in all we have had good viz, very little wind and enough sun to warm almost everyone. This picture was taken today at Long Beach and we were doing a Rescue course. Hardly stressful conditions.
Long Beach today
The weekend has some swell in the forecast with winds from all directions so it will be a hit and miss affair. There is a lot of dark water around and most of it close to Rocky Bank.
We will plan to shore dive on Sunday. I will choose the site later on Saturday afternoon. Text or email me if you want to dive.
False Bay currently has a few experts really puzzled as there are no signs of any sharks anywhere. No cowsharks have been seen for a few weeks and not a single great white shark has been seen at Seal Island for close to three weeks. An area close to Cape Point that is often frequented by gully sharks, has also been barren of sharks lately. If anyone knows more or has a theory founded on facts and logic, I would love to hear it.
Both False Bay and Hout Bay look the same as far as water colour and viz are concerned. The water is not as clean and crisp as it has been for the last two weeks but it is still pretty good.
My wife goes everywhere with me
Dive planning
My plan is to shore dive on Saturday, most likely at Long Beach as the swell we have today tapers for the weekend but it does linger into Saturday. The harbour wall shelters Long Beach really well. Sunday will be touch and go (for me) in False Bay with the wind, so I think we will be better off in Hout Bay as there is less wind and very little swell.
Sunday is Mothers’ Day so for the first launch you can dive with us for free if you are a mother. We will go to Tafelberg Reef for a shallow dive. It will not be necessary to show war wounds, tell scary hospital stories or bring the actual child along (although if they are old enough to learn to dive, we should talk). We will believe you if you say you are a mom. No T’s but C’s do apply . (C stands for Clare and she will check your story.)
As usual, text or email if you want to dive on either day.
We are having a great run of exceptional diving. The daytime temperatures are still above 20 degrees, the visibility is in the double digits and so is the water temperature. The viz has improved all week and is currently 15- 20 metres depending on who is looking. One of the divers on the boat today shot some video on the SAS Transvaal where you can see a huge amount of the wreck in the clean water. The second dive was to Roman Rock and it was even cleaner.
On Sunday we will launch from Simon’s Town at 9.00 and 12.00 and dive the pillars just off Ark Rock and then Tivoli Pinnacles. Text or email me if you want to dive.
Permits, permits, permits!
Don’t forget to bring your permit to dive in a marine protected area on the boat. If you don’t have one, you need to take your ID document and about R150 to the post office and ask for a “scuba diving permit”.
Mozambique trip
There are a couple of places left on our trip, which leaves on 28 June and returns 4 July. Consider joining us for some warm water coral reef diving – let me know if you want more information. Booking closes mid May, so think quick!
We were able to get in the water twice over the Easter weekend: really early on Saturday in False Bay before the wind, and then again on Monday. Monday turned out to be a great day with very little wind. It was however cold, 9 -10 degrees, and we dived the BOS 400, Tafelberg Reef and the seals out of Hout Bay.
Saturday’s dives were interesting but perhaps not fun in the conventional sense of the word – we two back to back at Shark Alley so a film crew could visit the cowsharks. There was not a cowshark to be seen until the end of the second dive, when the divers encountered two dead sharks with what looked like extensive bite marks all down their bodies. We sent the pictures to one of the local scientists running the sevengill cowshark project in False Bay. She observed that the sharks had not been dead long (their eyes were intact, and these would be the first thing to be nibbled by fish), and that the absence of hooks and typical treatment by fishermen suggested that humans were not involved.
Monday launch in Hout Bay, with burned mountains behind us
Weekend plans
This weekend shows great potential for good clean water almost everywhere. There is no swell forecast, and light winds. On Saturday we are supporting Ned Denison at the Robben Island Freedom Swim so there is no diving planned.
On Monday we are supporting the Swim for Hope around Cape Point, so we are making up for all the windy days that have stopped us taking the boat out this summer.
Mozambique trip
We will need to close bookings for the trip at the end of April. There are three spots still available – let me know if you want more information. We’re away from 28 June until 4 July, traveling via Durban.
Text me or reply to this mail if you want to dive.
We did not manage any diving last weekend as the boat was scheduled to launch in Gordon’s Bay for the Aqualung Fun Day on Saturday but we were cancelled on Friday evening because of bad visibility on that side. Sunday was a howling south easter day so no diving was done.
This weekend has a forecast similar to last weekend but with a few differences. The 3 metre swell that is in every forecast does not appear to be around as the Atlantic wave buoy registers 2 metre swell at the moment and False Bay was relatively flat today. The wind is another matter… There is however less wind on Saturday, so an early launch in Hout Bay is on the cards. We will dive the BOS 400and Tafelberg Reef. Sunday will be too windy for my kind of diving.
Thanks very much to Jerrel for this week’s photo – taken two weekends ago on a dive to Roman Rock.
Silvertip nudibranch at Roman Rock, by Jerrel van Beek
Mozambique trip
There is still space on the Mozambique trip (28 June – 4 July). Remember to book your flights if you’ve decided to join us – get more info from Clare. That is how you will confirm your spot.
An observant visitor to the promenade between Mouille Point and Green Point may notice something man-made sticking out of the ocean, less than 100 metres from shore. This artifact is the iron engine block of the Royal Mail Steamer Athens, which ran aground here in the great north westerly gale of 17 May 1865. Seventeen ships were wrecked during this colossal gale – reports of the events of that day (including a mention of the Athens) can be seen in this historical newspaper.
The engine block of RMS Athens is barely visible to the left of this image
It is possible to dive the wreck; indeed, owing to its accessibility from shore, it has been extensively “salvaged” in the last 150-plus years! There is more information about diving the wreck on wikivoyage, but suffice it to say it’s a shallow dive best done when there is no swell to speak of. The wreck is very broken up and overgrown with kelp and invertebrate life, by all accounts.
What remains of RMS Athens
The stretch of shore where RMS Athens came to grief
RMS Athens seen from the sea
There’s a great article on the history of RMS Athens on the Submerge website: click here to read it.
If you want to go and see the remains of the wreck, I’ve geotagged this instagram picture of the engine block. My photos of the engine block as seen from the sea were taken while we were aboard the Ocean Adventurer. If you’re interested in other visible shipwrecks around Cape Town, you could visit the Kakapo, the Clan Stuart, and (by boat) the BOS 400, to start with!
Finally good weather and weekend collide. No wind and very little swell means we can dive enjoyably on both days.
Send me a text or reply to this mail to book your dives. If you are diving this weekend, please remember to bring your permit along. If you do not have one we have temporary permits available on the boat.
Newsletter time
I am never alone when writing a newsletter. Without fail I receive unsolicited assistance from some member member of the family. Today a chicken stood on the keypad and dimmed the screen while I was briefly distracted. They also ate my lunch. It took a while to work out what had happened.
Mozambique
Those of you who are coming to Ponta do Ouro for our diving (and beaching) week (28 June-4 July), please start booking your flights. If you’re coming and haven’t told Clare, get to it! If you’re keen to come, please shout and I’ll send more information. A week of warm water diving in the heart of winter is just what the doctor ordered.
Panorama of the beach at Blouberg where the Seli 1 lies
Our obsession with shipwrecks that stick out of the water is well documented. We keep a beady eye on the BOS 400, and while the Seli 1 was visible at Blouberg, Tony and I would take a drive out to visit her every few months. We haven’t been out to see her for well over a year, so I was delighted to find myself at Blouberg recently to get an update on her condition.
Look for the orange buoy – the Seli 1 is under it
The wreck had gone from being intact when she ran aground in 2009, to looking a bit ropy, to separating into three pieces (above the surface, at least). After rough winter in 2012, a minor oil spill issued from the wreck, as part of it toppled over. That was the last we’d seen of her, but furious activity was going on behind the scenes as efforts were made to secure her removal.
Divers from the SA Navy were tasked with detonating explosives on the wreck to break her up, which they did in March 2013. This opened a compartment in the wreck from which oil leaked, necessitating a clean up operation. Finally, the remaining wreckage was cut into smaller pieces to expedite its collapse and dispersion on the sea floor.
The Seli 1 is under the orange buoy to the right of this image (hard to see!)
Today, the resting place of the Seli 1 is marked by an orange buoy, that is hard to spot from land – let alone in my photographs above. The site has been dived by a group of adventurous locals, and apart from a lengthy surface swim it’s a possibly promising wreck for Open Water divers to dive from shore (these are in short supply in Cape Town – the only others I can think of are the Clan Stuart and the Antipolis, and perhaps the Romelia).
Nautical artifacts – both physical objects and place names – can be observed all over Cape Town. One, which I’ve driven past many, many times without even noticing, can be seen on Hout Bay Main Road just between the Shell Garage and Hout Bay Manor. (If you want the precise location, check out this instagram post, which I geotagged.) The anchors of SS Maori, a steamship that ran aground in 1909 in a bay now named after her, are on display under the auspices of Hout Bay Museum. The wreck of the Maori is a very popular dive site, and is eminently suitable for Open Water and beginner divers owing to the depth at which she lies, and the comforting feeling one has of being close to shore whilst sheltered in Maori Bay.
The anchors of SS Maori on Hout Bay Main Road
The rings and shackles at the top of the anchor
Plaque describing the wreck and location of the SS Maori
The bell of SS Maori can be seen inside the Hout Bay Museum. The wreck is over 60 years old, and as Peter Southwood points out on the dive site’s wikivoyage page,
This is a historical wreck and is now protected by legislation. Removing wreckage or artifacts is a criminal offence.
