Panorama of False Bay (left) and the Atlantic (right)
Conditions
When a surf school reckon this weekend’s surfing is likely to be the best surf this year I take it as a sign the diving most likely won’t be that great. A 6 metre swell rolls ashore this weekend and if you look here you can see it has already begun to arrive. I know the debate as to whether it will affect False Bay or not can go on forever I think I will give launching a miss.
So our weekend plans are training in the pool on Saturday, and on Sunday big wave surfing at Long Beach, or diving if conditions permit. We will hope the swell is not to hectic and that the rain doesn’t wreck the viz and do two shore dives!
Coelacanth talk
Dr Kerry Sink of SANBI and the SeaKeys Project will talk about the history of the coelacanth, right up to the present day, at Kirstenbosch on Friday 1 August. The evening aims to raise funds for the NSRI. More information here.
Secret dune field near our house
Sevengill cowsharks
A total of twenty five sevengills have been tagged to date, and in time we will have a better understanding of where they go inside and outside False Bay. Did you know that thirteen of them were caught (and tagged and released) in a fishing competition held at the Strand recently (more information on the South African Shark Conservancy facebook page)? They definitely wander further afield than just Shark Alley! Remember to log your sightings of sevengill cowsharks on the Spot the Sevengill facebook page. We’d also love to hear your thoughts on our protocol for diving with cowsharks, which we took the time to write down recently!
Permits
Most of the False Bay dive sites we visit lie within a Marine Protected Area (MPA). This means that limited consumptive activities (such as fishing) are allowed, and also that as scuba divers, we need a permit to dive there. The permit costs in the region of R100, is valid for a year, and can be obtained at the Post Office on presentation of your ID book and the fee in cash. Please make sure yours is up to date!
Here are some suggestions for things you can do at (or near) home that can have a positive impact on the environment.
Mounds of garbage
The first suggestion is the most important!
Be a busybody
Keep tabs on what’s going on in your area. Are there new building projects or developments planned? Community newspapers are an excellent source of information. Attend meetings that give opportunities for public participation, register as an interested and affected party, make objections, write letters to the environmental consultants and your local council representatives. Also, tell your friends and buddies about opportunities to participate as concerned citizens.
Remember that a development doesn’t necessarily need to be in or on the ocean to affect the marine environment. For example, False Bay is where a large amount of the city’s effluent is pumped out. More people means more pressure on the ecosystem. Demand responsible solutions from municipalities and developers.
Keep tabs on proposed amendments to existing laws, and new laws and bylaws. Who is getting permission to do what? Are these decisions well thought out? Is it wise to allow whelk and octopus fisheries to operate in a bay that is visited by large numbers of whales and dolphins?
Hold the government (specifically DAFF and the Department of Environmental Affairs) to account. The environment belongs to all of us, and if it’s being mismanaged, it’s your heritage that’s being squandered.
An excellent example of the concrete results this kind of action by ordinary citizens can have is the recent flip-flop done by the authorities on the proposed diving ban in the Betty’s Bay MPA after many local divers, marshalled by Indigo Scuba and Underwater Africa, registered as interested and affected parties and submitted objections to the proposal.
Banning diving in the area would have essentially left it wide open for poaching. While the local law enforcement can’t and doesn’t do anything to stop illegal harvesting of perlemoen, eyes in the water in the form of recreational divers can at least keep tabs on what’s happening in the reserve.
Wear your heart on your sleeve. Let your friends know that conservation issues and protecting the environment are important to you. Don’t be scary and wild-eyed, just be yourself. (If you’re naturally scary and wild-eyed, I can’t help you.)
When you get an opportunity to discuss an environmental issue with someone who doesn’t know or care as much as you do, stick to the facts. Point them to other sources where they can find information to back up what you’re saying, if they are interested. That way, if they want to relay your argument to someone else, they can do so. Raw outrage isn’t necessarily transmissible (and if you’re too hot under the collar, they may just think you’re a lunatic).
Don’t use jargon. Don’t use cliches (people are smarter than you think). Don’t assume that everyone knows as much as you do about your pet issue – check that you’re pitching your pitch appropriately. Don’t be boring. Show people how beautiful and wonderful and intricate the environment is.
Reef life at Roman Rock
Get your hands dirty
Participate in beach cleanups and underwater cleanups. If you see garbage on a dive (and nothing has taken it for a home), stuff it into your BCD for disposal on land. Get into the habit of picking up stuff that doesn’t belong. Keep an empty bag on the boat for collecting rubbish as you drive in and out of the harbour. Hout Bay is an excellent spot for this. Most harbours are actually filthy.
Consume less of everything
Reduce your carbon footprint. This encompasses all the obvious things: recycle, buy local, seasonal produce, eat less meat, and participate in more recreational activities that are carbon neutral. (Unfortunately diving isn’t technically one of those; even if you do a shore dive, you still need to get your cylinder filled using a compressor that consumes energy.)
Here’s a good carbon footprint calculator that’ll help you identify the areas of your lifestyle that are having the greatest negative impact on the environment. Mine is my commute to work, which produces a horrific amount of carbon dioxide each month. (If I ever needed a justification for running away to sea with Tony and the cats, this is it.)
If you eat seafood, make wise choices that are kind to the ocean. If you fish for fun, follow the regulations defining what and how much you’re allowed to catch.
Donate responsibly
If you have financial resources and want to make a donation to a conservation organisation, first do your research.
What will the money be spent on?
What is the track record of the organisation? What projects have they worked on already?
Do you agree with their aims, objectives and methods? (Would you be proud to have your name associated with their work?)
Will the money be spent on branding and advertising (some people mistake this for real action), or on observable projects that will have a direct impact on an environmental issue that’s important to you?
Remember that addressing an environmental problem may very well involve work with people. Sustainable Seas Trust (not an endorsement, just an example) addresses poverty and food security as a way to relieve pressure on the ocean’s scarce resources, thus caring for people and the sea at the same time. It’s great to take kids snorkeling, but after a while (and a lot of kids) I hope funders can demand a bit more originality and effort in that area.
Personally, I prefer to support organisations that follow scientific advice or include a research component in their activities, because I feel that conservation that isn’t based on scientific data is just marketing… But you may feel otherwise.
If your donation is a significant one, ask for feedback on how it was spent.
Don’t fool yourself
Finally, remember that writing tweets and sharing pictures on facebook doesn’t achieve anything concrete (ok here’s an exception), even though your rate of hashtagging may make you feel like your efforts are putting Greenpeace to shame. Sorry kids. Even Shonda Rhimes says so.
Some of the sites we visited on Two Mile Reef were noticeably more barren – with less coral and more sand and rock – than others. I wonder whether this is a seasonal (or annual, or multi-year) variation, or whether it’s a slow process of the reef becoming silted up. Sites towards the middle of Two Mile, such as Garden Route, were covered with coral and looked exceptionally healthy.
Coral encrustation
Sea star in Sodwana
Blue sea star
Raggy scorpionfish
Knifejaw feeding on the coral
Guinea fowl moray eel
Porcupine fish
Half the polyps on this coral have retracted
Moorish idol
Fish milling about on the reef
Giant sea cucumber
Angelfish close to the coral
White barred rubberlip
Blue spotted ribbontail ray
I found a heart in the coral
Otti and Matthijs (and Angie in the background)
Sand gullies in the reef
Tami at the safety stop
Sodwana sees a lot of divers doing a lot of dives, year-round. There are at least eight dive charters operating from the beach, and Two Mile in particular sees some heavy traffic – including Open Water divers (many from Johannesburg) doing their first sea dives. During a recent conversation, Gerard blamed the heavy boat traffic for what he perceives as a slow decline in the health and biomass of the reef life in Sodwana; I wonder if the fishing activity that somehow co-exists with the dive charters has anything to do with it. Or perhaps we are imagining things, and just happened to dive on a few parts of the reef that were having a quiet day.
Sea fan on the sand
Sodwana is a Marine Protected Area, but perhaps it is not getting the monitoring and policing it requires to be fully effective. This is a widespread problem in all of South Africa’s MPAs, as well as a concerning lack of scientific thinking in the government ministries that are supposed to be keeping an eye on these things.
Freckled hawkfish
Whether we are imagining the changes in the reefs in Sodwana or not, it’s still a very beautiful place to dive, and worthy (as are all wild places on this earth) of our protection. You should go there and see for yourself!
Sunday: Possible boat or shore dives, if the weather forecast moderates. Text me to be notified.
Liam and Christo near the Brunswick
Conditions report and forecast
We had exceptional conditions in False Bay last weekend, with 20 metre visibility and a comfortable 18 degrees on the surface. It’s been a long time since False Bay has been so clean. There are some photos on facebook that will show you just how stunning the conditions were. We dived Photographer’s Reef and the wreck of the Brunswick.
The viz has dropped somewhat this week but it is still pretty good. Sadly we are unlikely to have good conditions this weekend: just as well, because on Saturday is the all day long DAN day that you should attend if at all possible, with very informative talks about diving safety and a tour of a great facility in Cape Town. If you want me to forward the details then send me an email, but be quick as you need to book in advance (i.e. tomorrow) if there’s still space.
Alex at Photographer’s Reef
On Sunday I don’t think the conditions will be all that great. There is a 2-3 metre swell, which is not too bad, but the wind is forecast to blow more easterly than south easterly and this tends to cause a larger than is pleasant wind chop that makes for unpleasant surface conditions. I am hoping the forecast changes as we get closer to Sunday and the wind drops off, and that way we can get some diving done. I will make that call late Saturday afternoon. Text me if you want to be on the list to dive if we do go out.
Surfacing in False Bay
Training and permits
Winter is a good time to further your dive training – the water is cleaner in False Bay, and we have some really beautiful conditions to work with. If you’ve been thinking about a Specialty course, Advanced, or Rescue (for example), let me know and I can tell you a bit more about what’s involved. You’ll build up your confidence in the water and be a better buddy!
Please make sure you have an up to date MPA permit when you come diving… For visitors, I have a temporary (one month validity) permit book, but if you live here it’s definitely better to get a one year permit from the post office.
Stars Beneath the Sea: The Extraordinary Lives of the Pioneers of Diving – Trevor Norton
Stars Beneath the Sea
Marine biologist Trevor Norton channels Bill Bryson in this often hilarious collection of vignettes featuring a selection of the adventurers, scientists and other lunatics who shaped the last two hundred years’ history of skin and scuba diving. A propensity for gadget-making and a willingness to experiment on oneself seem to be the personal characteristics that have served these men (all of them, alas) very well in their chosen field.
I hadn’t heard of many of the pioneers profiled by Norton – much of their work was done during the First and Second World Wars, during which time many people were distracted with other matters. Some familiar names do crop up during the course of the narrative, however: Jacques Cousteau (in the chapter about Guy Gilpatric), George Bass (in the chapter on Peter Throckmorton), and John Scott Haldane, who will be familiar to all Divemaster candidates.
Norton contributes personal knowledge of at least one of his subjects: Jack Kitching, a British experimental zoologist. Kitching spent much of his career studying the marine life at Lough Hyne, Europe’s oldest marine reserve. During this time he used a surface supply of air and a makeshift diving helmet (involving a bucket and a hosepipe) to walk about on the bottom of the lough and collect samples. Norton has written more than one account of this time – you can read some here and here.
I found this a refreshing look back to a time when scuba diving wasn’t the slickly packaged, aggressively marketed, neon-hued “cool” sport that it is today. Norton’s writing is very funny, and he fully conveys the quirkiness and eccentricity that enabled his subjects to make some of the advances – scientific and experimental – that they did. I recommend this book – you’ll learn something, and after reading it you’ll probably want to do some further reading. All good things!
You can get a copy of the book here or here, otherwise (possibly – not often in stock) here if you’re in South Africa.
Have you seen what Kingman Reef looks like? If not, today’s your lucky day. Kingman Reef is a triangular reef in the middle of nowhere (the northern Pacific Ocean). It is considered to be one of the very few practically untouched marine environments that we have left. The proliferation of coral is remarkable, and apex predators (mostly sharks) make up 75-85% of the fish biomass there.
In this TED talk, ecologist Enric Sala shows what untouched marine environments look like (turns out the accepted idea of the “normal” number of sharks for a reef is a bit on the low side), and mounts a spirited defence for no take marine reserves.
We had really good conditions last weekend and launched from Hout Bay on both Saturday and Sunday with 15-20 metre viz. The water was a little cold, 11 degrees on most computers and 9 degrees on others. We have also dived Long Beach this week and had nice conditions.
Today has been relatively calm in False Bay but right now there is a 6 metre swell with a 20 second period rolling in that will have some effect on the Bay for the weekend. It is meant to drop off by Friday, back down to around 3 metres, but the period remains high at around 14 seconds so it will be surgy.
On the boat last Saturday
Dive plans
Saturday and Sunday do look a lot better with Sunday being the best of all, however weather forecasts on a Wednesday are notoriously inaccurate and all too often the forecast changes dramatically overnight.
My weekend plan is therefore as follows: On Friday we will do shore dives or pool sessions. Regarding Saturday we will decide on Friday, and on Sunday we will launch very early from False Bay Yacht Club and dive Photographer’s Reef and Ark Rock.
Diving ban in Betty’s Bay
There is a plan to possibly ban diving in Betty’s Bay. The reasons is because the government is unable and unwilling to police the area in order to rein in the abalone and lobster poaching, so they are proposing to ban everyone and everything. The only thing is it will not stop poaching – it will in fact make it easier to fish illegally as there will be no one watching. You can read more about it on Indigo Scuba’s blog. Please take the time to register as an interested and affected party, and submit an objection using the template provided (or your own words).
If you think this sounds far fetched, remember that there is already a ban on diving in an area in False Bay close to Cape Point for the very same reason. It sets a disturbing precedent that could one day seriously hinder our freedom to enjoy the beautiful ocean on our doorstep.
Things to remember
There is a DAN Day on 17 May – let me know if you want more information. These are always informative events that also allow you a behind the scenes look at facilities you wouldn’t otherwise get to visit.
Please remember that if you book a boat dive, you need to cancel before 16h00 the day before otherwise you will be billed for the dive. Also, make sure your MPA permit is up to date! You can get one at your nearest post office for about R100 – just take your ID along and ask for a scuba diving permit.
A good tip for all divers: never go deeper than the bottom.
Saturday: shore dives at Long Beach, starting at 7.00 am.
Sunday: Boat dives out of Hout Bay to the Katsu Maru at 7.30 am, and the Aster at 10.30 am – if the visibility clears up.
Some peaches for you to look at
The week’s dives
We have had a good run this week and managed to dive most days, either in the pool or the ocean, and managed to finish several courses and get slightly sunburnt. My kinda week. I thought you might enjoy this picture of the Michelin Man, who skippered the boat for us today. Thanks Mark!
Mark on the boat – muscly much?
Conditions
Weekend weather is not all that peachy and neither is the Bay. We went from the Clan Stuart area all the way down to the cowsharks today and the water is rather dark and dirty. Close inshore, the first 50 meters or so, is cleaner and we had 4-5 metres at the Brunswick and about the same at Pyramid Rock. Roman Rock, Photographer’s Reef and the Pietermarizburg were all very dark, and I don’t see anything in the forecast that will clean this up before the weekend.
There is half a chance that by Sunday a launch or two out of Hout Bay would work, providing the wind blows south easterly, long and hard before then. It is currently rather murky and warm off Kommetjie. There is also a 2-5 metre swell out there. The plan therefore is that on Saturday, we will do training at Long Beach starting very early, and on Sunday we will plan for the Katsu Maru at 7.30am, and the Aster at 10.30 am, out of Hout Bay.
This schedule should have you…
rushing off to get your dive tables or dive computer to check the feasibility, bottom time and depths;
or emailing me right now to get an online theory code, so as to be qualified to dive Nitrox by Sunday.
Getting comfortable in the shallows
Reminders
Remember our Sodwana trip in late April – there is still space – and that you must make sure your permit to dive in an MPA is up to date, for Sodwana and for diving in Cape Town!
Learning more
Clare is busy with two online courses, one about Contemporary Issues in Ocean Governance, and the other about Marine and Antarctic Science, offered by two Australian universities on Open2Study.com. It’s very interesting, and not too challenging or time consuming. If you want to expand your horizons, it’s worth checking out.
Very early on in the dive we went through a swim through – a hole in the wall of the reef that had an opening a short distance further on. This is what it looked like:
Jackfish Alley (also called Fisherman’s Bank) is inside the Ras Mohammed National Park, which covers part of and borders the Sinai Peninsula. We also dived Shark Reef and Yolanda Reef inside the park. Jackfish Alley was probably our favourite dive. Neither my words nor the photos or videos we have can explain how spectacular it was. The visibility was endless – I don’t actually know how to estimate anything much over 15-20 metres, so suffice it to say that it was a large number!
The other divers traverse a sand spit
The captain reversed our boat towards a cliff face, and we leaped off into the water, which was approximately 800 metres deep. I searched briefly for the bottom, and then remembered the briefing and realised that I probably wouldn’t find it. Staying at about six metres we swam directly towards the reef wall, into a small swim through. The water inside the little cave, which formed a sort of a dog’s leg shape, was 24 degrees, which felt bracing compared to the 27 degrees outside. (As an aside, there is apparently quite a large, deep cave system here!)
Batman approaching the swim through
The remainder of the dive entailed a lovely drift dive next to a wall that opened out onto a sandy alley from which the site gets its name. The sensation was like being in an amphitheatre. I don’t think I’ve seen such spectacular underwater topography before. The site is known for the large pelagic species that can be seen there, owing at least in part to the very deep water that is close by, and the currents experienced at the site. We didn’t see anything enormous – I saw some groupers and a ray – but to be honest I wasn’t really looking out to sea. The site itself is enough to keep your eyes busy.
