Scuba Diving South Africa

South Africa has a coastline of about 3000km, two separate coasts in two different oceans, and a large latitudinal range, so scuba diving locations are extremely varied. The West Coast is a high energy coast with some pretty darn cold water, so only keen wreck explorers go to scuba there regularly. Cape Town, with its sharp peninsula offering two very different coasts, is a surprisingly popular dive destination - surprising because the water there is not exactly warm.

But the sea life in the beautiful, undulating kelp forests makes up for the necessity of a thick wetsuit or a dry suit when scuba diving. And there are loads of interesting wrecks. A little further up the coast, there are some nice dive sites around Hermanus and, moving even further east, the Garden Route has a range of dive sites with something for everyone. The water is definitely a bit warmer than Cape Town, but the sea life is similar – minus the vast kelp beds.

Heading further along the coast to the Eastern Cape, you will find good diving in Port Elizabeth and East London. The small town of Port Alfred, about halfway between these two cities, also has some great diving with one dive school. The Wild Coast, which stretches from just outside East London to the border of KwaZulu-Natal, is rarely dived except for a few weeks in June or July. That is when millions of sardines swim up the coast, followed by dolphins, sharks, seals and seabirds in the largest animal migration in the world in terms of biomass. From about Port Elizabeth, the coast runs from south to north, as opposed to west to east, so the increase in the water temperature is even more marked.

Just over the Umtamvuna River, in KwaZulu-Natal, the scuba diving is decidedly sub-tropical. While there are no coral reefs, colourful tropical fish abound on coral-encrusted rocky reefs. The shark diving is excellent on this South Coast of KZN. There is also good diving around Durban, but the most popular diving destination in South Africa is further north in Maputaland. Here you will find some of the most southerly coral reefs in the world, and a number of dive companies operate out of the popular Sodwana Bay. Inland, a few interesting sinkholes, disused quarries and crystal clear springs offer either fun or challenging scuba diving adventure tours.

Inland, a few interesting sinkholes, disused quarries and crystal clear springs offer either fun or challenging diving. There are also some deep caves only for advanced technical and cave divers. There are dive schools in most coastal towns and in the inland cities, where you can arrange scuba diving lessons. Nitrox is available in most dive destinations, and technical dive training in mixed gas and rebreathers is freely available. Most scuba dive training in South Africa is under the auspices of NAUI, PADI, SAUU (South African Underwater Union) or CMAS(World Underwater Federation).