Scuba Diving Africa

Scuba Diving South Africa

Sardine Run, Great White Shark Cage Diving,
Flying Great Whites, Shark Diving ...

Sardine Run:

'National Geographic Calls Sardine Run Most Exciting Dive In The World'

Every year the world’s greatest marine migration takes place off the South African Wild Cost. Millions of sardines follow the cold winter currents moving north toward the warm Indian Ocean, bringing with them thousands of predators: dolphins, sharks, whales, seals and marine birds.

Location : Transkei, Wild Coast South Africa

Cape Town - Great White Sharks

The great whites of Seal Island are now world famous for their highly athletic breaches that they make in pursuit of Cape fur seals which they hunt in the area.

Dates : High season May – Sept (95%) | Intermediate season April & Oct (65%) | Low season Nov – March (55%)

We can take you to Seal Island’s world famous flying great whites. This is the most talked about natural phenomena worldwide. This is not just for film crews but can also be witnessed by you.

Location : Simons Town, Western Cape

The great whites of Seal Island are now world famous for their highly athletic breaches that they make in pursuit of Cape fur seals which they hunt in the area. The main focus of the tour is on a natural interaction with the sharks and the very best effort is made to treat these animals with the respect that they deserve and at the same time to share the passion for these animals with you, our guest.

Great White Shark Cage Diving: Gansbaai, South Africa

Gansbaai is the sleepy fishing town north east of Cape Town where the worlds greatest abundance of the much maligned marine predator the great white shark has been given a reprieve by being proclaimed a protected species. This has proven a remarkable environment for those of us who seek an adrenaline high adventure. Only 3 miles out to sea is a narrow channel between Geyser Rock, home to some 60,000 Cape Fur Seals, and Dyer Island forms the natural feeding ground to these powerful hunting machines-The Great White Shark.

South Africa is best known for big action, shark diving and it's the most popular place to encounter the enormous, elusive and intimidating Great White Shark. We recommend cage diving with this fellow, but they have been known to make an occasional presence here and there while free diving. Yikes!

Best Time: Great White Cage Diving is seasonal. The best time for great white shark cage diving is from June thru September.

ALIWAL SHOAL: Tiger Sharks, Ragged Tooth Sharks and Black tip sharks...

Along the East coast of South Africa, just south of Durban lies a subtropical stretch of coastline known as the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) South Coast.

Visitors to the coast are greeted by warm, welcoming waters of the Indian Ocean and fine stretches of sandy beach set against a backdrop of rolling sugar cane hills interspersed with islands of indigenous bush. Umkomaas, (“the river of cow whales”) a small town about 45km to the south of Durban, forms part of this magnificent coastline. Renowned for the spectacular dive opportunities created by ALIWAL SHOAL – a large sandstone reef lying 5km out to sea – the town is a buzz with divers and for the most part, the locals enjoy a quiet and tranquil “small town” existence.

Tiger Shark - Galeocerdo Cuvier

The most distinctive feature of the tiger shark is its stripe like markings which run down the sides of the shark, making it easy to distinguish. These markings are most prominent on young sharks but become more faded as the shark matures.

Tiger sharks also have a noticeably blunt, squared-off snout and relatively large eyes with the front portion of the body stout, becoming slender from the abdomen to the tail.

The Aliwal Shoal appears to have a high concentration of tiger sharks and through a series of tracking studies conducted on the tiger sharks at the “Shoal”, it appeared that the movement patterns of the sharks was influenced not only by chumming operators, but also by fishing boats.

This is a single, but midwater & shallow dive and is done as a controlled baited procedure as the Tiger sharks will not stay around for long unless there is an attractant and this is a “necessary evil” in order to attract them to the vicinity of divers, in order for divers to be able to understand this shark better, thereby ensuring the future of these sharks in our oceans. In addition, there are usually a large number of Blacktip sharks that appear on this dive, which gives divers the perfect chance to learn more about these animals too, thus ensuring their future in our oceans as well.

Tigers and Blacktips season January thru May.
Raggies arrive June thru November, however there are some that stay on thru February!

Blue and Mako Shark Dives:

This is a unique free diving experience with Mako & Blue sharks. There is no cage and there is no scuba gear.

On this pelagic shark trip, free diving and surface viewing is done.

Our target species are the magnificent Mako & Blue shark as well as the massive yellow fin tuna that these sharks hunt. Whilst not as big and bulky as the Great white shark, the Mako certainly does not stand back as it is the fastest shark in the ocean and coupled with its beautiful blue and silver colouring, is a truly magnificent creature, aptly described by Peter Goadby as “Blue dynamite”.

We head out into the warm Agulhas current off Cape Point, near Cape Town and it is this warm current and multitude of fish species that attract the great predators of the deep. Here the emphasis is on free diving but if you prefer, a great time can still be had viewing these beautiful sharks from the boat as they are very curious and often swim up and alongside the boat.

To view these sharks we use sophisticated low frequency sound equipment to attract them. Once they are around the boat and conditions permitting, you will then have the chance to dive with them or simply watch them cruise around the boat at your leisure.

Best time is December thru June.