Anyone dived in South Africa? Where is best? (July and August) Who dive with?

[Robynn]

HI guys,
Nice to find you. Any advice about diving in South Africa? I'm there for July and August. Would love to see dolphins.

Any advice about where to stay, who to dive with and where to buy a dry suit? And which dry suit?

Thanks very much,
Robynn.

 

[Robynn]

Hi Guys,
Any siggestions of where to dive in South africa in July and August? Specially would like to dive with dolphins. Can you recommend a dive centre or laid back, VERY QUIET place to stay?
And can you recommend a good dry suit without breaking the bank?
Thanks very much,
Robynn.

 

[mattiedread]

There are a fair amount of posts concerning that subject under Africa/MidEast.

 

[caymaniac]

It's been a bit over four years ago when we went to S.A. to dive. Diving was quite organized in Sodwanna Bay. You would have to dive in the northern part of S. A. to get anywhere that might have dolphins, the water temp drops quite a bit in Cape Town.(good for Great Whites).
There were some big sharks when we were in Sodwanna,, we saw a 12 - 14 ft. raggle tooth, I think my wife and I could have fit in him. Also there are times that whalesharks are in the area, but we didnt see any. We did see whales breaching however but not near the reefs ( Right Fin whales). It was quite a rugged trip to get to Sodwanna, from Joburg into the mountains, through Josinnie then down to Sodwanna on a two track for a couple of hours.
Have fun,
Caymaniac

 

[Scubaroo]

I have merged these threads.

 

[docmartin]

was at sodwana in march. it's in the middle of nowhere. stayed at the sodwana bay lodge and dived with their operation. very inexpensive. the lodge is the most upscale accomodation around but that does not mean much. it is definitely rustic and the restaurant was passable at best. the dive operation was competent and diving was nice. we did see a whale shark but no ragged tooths (wrong season). lots of fish. only 2 dives per day are possible. they built a new road so the driving is smooth unlike what caymaniac experienced. we drove 4 hours from durban. i would definitely recommend flying into durban. that way you can do sodwana and also dive south of durban at aliwal shoals and protea banks. they should have lots of raggies that time of year. at protea we dove with trevor krull who is definitely the best operator there. his outfit is called african odyssea. i heard bad things about african dive adventures. they have had a couple of worrisome accidents (a drowning in a surf launch when their boat capsized and two divers lost at sea for good). we stayed at ingwe manor in margate. beautiful upscale bed&breakfast and definitely very quiet.
enjoy your trip

 

[ScubaBuddy]

Hi Robynn

I would say Sodwana or the Southern part of Mozambique would be your best bet. I'm off to Sodwana in 2 weeks time. We all here in South Africa dive these 2 sites alot. Here are some url's for you. In South Africa swimming with dolphins is not allowed however in Mozambique you may swim with them. There is even a company in Ponta D'Oura that does dolphin awareness and allows you to swim with the resident dolphins.

http://www.spiritualworld.co.za/Listings/dolphinencounters.htm

Sodwana
http://www.coraldivers.co.za/Index.html
http://www.sodwanabaylodge.com/

Mozambique
http://www.simplyscuba.co.za/

 

[scubaaddicts]

Hi Robynn,

Dived in SA where we travelled the entire east coast visisted Protea Banks, Aliwal Shoal, Sodwana Bay & Mozambique (Ponta do Oura) with sadiving.com, they organise the whole thing and they travel the route every other week from durban - well worth while, we also visited loads of game parks...... enjoy.

Have a look at the site at www.sadiving.com

Cheers
Craig