Diving/Sleeping in South Africa

[windycitydiver]

Hi All-

I've been reading different posts on SA dive sites and places to stay. I've usually booked all of my stuff after reading scubaboard posts, and I've never been disappointed!

1. If you have been to Kruger National Park, we have 3 nights there and would like to know where to stay?

2. We are then doing 3 nights in Sodwana Bay. I need some advice as where to stay here. We like low key, divers' atmosphere, water view if possible, breakfast near.

3. We are then doing 3 nights in the Aliwalshoal/Protea Banks area. Do you suggest we stay in Aliwalshoal and drive down to Protea Banks 1 day for a dive? Or stay 2 nights in Aliwalshoal and 1 night in Protea Banks?

4. What is a good cage shark dive operator in Capetown? Are those usually 1/2 day tours? We don't have a lot of time in Capetown, and we would like to see the wineries too.

Thanks for any helpful advice!

 

[anferney]

Firstly, I have no commercial interest in any of my recommendations below. I dive quite a bit in South Africa so this advice is based on my experiences and nothing else.

In Sodwana I highly recommend Reefteach (Reefteach). They offer accommodation, breakfast, optional dinner (highly recommended) and they have their own boats for diving. They pride themselves in an excellent understanding of the reef and each dive is preceeded by a very interesting briefing. No sea view, but i'm sure you won't miss it. Between your morning dives you get amazing breakfast snacks in their gazeebo on the beach! Good food and good diving, what more can you ask for?

In Aliwal I recommend staying at Ocean Park (Ocean Park Guest House - Umkomaas) and diving with Ocean Worx (:: Oceanworx - Aliwal Shoal ::). Ocean Park does an awesome breakfast, but the rest is self-catering. Ocean Worx is a well established dive operation and they offer baited shark dives, which must not be missed!

The conditions in Aliwal can be quite variable, so my recommendation is to stay in Aliwal for as much time as possible instead of going to Protea Banks. If the conditions are rough in aliwal you might miss a few dives. There's plenty of stuff to see in Aliwal, so rather hang around for a couple of extra days to make sure you see as much as possible. I have never dived Protea Banks, but I just spent a lot of time in Aliwal and have never felt the urge to head over to Protea Banks.

Regarding Kruger Park, I stayed at a lovely place about 4 years ago. It's called Grand Kruger (Grand Kruger Lodge - African Lion Safari) and it seems that the same people are still running the place. The food is simply amazing and the guides were very knowledgeable. If you really want to spoil yourself stay at Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge (Earth Lodge | Luxury Safari Lodge | Sabi Sabi)

The cage dive I did in Cape Town took the whole day because the drive to Gaansbaai (where the Great Whites hang out) was two hours. So basically you spend 4 hours just getting there and back again. I saw recently there are some operators doing cage dives nearer Cape Town, but I can't give any feedback on them. The cage dive in Gaansbaai was amazing, but I can't recall the operator.

Hope that helps!

 

[jolo]

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