Protea Banks/ Umkomaas

[danz]

Hello,
I will be diving for 1 week next March on the Protea Banks. Should I add also Umkomaas (for 1 or 2 days) or is it very similar?

 

[xyrandomyx]

Hopefully someone else who's dived both will reply to you (I've only dived at Umkomaas), but, as far as I know, Protea Banks is mostly dived for the pelagics -- the reef is apparently not much to look at, but the sharks and such make up for it. The reef at Umkomaas is, in my opinion, really pretty and interesting, but there's not as much opportunity to see pelagic life. Your odds are improved if you do a baited shark dive, which is offered by most operators there.

 

[chrisgp007]

depends on what u looking for in a dive over there ? protea banks = sharks . Ukkomas = reef and possible sharks

 

[ocdiver1]

I'd add a couple of days...they are only about an hours drive from each other and offer two different diving environments. As the last poster mentioned, Protea will be just sharks (the reef such as it is is pretty deep) and Umkomaas offers both. I would say for a baited dive, definitely do it at Protea, not Aliwal. Protea can blow you away with some incredible dives, but it can also be an "all or nothing" type experience..you might see nothing. Adding Aliwal on a trip (to me) gives more balance to any trip...unless you are only interested in seeing sharks.