South Africa: Durban Area

[urbansnap]

Hey,
I have a day in Durban second week of august to go diving and I wondered what people would recommend these days? I have done some research here and come up with 3 options:

1: Sodwana Bay
I've read that I should avoid 2 mile reef and go for 5, 7 or 9 mile reef. Reefs sound nice.

2: Aliwal Shoal
People seem positive. Seems like there is more macro-biology than Sodwana but less reefs? This may be an incorrect assumption.

3: uShaka Aquarium
Never dove in a aquarium before. Might be an interesting experience the details here seem scarce.

Would love to know what people think of these places and possibly fill in the blanks.
Also which dive operators would you recommend?

Thanks,
Adam

 

[anthonyhugo]

hello, i dove ushaka, aliwal and protea banks the last 2 weeks

the ushaka open water tank is very cool especially because the popmano's and eagle rays get very friendly and frisky

the ushaka snorkel tank is just as cool, its much bigger than the open ocean tank and has a huge shoal of bat fish and other very beautiful fish, you also get to go under a ledge and watch one of the shark tanks through a glass pane

i think both tanks go to about max 5m or so but they limit your dive to 30 mins which sucks a but

if you can do both & if the sea is rough then ushaka is great to get your diving fix

if the vis is good in durban, couper's wreck is magical, it lies at about 30m, we had 20m vis and saw thousands of sun corals, some huge cob hiding in the wreck, cuttle fish, crayfish, eels, devil fish etc etc

we also dove aliwal, saw tons of raggies, turtles, huge rays etc. but my favorite dives were using nitrox at protea banks (average depth was about 28m - 36m), it's at shelly beach about an hours drive from umkomaas (aliwal) but well worth it

if you like shark diving then protea is great, while we were there one group saw over 200 raggies in 1 dive, we also saw lots of bull sharks (zambesie's) & dusky's - scary but magical

cheers
ant

 

[anthonyhugo]

oh and the operators were:
ushaka & durban diving - calypso
aliwal - oceanworx
protea - african dive adventures

 

[Christopher_B]

Try Aliwal DIve Charters in Umkomaas - it's a great spot for raggies this time of year. Tell them Christopher sent you, I used to live there and DMed for them. There's some info and a link to video clip of a tiger shrk dive South African Sharks and Safari | Indigo Safaris

 

[jolo]

Visit this this link Scuba diving kzn dive kzn scuba diving south africa south coast scuba diving some good info.

 

[Deefstes]

Hey,
I have a day in Durban second week of august to go diving and I wondered what people would recommend these days?

If you only have a day then I would suggest Sodwana might be a bit too far. Rather dive at Durban or Umkomaas (Aliwal Shoal) which is just a half an hour's drive away.

1: Sodwana Bay
I've read that I should avoid 2 mile reef and go for 5, 7 or 9 mile reef.

Where did you read this? It's plain rubbish. 2 Mile reef is still one of the best reefs in the world as far as I'm concerned. It's the closer reef to the Sodwana launch site so naturally it will receive more diving traffic than 5,7 or 9 mile but it is still a brilliant reef and well worth diving. Just wanted to get that off my chest because I think 2 mile gets all sorts of unnecessary bad rap but, like I said, I think Sodwana is slightly out of the way for you anyway.