Two Weeks in South Africa: Shark Diving, Kelp Forests, and Cape Town

Two weeks in South Africa, based around Cape Town. Most of it was diving: kelp forest, seals, sharks. Some of it was penguins and a walk in the Hottentots-Holland mountains. The coast does the ocean well. The mountains are right there when you want a day off.

Kelp forests

Just outside Cape Town, the kelp forests are the dives I think about first. Thick kelp, light coming through it, Cape fur seals, catsharks, and schools of fish. It looks like a forest because it is one.

What I actually did

• Cape fur seals. Curious, close, fast. They came to us.
• Sharks. Catsharks, and larger ones on some dives. This coast has a long list.
• African penguins. Along the coast, including the colony at Boulders Beach in Simons Town.
• The rest of the reef life. Nudibranchs, fish, kelp. Each dive had something different.

Places

• Cape Town. Start point. Kelp dives and a city with ocean on one side and mountains on the other.
• False Bay. Busy with marine life, and known for great whites. I saw other shark species there.
• Simons Town. East side of the Cape Peninsula. Good diving, and the penguins at Boulders Beach.
• Hottentots-Holland Nature Reserve. A day out of the water. Mountain trails and a long view.
• Gansbaai. I went cage diving. The great whites were there.

The week worked because I could do both. Kelp and sharks in the morning, or a trail when I had had enough of a wetsuit.

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Summary:
Cape Town and False Bay for kelp and sharks, Simons Town for penguins, Gansbaai for cage diving, and a day in the Hottentots-Holland reserve when I wanted out of the water. Two weeks split between the ocean and the mountains.