you dive Protea, as it seldom fails to deliver excellent sightings.
Operators launch RIBs from Shelly Beach (50 miles south of
Umkomaas), and divers push the boat into the shore-break for a
wet launch through the surf. It’s a 15- to 20-minute ride out to
the reef (which lies five miles out to sea), and before the plunge
everyone deflates their BCDs fully so they can do “negative
entries” — back rolls into the water followed by immediate
finning toward the seafloor. This method offers dive groups the
best chance of hitting sites accurately in the strong currents
(strongest at the surface) common to the banks.
The reef lies between 90 and 130 feet; it’s a deep dive,
so be prepared for the possibility of nitrogen narcosis. The
reef is colorful with plenty of fish, good topography and
interesting caves and swim-throughs. In winter the ragged-
tooth sharks congregate here in large numbers, and year-
round it’s possible to see Zambezi sharks — usually keeping
an eye on you from a distance. Watch for manta rays, tiger
sharks and large schools of scalloped hammerheads in
summer. No-deco time is short, and the current pushes you
along quite enjoyably, which allows you to cover a significant
distance during your slow ascent. That’s the best time to
listen for humpback whales (in the winter) and watch for …
well, just about anything.
Both Aliwal and Protea feature opportunities for baited
dives. These memorable experiences involve a chum bucket
suspended from a buoy at about 30 feet. The chum bucket is a
large, round, perforated ball filled with sardines — like a tea bag
of shark food. The bucket drifts along, the divers drift with it
(alongside it, not down-current of it), and sharks from all over
the area pick up the scent and travel upcurrent to investigate.
Many blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) are now so
habituated that they start circling as soon as the boat arrives.
These days it’s common to get 20 blacktips, and divers may see
as many as 80. They buzz around hungrily, zipping in and out.
It’s intimidating at first, but soon you’ll begin to relax, and you
might even feel like the sharks barely notice you.
That feeling of relaxation may be suddenly dashed when, in the
summer, a tiger shark arrives on the scene, large and confident,
gliding nonchalantly between divers to approach the bait and
pick off escaped morsels. Soon enough you will close your gaping
mouth and resume breathing to realize that you are hovering
in midwater with a large ocean predator. If it’s interested in you
at all, it won’t act in a threatening manner; regardless, it will be
absolutely magnificent. New or unhabituated tiger sharks may
loiter for a while, circling wide before they come closer. When
they do approach, they’ll check you out with their big black eyes
— an experience you may never forget. Before long there might
be 30 sharks of three or four species around you, circling the
bait as you hover there in awe. It’s a truly amazing experience. In
terms of a topside South African safari, it would be like walking
up to a lion kill and standing there among the lions, hyenas and
vultures — just watching.
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Two large tiger sharks curiously approach the camera at
Aliwal Shoal on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
Opposite: Thousands of common dolphins churn up the surface waters
just inside Cape Point, the western entrance to False Bay.
DOUG PERRINE
