Yesterday we dived at one of our favourite dive sites on the Western side of False Bay – Castle Rock just outside Simon’s Town.
This dive site is situated in a marine reserve and the plant and fish life here is flourishing - everywhere you look, there is so much to see.
In fact, so much to see that you don’t know where to look first! My favourite fish are the Red Roman with their bright colours and inquisitive nature. There were so many of these as well as Hottentot and Zebra that followed us on our dive – all of varying sizes from small juveniles to larger adults – proof that these fish are able to grow, mature and breed in this protected area.
The huge underwater boulders are absolutely covered with pale orange sinuous sea fans, orange, red and pink encrusting sponges, huge orange wall sponges, feather stars, orange and purple soft corals, cauliflower soft corals, false plum, knobbly and striped anemones, red bait… the list goes on and on and on.
We swam around the boulders, through a beautiful swim through whose walls and roof were overgrown with marine life, amongst the kelp forests (see our first ever underwater video, which is a bit of trial and error!) and relaxed, just watching the fish and puffadder shy sharks swim by.
All too soon, the dive came to an end - this is one of those dives that is always too short! Visibility was a good 8 to 10 metres and water was a warm 14˚C.
After the dive it was a short climb back to the car where we un-kitted (exactly WHAT is the opposite of kitting up?!), got dressed, followed by a much-needed lunch (and drink) whilst we swapped notes on what we had seen and marvelled at the fantastic dive we’d just had!
You must come and join us next time!
This dive site is situated in a marine reserve and the plant and fish life here is flourishing - everywhere you look, there is so much to see.
In fact, so much to see that you don’t know where to look first! My favourite fish are the Red Roman with their bright colours and inquisitive nature. There were so many of these as well as Hottentot and Zebra that followed us on our dive – all of varying sizes from small juveniles to larger adults – proof that these fish are able to grow, mature and breed in this protected area.
The huge underwater boulders are absolutely covered with pale orange sinuous sea fans, orange, red and pink encrusting sponges, huge orange wall sponges, feather stars, orange and purple soft corals, cauliflower soft corals, false plum, knobbly and striped anemones, red bait… the list goes on and on and on.
We swam around the boulders, through a beautiful swim through whose walls and roof were overgrown with marine life, amongst the kelp forests (see our first ever underwater video, which is a bit of trial and error!) and relaxed, just watching the fish and puffadder shy sharks swim by.
All too soon, the dive came to an end - this is one of those dives that is always too short! Visibility was a good 8 to 10 metres and water was a warm 14˚C.
After the dive it was a short climb back to the car where we un-kitted (exactly WHAT is the opposite of kitting up?!), got dressed, followed by a much-needed lunch (and drink) whilst we swapped notes on what we had seen and marvelled at the fantastic dive we’d just had!
You must come and join us next time!
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