Cape Town, South Africa
aerial view of Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

Aside from being Africa’s most popular tourist destination, Cape Town is also one of the world’s best dive destinations. Whether you want to catch a glimpse of the sardine run or go shark cage diving, you won’t run out of exciting attractions in this world-class city.

Geography of Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town is South Africa’s legislative capital and the Western Cape region’s capital. Many mountains—such as Table Mountain, Devil’s Peak, and Lion’s Head—surround the city. This characteristic makes it a naturally protected area. Cape Town also boasts high plant biodiversity and diverse marine life since it’s part of the Cape Floristic region.

False Bay

This area in Cape Town’s eastern portion lures plenty of species, thanks to its minimal currents and warm waters. False Bay offers divers plenty of attractions, including encounters with seals and huge seven-gill cow sharks. False Bay is also popular with shore divers and wreck divers.

Castle Rock

Boulders make up Castle Rock, a giant build-up lying within a small bay. You can reach this dive site by going through a kelp forest until you see a small bay. Castle Rock teems with Cape knifejaws, bank steenbras, butterfish, and other vibrant fish species. The site goes down to 15 feet deep.

Partridge Point

Located near Castle Rock and south of Simon’s Town, Partridge Point is a large boulder with smaller ones surrounding it. It also has several swim-throughs and caverns in varying sizes. Soft corals, sea urchins, feather stars, orange sea cucumbers, sea anemones, and bigger fish often abound in these areas. This dive site is also great for pipefish and pinniped sightings.

SS Clan Stuart

This wreck is popular among novice divers. Common marine sightings in the SS Clan Stuart include various squid and cuttlefish species, smaller rays, and various fish. Divers have also spotted pyjama and shy sharks in the wreck at various times. Some divers have even reported rare sightings of great whale sharks here. Corals and bryozoans mostly make up plant growth inside the Clan Stuart. Meanwhile, red bait and coralline algae surround its outer part.

The A-Frame

The A-Frame is another Cape Town diving site that offers easy entry. It boasts a few fascinating swim-throughs and diverse marine life (including invertebrates). You can go into a great cave where large sponges grow in abundance. Some of the marine species divers often encounter in the A-Frame include octopus, cuttlefish, big red romans, hottentot, and shy sharks.

Shark Alley

If you want to try shark diving in Cape Town, Shark Alley is the place to be. This dive site in Castle Rock is perfect for tourists wishing to see plenty of sharks. It contains the world’s highest concentration of great white sharks, allowing you to experience the best of great white shark diving in Cape Town. Shark Alley also has large cow sharks.

Atlantic Seaboard

The Atlantic Seaboard (or Atlantic Side) encompasses dive sites on the Cape Peninsula’s west coast. This region boasts stunning wrecks, as well as great reefs, blinders, and pinnacles for divers to explore. You can also go to Camps Bay and do a few shore dives there.

Justin’s Caves

Justin’s Caves offers cold and clean water, making it a popular diving destination during the summer season. It has huge caverns with nudibranchs, sponges, anemones, and crayfish for a swim-through that visitors will enjoy. You can also see hottentot and more tiny fish swimming here.

The Maori

Just like the SS Clan Stuart, The Maori is a well-known destination for wreck diving in Cape Town. You’ll find it in the Atlantic fridge, an area notorious for its freezing waters. Kelp beds cover the entire wreck, while box jellyfish float on its sandy bottom.

South Coast

Western Cape’s south coast boasts more protected areas with vibrant reefs that are fun to explore.

Mossel Bay

Scuba diving is one of the best activities that anyone can do in Mossel Bay due to its mesmerizing underwater scenery. Rock formations filled with sea fans, sponges, and vibrant corals covering the area’s coastline are a must-see. It also boasts many caves, crevices, clefts, channels, and swim-throughs.

Mossel Bay is deemed a white-tip shark watching hotspot, but that’s not all it has to offer. The dive sites also boast anemones, seals, octopi, crayfish, crabs, and damselfish.

Marine Life

Cape Town is filled with diverse marine life, including creatures that cannot be found anywhere else on earth. Many divers flock to the southern African coastline to experience the sardine run, which takes place between May and July. During the run, billions of sardines spawn in the Agulhas Bank and proceed to travel northward along South Africa’s east coast.

Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for the following species underwater:
  • Seven-gill cow shark - This shark species boasts seven gill slits, hence its name. It has a big, round body, a wide nose, and comb-shaped teeth. Seven-gill cow sharks eat rays, smaller sharks, and seals—but don’t let this fact fool you. They’re very calm creatures whenever they’re with divers.
  • Cape fur seal - Now known as the South African fur seal, the Cape fur seal is the largest fur seal species. It has a thickset body with velvety dark grey or brown fur. The Cape Peninsula’s west coast is one of the common places where they’re spotted.
  • Hottentot - The hottentot is small with a bronze to grey color and small fins in dark hues. It can reach up to 50 cm long and can weigh up to three kilograms. The species typically lives in shallow water over rocky bottoms.

Other Attractions

  • Table Mountain - This is South Africa’s most photographed landmark as it provides breathtaking views of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula from its summit. You can find Table Mountain within the national park named after it, where many plants and over 1,470 species of flowers thrive.
  • Victoria & Alfred Waterfront - This former fishing harbor in Cape Town sees millions of visitors every year. The Two Ocean Aquarium is a notable tourist spot with over 300 fish species found within the Cape of Good Hope. And if you’re a nature lover, Green Point Urban Park in Green Point has a biodiversity garden.
  • Robben Island - Located in Table Bay, this UNESCO World Heritage Site was once a brutal prison that held Nelson Mandela for 18 years during Apartheid. Notable sites include a maximum-security prison, the cell where Mandela spent his sentence, and a lime quarry. Former prisoners serve as tour guides, which makes the trip a lot more interesting.

How to Get There

By Air
Flights to Cape Town land at Cape Town International Airport, South Africa’s second-largest airport. Tourists often book flights from Europe, the United States, and Asia with Lufthansa, British Airways, KLM, Singapore Airlines, and Emirates, among other airline providers.

If you’re coming from New York City, Washington D.C., or Atlanta, the OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg will serve as your gateway to Cape Town. A few airlines also fly directly to Cape Town from all over Europe, but this only happens during the summer season.

By Sea
Cunard, P&O, Silversea, Princess Cruises, and smaller boat operators dock at the Port of Cape Town and Duncan Dock near the city. You can take a taxi going to Cape Town if you’re coming from Duncan Dock.

Getting Around
You’ve got several options for traveling within Cape Town. We’ve listed them down below:
  • Taxi - Many metered taxis are available here, and you can easily spot one near major tourist destinations or at the airport.
  • Car rental service - Car hires are another option as all rental companies operate out of the airport with depots around the city.
  • Bus - Several private and commuter buses go around Cape Town as well, including the City Sightseeing and MyCiti buses.
  • Minibus taxi - Taking one will let you explore Cape Town like a local. You can spot minibus taxis on main roads, various hubs, and taxi ranks in suburbs and townships.
  • Train - Riding a train is also a great way to travel around Cape Town. Local trains move within the city through basic commuter routes.
  • Bike - Most areas in Cape Town have dedicated lanes for bikers, making it a bike-friendly city.

Best Time to Visit

You can dive here all year round. Cape Town experiences hot weather in the summer and wet conditions in the winter, giving it a Mediterranean climate. But do keep in mind that the dive sites you can explore will often depend on when you’re going (either summer or winter).

For those wanting to see great white sharks, it’s best to go shark cage diving in Cape Town between January and September. You can also go off-shore with mako and blue sharks during the October to June period.

Required Trainings & Certifications

Cape Town caters to divers of all levels. Many dive centers in the area offer a variety of courses for beginners, intermediates, and professionals. Some of the courses you can take include PADI’s Open Water courses and refresher courses.

Miscellaneous Information

Currency
Cape Town uses the South African rand as its official currency. Most banks and foreign exchange bureaus will let you change your money to rands.

Language
Natives mostly speak English. But they’re also fluent in Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, and other languages.

Time Zone
Cape Town observes South Africa Standard Time (SAST) or the GMT +2 time zone.

Driving Side
Driving in Cape Town is done on the left side. The right lanes serve as priority lanes that you can use when overtaking.

Calling Code
21 is Cape Town’s area code. You can contact anyone in the area from the U.S. by dialing 011, then 27 (South Africa’s calling code) and the number you’re calling with the two-digit area code.

ISO 3166 code
ZA-WC is the ISO 3166 code for the Western Cape province, the area where Cape Town is located.

Internet TLD
South Africa’s TLD is .za.