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Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Partridge Point

The dive sites at Partridge Point, including Big Rock, Seal Rock, Deep Partridge, Dave's Caves, and Peter's Pinnacles are inshore rocky reefs at the southern end of the Castle Rocks restricted zone within the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area on the False Bay coast of the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Understand
Fish, seals and a wide range of invertebrates can be seen in surroundings which can be spectacular in good conditions. This site is at the southern edge of the Castle Rocks restricted zone, within the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area, where no fishing has been permitted for many years, and the result can be seen in the numbers of fish. This site is second only to Castle Rocks for the variety and numbers of fish to be seen at a Cape Peninsula dive site.

The site is large and there are a few areas that are fairly well known. Most of the rest is virtually unvisited by divers.

The Big Rock area has very varied reef profile with a few well known features, and is limited in depth to just over 20 m.

Seal Rock is popular with visitors who want to dive with seals. Local divers don't usually bother much with looking for seals as they are generally unavoidable around this general area, and instead head for the deeper parts of the reef east of Seal Rock, where there is some spectacular topography, as well as large gorgonian sea fans.

Peter's Pinnacles are a small section of the site, which is topographically interesting and biologically diverse, while remaining in the depth range for entry level divers.

Position

 * S34°15.285' E018°28.650'

The last point on the Cape Peninsula's False Bay shoreline north of Smitswinkel Bay. About a 4 km boat ride from Miller's Point slipway. The site known as Partridge Point includes the Big Rock area at the extreme south of the restricted zone, while Seal Rock is the large fairly low exposed rock furthest to the east of the point. Peter's Pinnacles are south west of the big rock, are just outside the restricted zone, and are not identified by any visible landmark.

Most of this area is in the Castle Rocks Restricted Area (no take zone), and all of it is in the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area (MPA proclaimed in 2004). A permit is required to dive, and spearfishing is prohibited.

Name
The area is marked on maps and charts as "Partridge Point", and the "Seal Rock" is named for the seals often seen basking on it. "Peter's Pinnacles" is named after its mapper. "Big Rock" is the highest rock above sea level of the area. The name "Deep Partridge" is simply descriptive, as it is the deep part of the Partridge Point reef complex to the east of Seal Rock. There is a small outlier reef area to the north of Seal Rock known as "Fish Tank", which was named by the divers who first dived there and recorded the position.

Depth
Maximum depth is about 26 m on the sand to the east of Seal Rock, but is nearer 17 m at Big Rock, and about 22 m at the swim-through south east of Big Rock on the edge of the reef. Peter's Pinnacles is mostly about 13 m on the sand. Parts of the reef extend to the surface, and there are a number of pinnacles of about 6m depth on top.

Visibility
Visibility can vary like any other dive site in the area, but in diveable conditions is likely to be between 5 and 10 m, and on a very good day, up to 20 m. It is generally similar to, but often not quite as good as visibility on the Smitswinkel Bay wrecks

Topography
This extensive reef is made up of large numbers of granite boulders and outcrops, some very large, and some of these extending above the surface by several metres. The reef is varied, some places it is low and made up of small boulders, rubble and low corestone outcrops, and in other places it is a wild chaotic jumble of huge boulders, perched on even bigger ridges and flatter outcrops, forming overhangs and swim-throughs in a few places. The reef is bounded by sand bottom to the south and east, and to the north by the continuation of the reef complex which extends almost as far as Castle Rocks in the shallows, and is of uncertain extent in deeper water. The reef at Partridge Point is partly divided by a number of sand tongues, and sand patches, which separate the reef into a number of sub-sites, which are described in more detail below.

Geology: Granite corestones of the Pre-Cambrian Peninsula pluton, and sand. Much of the sand is fine quartzitic sand typical of the Cape Peninsula beaches, but there are also scattered areas of gravel and shell. The unconformity between the granite and the overlying sandstones is a short distance above the road at this point, and can be clearly seen from the road at the corner just above Smitswinkel Bay, where the road turns inland towards Scarborough. The sandstone dips quite steeply to the west here, and slopes down to the roadside a short distance around the corner. The shoreline reef also has various sized boulders of Table Mountain Sandstone, which have broken loose from the mountainside over the millennia and ended up at the shoreline, where they have been weathered further, and the smaller ones rounded by surf action. When covered by benthic organisms, they look much the same as the granite boulders.

A peculiarity of the weathering process of granite leads to the development of domed top cavities under corestone boulders, possibly to prolonged intimate contact with damp and probably acid soil. When these boulders are later immersed in the sea due to sea level changes, the decayed rock (saprolite) is washed away leaving the domed roof cavities which can trap exhaled air from divers, or in rough weather, air entrained in the water resulting from breaking waves at the surface. These air trap caves when holding a pocket of air, have a visibly shimmering roof, and sometimes the air space is large enough for divers to stick their heads up into the gas pocket and talk to each other. It is not known exactly what the quality of the air in these pockets is like, so it is strongly recommended not to inhale it at any time, as it may be oxygen depleted, and passing out underwater is not good diving practice.

There are at least three air trap overhangs at Partridge Point.

Areas bordering on Partridge Point
To the south west, the reef extends a short way along the coast towards Smitswinkel Bay beach, where a major geological fault forms the boundary between the northern granite reefs, and the southern sandstone reefs. There is still granite present to the south, but it is below sea level for several kilometers, whereas from Partridge Point northwards, the shoreline and lower slopes of the mountainside are granite as far as Simon's Town.

There is an isolated exposed rock south of Peter's Pinnacle, sometimes known as The Anvil, due to its shape, and not to be confused with Anvil Rock on the SAN charts situated off Cape Point. The reef around this rock is said to be small.

There is an isolated pinnacle north of Seal Rock, with the top at about 5 m, and dropping very steeply to a small rubble and boulder reef surrounded by sand at about 20 m.

To the north of the point, and of Seal Rock, there is the great northern sand tongue, curving in an arc from the deep sand bottom at about 25 m, all the way to an exposed rock between the point and Big Rock. This is narrow in places and wide in others, and on the north side it blends into low broken reef, where it is difficult to draw a line between sand with rocks and rocks with sand. This can be seen on the main site map. To the north of this is more extensive rocky reef, and the dive site Atlantis Reef, and extending continuously to join the Finlay's Point reefs. Further offshore to the north is the dive site Finlay's Deep.

The small reef at Fish Tank is a short distance to the north of the main reef at Seal Rock/Deep Partridge, so it is included in the Partridge Point site description. A bit further northeast is an extensive area of reef known as Sherwood Forest, known for large numbers of large sea fans.

Considerable shoals of fish may be seen, and will sometimes follow a diver around. Hottentot seabream, Roman, Galjoen, Blacktail, Fransmadam and Zebra may be seen here, and also puffadder shy sharks.

Conditions
The site is often at its best after a north west wind, but may be good even during an easterly if it is not too strong and the swell has not built up yet. Surge may be considerable in long period swell even if low.

The site is exposed to south east wind and waves, and is moderately exposed to south westerly swell, particularly long period swell, which bends round Cape Point. A SSW swell with a medium to long period will hit this site hard. The site is usually at its best in winter but there are also occasional opportunities in autumn and spring, and sometimes even in summer a good day may occur.

Look for days when the forecast is for swell from the west, and preferably low. This can often occur just before a cold front gets to the peninsula, and in these cases the weather is often mild, even sunny, and with little wind in the day or two before the front arrives. During the passage of the front, the weather is generally windy, overcast and frequently rainy, but may still provide very good diving if the wind is not too strong for the boats to operate, as it will be offshore until the front has passed.

After the front has passed, in winter one can expect a day or two of good diving before the next front. In summer, a front is commonly followed by strong south easterly winds, which kick up an unpleasant short onshore chop which makes the boat ride uncomfortable and messes up the visibility.

Get in
Access is problematic for shore dives as it is necessary to cross through private land for the most direct route. Also it is a long walk down from the road, which is 100 m above sea level at this point, followed by quite a long swim to get to the popular sites. Access from Smitswinkel Bay requires the same climb, but a longer walk over a boulder beach, or a very long swim.

Because of this difficult shore access, this site is almost exclusively accessed by boat: Partridge Big Rock is about 4,2 km from Miller's Point slipway and 11.5 km from Simon's Town jetty. There is good anchorage in westerly winds to the south west of Big Rock on a sand bottom in about 17 m depth. There is also good anchorage on sand at about 13 m to the south and west of Peter's Pinnacles. Dives at the Seal Rock and Deep Partridge areas are usually done as live-boat dives, particularly if there is much surge. Picking up divers in this area can be tricky if they surface close to the rocks, as there can be a surface drift to the north caused by waves breaking over the reef shallows.

Anchoring on the reef is considered disrespectful of the ecology, as it tends to damage the reef animals. Shotlines should be used with care, as there are many places they may snag, and either damage the reef or require a diver to free them.

Do
Dive at one of the listed sites, and explore the vicinity, follow one of the routes, or explore an uncharted area and let us know what you find.

Northern outliers
Fish tank is a small section of reef to the north of Seal Rock across about 50 m of sand. It is just inshore of Sherwood Forest reef. The Fish Tank reef has a compact flat topped pinnacle which extends from the sand at about 18 m to a shallowest point at about 12 m, surrounded by a fairly small low reef of bedrock and boulders, about 50 m diameter. Fish tank is quite a pretty little reef and can be dived fairly comprehensively in one dive, but is nice enough to come back to occasionally.
 * S34°15.230' E018°28.930'.

Seal Rock and Deep Partridge lobe
This part of the reef complex is mostly east and north of the large but not very high exposed rock to the east of the point, which is often occupied by the Cape fur seals which give it its name.

An area near the north edge of the Seal Rock lobe, northeast of the exposed rock, enclosed on three sides by high reef.with deep gullies between.
 * S34°15.285' E018°28.937'.

The reef just to the east and south of Seal rock is quite shallow, and here you can be almost certain of being visited by seals, which is a big drawcard for tourists and visitors to Cape Town, but not particularly interesting to local divers who see seals often. The seals will buzz a diver and bark at you, and occasionally nibble your dive gear, but have not been known to bite without provocation. They can be entertaining for a while until you start getting dizzy from trying to follow their movements. The reef cover in these parts is the typical combination of Red Bait ascidians, brown seaweeds, kelp and coralline algae, with anemones, sea urchins etc. where they can find a gap.
 * S34°15.337' E018°28.892'.

The eastern edge of the reef is at about 25 m on fine sand. The south eastern part of the deeper reef is not very high profile, and has sand bottom between most of the outcrops, but as you get closer to the seal rock, and shallower, or further north, the vertical size of the larger rocks increases. This south eastern end of the reef is also known as the Gorgonian Forest, as there are large numbers of palmate, sinuous and flagellar sea fans, and the occasional multicolour sea fan. Between these are the usual dense aggregates of sea cucumbers, hydroids, strawberry and striped anemones, and feather stars.
 * S34°15.350' E018°29.000'.

There is a group of rocks with an arch swim-through at the end of a gap between outcrops, and a large, low headroom, cave at S34°15.331' E018°29.016'. Further inshore the bedrock slopes up gradually for a while with ridges and gullies, and at S34°15.327' E018°28.980' there is a pinnacle extending to within about 5 m of the surface, which is a convenient place to ascend if the surge is not too strong. There are several other, mostly lower, pinnacles scattered around this part of the reef, and many have not been mapped yet.

The reef edge further north swings round to the west in a large arc where the very long northern sand tongue interrupts the reef and forms the northern border of the Partridge Point Seal Rock area. The sand tongue does not appear to be very wide in the deep parts, and more reef can be seen to the north in good visibility, but this area across the sand has not been mapped yet (March 2022).

A large part of the north eastern part of the reef is higher than 15 m on top, and there are places on the lower part of the wall that are covered by a dense mat of colourful Hairy brittlestars, which give this area the alternative name of the Flokati Rug. Populations boom and bust, so there is no guarantee that there will be huge populations of brittlestars in any given season.

The northern sand tongue is much wider to the west, and then tapers down to a narrow point which swings south-west and ends right at the small but quite high rock near Dave's Caves to the north of the Big Rock.

Inshore and Central reefs
There is a swimthrough with a small air trap under the north and west sides of the exposed rock marking the inshore end of the great northern sand tongue, and a smaller low air trap overhang under the south side of the same rock. This was found years ago by divers doing shore dives from the point, and has been mapped as Dave's Caves.
 * S34°15.378' E018°28.704'.

Beyond the sandy patch to the north of the Big Rock is more moderate profile reef, partly mapped. To the north east is lower reef, extending towards a group of rocks which breaks the surface to the west of the seal rock, and interrupted by a narrow sand patch and short sand tongue. The inshore part of this lobe is quite shallow, with a fairly large area shallower than 6 m, and several low exposed and half-tide rocks in a fairly heavy kelp forest. The northwestern boundary of this section is the Great northern sand tongue, and the eastern boundary is the narrow sand tongue west of Seal Rock, and the sand south of that.
 * S34°15.400' E018°28.850'.

Southern lobe

 * S34°15.465' E018°28.788'.

This site is in the vicinity of the highest rock in the area. It is also further south and inshore of the other large visible rocks.

A tongue of sand bottom at a depth of about 16 m extends northwards to the west of the big rock, which is very sheer on the south west side, with an uninterrupted drop to the bottom near the south end, and to the east of this rock is a deep but narrow gap between it and two smaller surface breaking pinnacles, where large shoals of fish are sometimes seen.

There is a small air trap under an overhang at the north east side of the low rock to the east of the Big Rock. The overhang is several metres long and the air trap roof is at two levels, the lower being at about 6 m depth and the upper at about 4 m. The outer edge of the overhang droops downwards a few metres in places. This type of formation is characteristic of heavily weathered granites, and probably developed before False Bay was immersed at the end of the last Ice Age.

To the north of the Big Rock and the air trap rock is a sandy patch running east to west at about 14 m depth, which forms the northern border of this part of the reef.

About 50 m to the south-east of Big Rock exposed group of rocks, right at the border of the restricted area, is a big swim-through opening onto the sand to the south east, at a depth of 22 m, with relatively deep reef between the north side of the swim-through and the air trap rock. This swim-through is about 3 m wide and the roof is about the same height above the sand, while the top of the reef in this area is at about 15 m. The west side of the swim-through opens into a small sand bottomed depression at S34°15.482' E18°28.840', in the midst of high profile reef, and on the north side the swim-through forks and has another, smaller entry, which opens into a small chimney. A picturesque spot worth a visit.
 * S34°15.480' E018°28.845'.

To the east of the air trap overhang rock, and north and east of the swim-through, are deep cracks and high boulders, with some small swim-throughs and overhangs. This part of the reef bulges out about 50 m to the east and is bounded to the north by a small sand tongue. East of that is sand. There may be some more reef further east across the sand.

To the west of the Big Rock a tongue of sand extends in from the south, and to the west of that is more reef, largely unexplored, and which includes some high pinnacles along the edge of the sand (see Peter's Pinnacles, below). Even further west is another sand tongue which extends north towards the high exposed rock which marks the west end of the great northern sand tongue. There is some low reef to the north of the western sand tongue and then another sand patch which extends almost to the small high rock at the inshore end of the northern sand tongue. The western sand tongue extends to the shoreline reefs on the west side of the site.

Peter's Pinnacles lobe
To the south west of the Big Rock, and across a tongue of sand extending from the south, is an area of reef relatively unexplored before 2010, but now fairly well mapped. This is a moderately shallow area (max depth around 17 m at the south eastern edge, but mostly about 13 m on the sand) of boulders and outcrops, jumbled together to form some quite spectacular structures, with pinnacles, steep-sided gullies, overhangs, small caverns and swim-throughs.

To the west of the pinnacles is another sand tongue extending to the north and separating the pinnacles from the shoreline reef.

The main pinnacle to the south west of the site is a granite tor extending to within about 4 m of the surface at low tide, and about 30 m wide from east to west at the base. It has sparse kelp on top and this is visible at the surface at low tide. An idea of the structure can be gained from the illustration.
 * S34°15.515' E018°28.687'. (top of the main pinnacle)

There is a small cavern at the east of the base of the main pinnacle formed by a large boulder resting on top of other boulders, with a gap below. The cavern is about 5 m wide both ways, and about 1.5 m high. There are two main openings: The western access is via a narrow slot between the base of the pinnacle and a lower boulder about a metre away to the south. This slot curves to the left as it goes under the wide flat boulder which forms the roof of the cavern, and opens to the cavern proper at this point. Directly along the continued west wall of the cavern is the rear or northern opening, which is quite small, and a bit tortuous, and may not be big enough for some divers. The south opening is almost the full height and about a metre less than the width of the cavern, and is almost at the reef edge. The floor is also rock, fairly flat, at 13.2 m, it is about half a metre above the sand. Many lamp shells can be found inside the cave, as well as a couple of gorgonian fans.

The main outcrop of the pinnacle is nearly sheer sided with some overhang. on the west, south and east sides, and has a deep indentation on the north face. To the south is sand. To the west is a group of large lower outcrops with a couple of small tight swim-throughs. To the east is a steep high outcrop and a few lower rocks, then a large patch of sand.

About 30 m to the north, across an area of mostly low boulders with sand between them, are the northern pinnacles, a slightly larger but perhaps less impressive stack of boulders, also extending to within 6 m of the surface at three places, and also with a small swim-through with a hidden opening on the south face, and a more obvious opening to the north at about 10 m depth. These pinnacles also have sparse kelp on top, which may be visible at the surface at low tide.

To the east of the northern pinnacles are three high outcrops which extend to within 9 m of the surface. The reef to the north and east of these pinnacles is lower and more rounded. In the far east of this part of the reef there is a tunnel under a huge boulder which may be big enough to swim through. This boulder is 7.5 m deep on top. The tunnel has a sand bottom at about 16.5 m and is probably about 6 m long with a triangular section.

To the south east of the main pinnacle are a series of rocks which include the south eastern pinnacle, a massive outcrop which extends to within 6 m of the surface at low tide, and a number of lower outcrops, mostly 1 to 3 m high above the sand.

Marine life is extensive and varied. The reef is filled with life and colour. When one looks up on a day with good visibility and the reef is silhouetted, the sun filters through the kelp fronds on top of the reef, and the schools of fish in midwater make for stunning underwater scenes.

Routes
Big Rock — Start at the west side of the Big Rock, and descend to the bottom. Swim south east along the edge of the reef, round the corner at the big boulder perched on the reef, and then east as far as the swim-through. Spend a little time exploring the swim-through and environs, then head north-west until you get back to the area around the Big Rock. swim with the reef to your left, and with a bit of luck you will come to the small sand patch to the north of the exposed rocks, and the air trap overhang fairly high up the north face of the lower exposed rock, at a depth of about 6 m. It can easily be recognised by the narrow curved drooping part of the overhanging rock, a little like an elephant's trunk from some angles. If you have time and air to spare, swim west and cross the gully between the air trap rock and the Big Rock. Continue around the Big Rock along the western wall, and if you have the time, look into the gully between the southern end of the Big Rock and the south eastern exposed rock. Ascend slowly and try to time your ascent to be near the boat if it is anchored.

Dave's Caves — A shallow dive, so only comfortable in fairly flat conditions. Start at the low rock at the inshore end of the great northern sand tongue. Dive at this rock. The air trap overhangs and swim-throughs are under the north and south sides. Once you have looked at these holes, swim over to the south side of the tall rock to the west, where there are another two small holes. The kelp forest around this area can be quite pleasant on a quiet day, and worth a visit to see what fish may be around. Most divers will still have air after this, so choose a direction and explore. Charter boats may like to split a trip to Partridge point and dive here and at Seal Rock, giving the clients a seal dive and a kelp dive on the same cylinder, as both can be quite shallow.

Deep Partridge — Dives usually start on a shotline set towards the deep end of the reef, and spend a bit of time along the edge of the sand, after which it is suggested that you work your way west towards the shallower areas until the surge starts to become a problem, then move away over the deeper water to surface.

Gorgonian forest — This can be approached either directly by dropping a shotline in the area, or by following the reef edge to the south-east corner and then moving north west onto the reef about 20 to 50 m. This is a large area and not easy to miss.

Flokati rug — This area is the lower part of the reef edge to the north of the deep sector, and was named for the dense cover of brittle stars. You can find it by following the reef edge from the north sand tongue to the east, or the east reef edge toward the north. After visiting the brittle stars, work your way up to 15m and follow the contour to the north west for a pleasantly rugged topography with a few large overhangs and moderate pinnacles.

Peter's Pinnacles — This site is most conveniently dived by locating the main pinnacle with a fishfinder or by GPS, but at low tide the kelp on top may be visible. Drop in at the top of the pinnacle, which is at about 4 m depth at low tide, descend on the south side and visit the cave, which is quite easy to find, and just above the sand. To the west of this pinnacle are a pair of small swim-throughs on the sand bottom, and about 25 m north is another group of pinnacles, extending to within 6 m of the surface. There is a tight swim-through from the south to the north under the largest of the pinnacle boulders. The north entry is easier to find, as it is directly below the large boulder. The reef to the east of these pinnacles is high profile, with three rocks extending above 9 m depth in a sparsely scattered row bearing roughly south east and following the line of the reef edge. About 30m east of the last of these is a huge boulder perched on the reef just above the sand with a narrow but fairly straight triangular section tunnel under it.

If you still have enough air you can then swim across the sand patch about 70 m on a compass course of 210° magnetic from this pinnacle to the south eastern pinnacles, and then follow the row of lower rocks north west about 60 m to get back to the main pinnacle. The round trip is about 300 m point to point.

Prow Rock — Start at the southern edge of the reef, preferably directly south of the small blinder to the east of Seal Rock, but otherwise about south east of Seal Rock. Follow the reef edge to the east while keeping a lookout to the north. Stay a few metres over the reef as the Prow Rock pinnacle is about 10 m north of the sand edge. The rock is quite high and vertical on both sides and looks something like the bow of a shipwreck. After this you can move northeast over the reef to the Gorgonian Forest area, and with luck may find the Squash Court, a rock formation with two high, almost vertical walls on two sides of a flattish outcrop, with the third side somewhat lower.

Seal Rock — Divers who want to see the seals are usually dropped off to the southeast of Seal Rock, preferably near but not too near to a group of seals gathered at the surface. Seals tend to hang out over a shallow spot on days when the swell is low, as this probably gives some protection against predation from underneath, so the boat should generally not try to get too close. Get into the water, move a few metres towards the seals and descend to just above the reef, and wait for the seals to buzz you. It is difficult to take still photos as they move very fast, and change direction often, but wide angle or fisheye video often gives good results.

See
The combination of rugged topography and a varied and rich ecosysyem gives the diver something to see almost everywhere on the reef.

Marine life
There are extensive kelp forests in the shallower areas, and a heavy cover of invertebrates on the rocks. Large shoals of small fish such as Hottentot sea bream and Fransmadam are frequently seen, and smaller groups of larger reef fish such as Roman, John Brown, Two-tone fingerfin and Galjoen. Cryptic species such as klipfish and Redfingers are fairly common. Cape fur seals often visit divers at this site. They also spend a lot of time basking on the exposed rock named Seal Rock, or floating around in small groups with their flippers waving in the air.

Large areas of reef are covered in Red-chested sea cucumbers, sometimes so densely that the rock is not visible between them.

Big Rock
Big Rock is a good place to go to find nudibranchs: Inkspot nudibranchs, Cape dorids, and all three known local species of Tritonia have been seen here. At the swimthrough is a very photogenic whip fan, often attended by fish, and in the crevices inshore of the swimthrough is a lovely profusion of Palmate and Sinuous sea fans. Heading from the swim-through east along the reef edge, many octopus can be seen in the cracks of the rocks. Pipefish can also be seen at the reef edges and on the sand and False plum anemones are common on the reef. Look out for Walking anemones eating Multicoloured sea fans, and for territorial male Romans in crevices and overhangs. Hermit crabs are abundant and empty shells are hotly contested.

Seal Rock and Deep Partridge
Seals are an obvious feature of the shallower areas of this section of the site. Interesting nudibranchs, such as an undescribed species of Eubranchus, have been seen here, along with sea spiders, all hidden among densely packed Multicolour seafans, Cape urchins, and colourful sponges. Heading for the Deep Partridge section, large numbers of small Nippled sea fans, and larger Sinuous, Flagellar and Palmate sea fans can be seen. The deeper parts of the reef tend to have larger gorgonians, particularly the deep reefs to the east of seal rock and south of the great northern sand tongue.

In the deep section, the large gorgonians are often attended by basket stars, Cape long-legged spider crabs and Hotlips spider crabs. They are the favoured haunt of Blue-striped hermit crabs, and the favoured food of Ornate topshell snails. Bluespotted klipfish are often found resting on the Palmate sea fans.

Some sections of the deep reef are densely covered with brittle stars. Others are heavily encrusted with Strawberry anemones, Redchested sea cucumbers or Striped anemones. Worth looking out for among the Striped anemones is the Toothed decorator crab, which uses the anemones' habit of shooting sticky defensive threads through their body walls for its own defence when it is vulnerable post moulting. Elegant feather stars are the home to two newly described commensal species: a tiny myzostomid worm and a smallish shrimp, both worth looking out for. Unusual fish such as Cape and Bluefin gurnards are sometimes seen. A not specially unusual but very well camouflaged and hence rarely seen fish is the Smoothskin scorpionfish. They are spottable by the sharp eyed diver, usually because of an incautious movement on the fish's part.

Peter's Pinnacles
Being a much shallower section, there are few large gorgonians in this area, but many Multicoloured sea fans. Reef tops may be covered by a dense layer of the sea squirt known as Red bait, and in these areas there is also often a dense turf of upright coralline algae.

Otherwise, Serpent-skinned brittle stars are common, as are Spiny starfish, vividly coloured sponges, feather stars in dense mats and bushy moss animals. Sinuous sea fans are present in the deeper areas, often serving as an attachment for shy shark egg cases (mermaid's purses).

Other areas
The kelp beds and rocks in the area north of Peter's Pinnacles, at the inshore end of the great northern sand tongue are fairly shallow, not usually exceeding 8m depth, and would be a good area for snorkelling. This area also includes a number of small air trap overhangs, holes and swim-throughs, Particularly the two air traps under the low exposed rock just at the extreme tip of the great northern sand tongue, known as Dave's Caves, after the diver who reported their existence to the survey and mapping team.

Features
Big Rock area:
 * The air trap overhang at the north east of the rock to the east of Big Rock.
 * The wall on the west side of the Big Rock
 * The swim-through to the south east of Big Rock.
 * The jumble of boulders east of the Big Rock
 * The gap and deep narrow gulley just to the south and east of the big rock, where shoals of fish are often seen.

Seal Rock and Deep Partridge:
 * The sea fans and brittle stars at the eastern edge of the deep reef, at Gorgonian Forest and Flokati Rug.
 * The rock formations Prow Rock and Squash Court.
 * The seals — anywhere and everywhere, but particularly at Seal Rock.
 * A pinnacle with big overhang and swim-through at Joe's Spot.

Fish Tank
 * A small pinnacle with surrounding reef in the sand just north of Seal Rock

Peter's Pinnacles:
 * Peter's Pinnacles to the west of the area, with its little cavern under the rocks of the main pinnacle and several other pinnacles nearby.

Elsewhere
 * Dave's Caves under the north and south sides of the low exposed rock at the end of the great northern sand tongue. These are two smallish air trap overhangs, big enough for one diver to comfortably enter, but a bit tight for two. The rock has been weathered to form domed roofs to the overhangs, where air bubbles from diver exhalation will accumulate.

Photography
Good site for photography. In good visibility a wide angle or fisheye lens will give some spectacular views of the reef structure, and there are always lots of small invertebrates to keep the macro photographer entertained. There is usually enough suspended matter in the water to make backscatter a problem, so for anything other than macro work, an external flash is recommended.

Hazards
Strong surge in shallow areas and breaking waves over exposed rocks. The severity depends on the sea state, and it is usually not difficult to avoid the rougher areas.

The surge at this reef can be strong enough to wash seals off Seal Rock, although they are more than 2 m above the water, and the rock is about 50 m wide. This would be considered marginal diving conditions, and on such days divers should stay a safe distance from the rocks, and stick to the deeper parts of the reef.

The site has several fairly large rocks and groups of rocks extending above the water. It is possible to surface on the far side of a rock from the boat, and it may take some time for them to find you. This is normally only a problem if you are getting hypothermic, are unfit, or can not provide sufficient buoyancy due to overweighting or inappropriate equipment. Try to remain aware of where you are in relation to the layout of the reef, and let the skipper know where you are likely to go and how long you plan to dive, so the crew can keep a lookout in the most likely places. A DSMB can be inflated on the surface and held up as a marker to indicate where you are. Be prepared to spend a little time on the surface waiting for the boat, as they may have to pick up other divers before you, and they may be behind another rock.

Skills
Certification suitable for the planned depth is expected. No special skills are required. Reasonable buoyancy control is desirable to avoid damaging the reef life.

Equipment
A light will be useful for looking into crevices and overhangs. A compass will help to keep track of where you are, and is useful for navigating the routes described above.

A DSMB may be useful at the Seal Rock area if there is a lot of surge, as in these conditions it is not recommended to try to do safety stops over the pinnacles, and the shot line may have to be in deep water. A DSMB is also useful to attract the attention of the boat when you surface, as the site is large and the boat may be on the other side of a rock.

Nitrox can significantly extend no-decompression time at the deeper areas.

Nearby

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Finlay's Point to Partridge Point area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of Table Bay and approaches,
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast

 * Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches
 * Dive sites of False Bay east coast
 * Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area


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Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Penguin Point

The dive site Penguin Point or Boulders is a shoreline rocky reef in the Seaforth area of Simon's Town on the False Bay coast of the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Understand

This is a shallow dive site with easy access and good facilities.

Position

 * S34°11.889’ E018°27.254’

This is the point where Simon's Bay meets the south coast of the Cape Peninsula, and the coastline makes a distinct turn, becoming more exposed to the swell and winds from the southeast.

This site is in a Marine Protected Area (2004). A permit is required. The site is entirely inside the Boulders Restricted Zone.

Name
The beach at Seaforth in Simon's Town has been known as "Boulders Beach" for generations, due to the large granite boulders, both at the end of the beach, and scattered along the shore and shallow waters. The alternative name "Penguin Point" refers to the sanctuary and resident colony of Jackass penguins.

Depth
Quite shallow, generally less than 8 m.

Topography
Flat gently shelving sand bottom with occasional low rock outcrops. There is a line of high reef quite close inshore, and large shoreline boulders and gullies.

Geology: Granite of the late Pre-Cambrian Peninsula pluton, surrounded by white sand.

Conditions
The site is exposed to south easterly winds and waves, and sheltered from south westerly swells. The site is usually considered a winter dive, but there are also occasional opportunities at other times of the year.

Facilities
Tarred and demarcated parking area at the bottom of Bellevue road, usually with attendants. Security is good when parking attendants are on duty. There is a restaurant at the parking area, and clean toilets in good condition at the ticket office.

Get in
Usually a shore entry dive. There is good paved parking at the bottom of Bellevue road, sometimes full on a good day. Entry at the beach to the north of the parking area, from beach or the low rock at north-west of the beach, or from the deep and fairly steep gully to the west of the parking area, between two large granite outcrops. The beach access is controlled by SAN Parks Board and there is an entry fee.

The gully is to the left of the flat rock at the extreme right of the photo. Entry is from the flat rock. Inshore diving is along the rocks to the right of the photo and the reefs shown here.

Entry is from the far side of this rock into fairly deep water. Exit is to the left or right of the flat rock. Both of these places can get quite rough in an onshore wind. In an emergency exit round to the right at Boulders Beach, or at Windmill Beach to the left. Be careful of some rusty steel bars (foreground left of centre) and pipes.

Marine life
The rock outcrops are thickly covered by crinoids, grey sea cucumbers and sea squirts. White feathery sea pens in the sand retract when disturbed. Kelp forest over the reef. You may be exceptionally lucky and see penguins under water. They are common in this area but very shy in the water.

Photography
Be the first to post an underwater penguin photo from Penguin Point to this website.

Routes
No special routes recommended. The area to the east and south of the gully is interesting.

Hazards
No site specific hazards have been reported.

Skills
No special skills required. Suitable for novice divers and snorkellers.

Equipment
No special equipment recommended.

Nearby

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Seaforth to Froggy Pond area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of Table Bay and approaches,
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast

 * Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches
 * Dive sites of False Bay east coast
 * Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Percy's Hole

The Dive site Percy's Hole is an inshore rocky reef in the Rooi-els area on the east side of False Bay, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Understand

This is one of the best known and most interesting sites on the east side of False Bay. It is topographically varied and has a high biodiversity. The site is usually dived from the shore and the entry points are well protected, but require some effort to reach from the road.

Position
18 km South of Gordon's Bay, on the headland just to the north of the beach at Rooi-els.
 * S34°17.350’ E018°49.377’

This is not in a Marine Protected Area. A permit is not required.

Name
No-one seems to know who Percy is or was, and why this site should be named "Percy’s Hole", but it has been known by this name since before 1983.

Depth
The bottom is generally from 14 m to 20 m, unless you swim way out where 23 m can be found on the sand. The subtidal shoreline is unusually steep, and depths of over 10 m are very close to the water's edge. This site is probably the place in False Bay where the 20 m contour is closest to the shore. A depth of 14 m can be found within about 30 m of one of the entry points, and within 10 m horizontal distance of the nearest shore.

Visibility
Visibility is not usually very good. 3 to 5 m is fairly common, but occasionally 10 m+ has been reported. Good visibility is sometimes associated with cold water and often with long periods of offshore wind (South easterly) and low westerly component to the swell, but is not predictable with any certainty.

Topography
General layout The entry point is in the small gully to the left of the main gully, running inshore of, and parallel to, the two ridges. There is a stepped wall on the outside of the outer ridge, which is a good site for a night dive.

The gully drops down to 14 m depth between the heads. There is a stepped wall (2 levels) with an overhang at the bottom to the south, and extensive rocky reefs to the north, with a swim-through inshore of the exposed rock pinnacles (Seal Rocks). To seaward of seal rock there are high reefs, and to the north of these the bottom slopes down to a sand bottom at 23 m.

North east side of entry gully, sharp right: The mouth of the gully drops to 14 m. There are some big boulders lying on the bottom and a tall narrow outcrop with kelp on top. The shoreline wall to the north has quite a deep overhang and runs approximately east magnetic until it forms a strait between Seal Rock reef and the shore. It gets shallower until a huge boulder almost blocks the gully, close to where the bigger Seal Rock breaks the surface. Under this is the tunnel (swim-through) in a deep part of the gully. It has a nearly level bottom covered with small water-rounded boulders, and vertical access at the south end and in the middle. The north end access is stepped down into the tunnel by about a metre.

Beyond the tunnel the strait widens and is partly blocked by some large outcrops and boulders. The Seal Rock reef continues parallel to the shoreline for some way then tapers down. Beyond this, to seaward, the bottom flattens out and becomes a gently sloping pebble/gravel bed, ending at sand, This reef comprises large sandstone outcrops, and has deep overhangs along part of its length at the bottom of the north-eastern face. One overhang extends about two metres under the rock with a maximum height of about a metre, and is several metres long.

Far north-east: The shoreline of the north east of the north cove includes a small cave at the end of one of the deep gullies that indent the shoreline in this area. The gully bottom is at about 9 m, with small to medium rounded boulders on the bottom, then steps up vertically to about 5 m depth at the mouth of the cave. The cave is about 7 m wide at the mouth, and the roof is arched and extends to slightly above sea level at most tides. The cave is straight and approximately semi-elliptical in plan, extending roughly 20 m into the rock in line with the gully. The floor slopes gently up and the roof down to the back. There are a few large boulders and a lot of small ones on the floor, but the entrance is at all times at least partly visible from the back and would be classed as a cavern for diving. There is a fairly deep horizontal crevice at the base of the north side which is sometimes occupied by large numbers of White seacatfish.

Straight out from gully, and a bit to the right: From the gully mouth straight out there are low rocky outcrops. About 30 m out on bearing 030° magnetic there is the start of a high broken ridge of rock tending 355° true for 60 m with gaps, overhangs etc. The outcrops are of moderate and variable height.

This reef appears to be a continuation of the ridge to the north east of the gully above sea level. The top of this ridge gets slowly deeper further out before ending quite suddenly. The far part of the reef is fairly low, followed by a high pinnacle and drop-off to seaward, and borders on course pebble gravel with occasional small boulders. (This is also the end of the reef described in the previous section). To the south west of this is a low area with sand and pebble bottom and occasional low rock outcrops that starts quite close inshore, about 45 m to seaward of the ridge in front of the entry gully, and extends to magnetic north as far as the edge of the reef. Much of this sandy area is in line with the entry gully, and may well be an underwater extension of the same topographical feature, formed during the last ice age when the whole of False Bay was above sea level.

The far end of the ridge then tends about 087° magnetic for about 60 m and rises from a pebble bottom at about 18 m to the top at about 12 m. The wall is very sheer in places, with long deep overhangs at the bottom. The shoreward end is shallower and the ridge tapers down to meet the bottom which shelves up more gradually. The seal rock reef is inshore of this area.

South west side of gully, sharp left: The depth is about 12 m at the base of the shore wall which is to the left of the gully (south west). The wall is in two sections, The deeper section is from the bottom at about 12 m to about 6 m, where it shelves shoreward to the ridge which breaks the surface to the south west of the gully mouth. The deeper section of the wall is undercut quite deeply but with not much headroom, and the bottom is sandy near the wall.

Geology: Ordovician Sandstones of the Table Mountain group, probably Peninsula formation (uniformly light grey, medium to coarse grained, well bedded quartzitic sandstone. Strike is roughly north east, and dip about 25° south east.

Conditions
The site is exposed to south west swell. Long period swell will result in deep surge, poor visibility and a fairly rough entry and exit. The site is usually at its best during or after south easterly wind in summer, but there are also occasional opportunities in winter when there has been a spell of calm weather with no big storms in the South Atlantic.

This is an area which sometimes has cold water upwellings after the south east wind, and occasionally these upwellings bring clear cold water and excellent diving. Keep a lookout for times when the swell forecast is short period and low, or is not from the south west. Do not worry about south easterly winds, as this site is very well protected from them, and is diveable when the wind is almost too strong to stand at the parking area. If you dive in these conditions, avoid surfacing more than 50 m or so offshore, as the wind may then make a surface swim back to the gully uncomfortable and strenuous. Winter storms may bring in broken kelp to cover the bottom below the walls, and the visibility is then likely to be poor due to suspended organic matter.

A combination of a high tide with moderate south west swell can make conditions tricky for exits at the gully when waves can break over the ridge from the south west and cause a rip current to flow out through the side gullies and heads which can be difficult to swim in against. In these conditions consider alternative exit points or move in along the bottom, pulling yourself along the rocks and kelp.

Facilities
Paved parking bay on seaward side of the road (R44). Sometimes crowded in the Kreef (Rock lobster) season but usually adequate.

Get in
Shore or boat: Boat dives can be done from Rooi-Els, Gordon’s Bay or Hangklip, but unless you can arrange to launch at Rooi-Els it is a long ride. The charter boats launch from Gordon's Bay, mostly from Harbour Island

Access to the slipway at Rooi-els is limited to local ratepayers, and the slip is very small and the water shallow, so it is not often used for diving.

For this reason dives at Percy's are mostly done from shore entry, as the shore access is quite good, though quite a long walk and the path is rough, muddy, steep in places and may be slippery when wet.

How to get there by road: Parking is on the seaward side of the road from Gordon's Bay (R44 - Faure Marine Drive) on a paved parking bay at S34°17.404’ E018°49.398'.

Paths on site: Walk down the path that goes to the right from the north end of the parking area (see map) then turns left at the grassy patch (see middle foreground of photo), then turns right again towards the gully. This part of the path may be a bit obscured by bush, but it runs parallel to the rocky ridges which slope down to the gully. The middle part of this section of the path is often muddy due to springs, and it becomes rocky lower down.

The path down to the gully is in the middle of this view, taken just below the right hand cross, which has no known connection with the site name. The path is almost always muddy and after rains there may be a small stream running under the bush. The path is slippery and frogs may be seen.

Entry and exit point Entry and exit is in a shallow branch of the gully to the south of the main inlet. This entry point is quite well protected from waves and is accessible when the swell is reasonably low. If inaccessible, visibility will be poor, and it will not be worth diving. The gully may be safe for entry and exit even if there is a significant amount of white water at the mouth, as the side gullies and kelp dissipate a lot of the power of the waves. (See note under "Conditions"). Swim out to the gap between the rocks at the gully mouth and descend to 14m in the centre.

Do
Dive at some of the points of interest listed here, and explore the local reef on the way to each point, or follow one of the routes.

 * S34°17.275’ E018°49.415’. The swimt-hrough is a gully with a few very large boulders wedged into the top, covering a spacious swim-through with a bottom of small rounded boulders, which can be reached from both the gully entry and the north entry, with roughly equal convenience, as it is about half way between then.

From the gully mouth descend to the local bottom, and swim with the slope of the reef to your right until you reach the south end of the swim-through, which is a vertical entry. Descend to the bottom of the hole and continue through the gully under the huge boulder, and out the north end of the tunnel.

From the north entry point, descend to local bottom and swim along the bottom of the slope with reef to your left until you reach the north entrance to the swim-through. Enter and swim to the far end, where the hole at the top will be visible. Exit through this hole.

To reach the gully from a boat drop, the easiest route is to enter a bit to the southwest of the seal rocks, descend to the bottom, head northwest to the edge of the high reef and follow it with reef to your left until you reach the vertical south entry to the swimthrough. In a strong surge this may not be a safe route.

 * S34°17.195’ E018°49.490’. The cave is most easily reached from the north entry, as a surface swim, as it is at the north end of the second gully from the east on the north side of the cove.

 * S34°17.275’ E018°49.370’ This is easily accessible by boat. Just drop in at the mark. For shore access it is a moderately long swim and usually a waypoint on a swim round the high reef, often via the tunnel swim-through.

 * Normally done as a shore entry from the gully, where it is very easy to find. Descend in the gully mouth, and swim with the wall to your left, around the corner and along the wall until it turns sharply at the southwest end. This is a suitable site for a shore entry night dive, best done when there is enough moonlight after the dive to help with the climb back to the parking area.

Routes
These routes are shown on the map.
 * 1) The scenic route: Enter at the gully. Descend to 14 m at the heads, and swim roughly East, keeping the shore wall to your right until you get to the swim-through. After the swim-through keep the pinnacle wall on your left until facing North West. Keep the reef on your left and follow it out for about 60 m until it ends. This is about the half way mark. Swim around the reef anticlockwise on a bearing of roughly 210° magnetic. When the high reef runs out swim about 180° magnetic until you reach the shore wall, turn right and follow the shore wall back to the boulder at 14 m where the wall turns sharp right at the gully mouth. Do your safety stop at the mouth of the gully unless the surge is uncomfortable. You can surface at the mouth of the gully, or swim in along the gully and try to find the side gully to the right which is the entry and exit area. This is quite shallow, and usually full if kelp. This is quite a long dive if you like to take your time. Allow 45 minutes to an hour and a half. The distance is about 400 m.
 * 2) The wall: Enter at the gully. Descend to 14 m at the heads and swim keeping the wall on your left. The wall turns to the left and the bottom is shallower at the far end. This is a good area for a night dive as it is easy to find your way back. Bottom depth at the wall is about 12 m. This area is close to the exit point, which can be found by retracing your track back to the gully. Allow about 5 to 10 minutes for a return to the gully from the far end of the wall. This is a short route, and the point is to spend the time looking at critters on the wall. Total distance about 250 to 300 m.
 * 3) The cave: The cave is not particularly easy to find underwater, as the landmarks in the area are rather similar, so it is suggested that you swim to the cave on the surface and return along the bottom, keeping the reef to your left and passing through the swim-through on your way back to the gully mouth. The north entry is nearer to the cave and may be more convenient if you plan to dive only in this part of the site. If you choose to try to find the cave by swimming to it underwater, get down to about 8 m depth from the north entry, or from the north side of the swimthrough, and keep the reef to your right until you find yourself in the gully. At the end of the gully, ascend over the sill of the cave mouth at about 5 m and you will be in the cave. The distance from north entry to the cave and back is about 400 m, and should not take more than about 45 minutes if you don't get lost. Quite a bit longer from the gully - about 350 m each way.

Marine life
The marine life is varied and abundant, There is a variety of soft corals, colonial ascidians and sponges here that are not easily found on this side of False Bay. Invertebrates

This is a popular area for ring netting of West coast rock lobster in season, and at most times of the year they are fairly common. There are hardly any abalone left, but the closely related "Venus ear" or "Siffie" can be found among the red bait pods in the shallows.

An unusually large variety of nudibranchs may be found here if you have a sharp eye, lots of luck and time to search. Some of them, such as the Giraffe-spot nudibranch, are tiny and hard to see, while others such as the Orange dorid, which live on an encrusting sponge of the same colour, are incredibly well camouflaged. In compenstion, there are bigger brightly coloured species such as the Gas flame and Ink-spot nudibranchs which are both larger and usually contrast strongly with the background, making them easy to see. The silver tipped nudibranch is also easy to find, simply because there are so many of them.

This site provides a habitat range which is uncommon in sites accessible from the shore, and there are large areas of shallow water species, dominated by the large solitary ascidian known as "Red-bait", which in turn provides a highly rugose habitat sheltering and providing a substrate for a large range of smaller invertebrates.

In deeper water the red-bait is less common, and the reefs themselves are complex and have highly structured surfaces, with large and small crevices and profiles ranging from relatively flat to very rugged, also encouraging a wide variety of benthic invertebrates. As a result, this site has a variety of gorgonian sea fans, soft corals, noble corals, false corals and other bryozoans and cnidarians. There are also a fine variety of sponges and colonial ascidians.

Features

 * Small cavern just below sea level to the north of the site.
 * Swimthrough with chimney.
 * 12 m wall right at the shoreline.

Photography
This is a very good site for photography of invertebrates, and a number of sightings of rare organisms have been made here. Visibility is seldom very good, so Macro equipment or an external flash is recommended. Wide angle can also work if you are lucky enough to have good visibility.

Hazards
Shore access requires a walk down a muddy and slippery path and some scrambling over rocks. Surge may be strong in the gullies and swim-through. At high tide there may be a rip current flowing out through the heads. This can be overcome quite easily by pulling yourself along the bottom. If you dive during a strong south easterly wind, avoid swimming back on the surface, as the wind will hinder your progress, and could blow you offshore.

There may be broken glass or other garbage on the path; use footwear.

There are baboons at Rooi-els. There have been no reports of them troubling divers at Percy's Hole, but take the usual precautions and don't leave food in sight, or car doors unlocked or windows open.

Skills
No special skills are required. The site is suitable for novice divers and some areas are good snorkelling for those who can go deep enough. Moderate fitness and agility is required for shore dives.

This is a good site for night dives as they can be done close inshore along the wall, though the climb back up the path may be tricky in the dark.

Equipment
A light is useful for illuminating under overhangs and restoring true colour. A compass is convenient for keeping track of where you are. Hard soled booties or some other form of shoe are strongly recommended for the walk to and from the gully. Your footwear will get muddy.

Nearby

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Rooi-els area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of Table Bay and approaches,
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula east coast
 * Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches

 * Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area


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Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Phil's Bay

The dive site Phil's Bay is a shoreline rocky reef in the Gordon's Bay area on the east side of False Bay, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Position
This site is not in a Marine Protected Area. A permit is not required.
 * S34°11.199’ E018°49.133’

Name
The name "Phil's Bay" is of unknown origin.

Depth
Maximum depth is about 14 m.

Visibility
Visibility on a good day is likely to be 5 to 6 m, and is quite likely to be less. On a very good day it may be as much as 10 m.

Topography
Sand bottom at about 14 m, then moderate relief reef of sandstone rocks and ridges with sandy gaps running more or less parallel to shoreline. Gets more rugged closer to shore, and remains deep quite close inshore.

Geology: Ordovician sandstones of the Table Mountain formation, and a sand bottom.

Conditions
Best after south-easter, but swell must be low.

The site is exposed to swell and wind from the south west and to a lesser extent north west, so should be dived when the sout west component of the swell is low, and is likely to be good in or after south easterly winds. The site is usually at it's best in summer but there are also occasional opportunities in other seasons.

Get in
Boat dive. The site is about 5.0 km from Gordon's Bay harbour or 5.4 km Harbour Island.

Marine life
Rocks overgrown with the usual red bait in the shallower areas and feather stars in deeper places. Sponges and sea fans brighten up the scene, and a variety of smaller critters are there to be found.

Photography
Macro photography is most likely to produce good results.

Routes
No particular route recommended. There may be a slight current, so plan your dive to surface where you can get back to the boat.

Hazards
No site specific hazards reported.

Skills
No special skills required. Suitable for night dives if conditions are appropriate.

Equipment
No special equipment recommended.

Nearby

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Gordon's Bay area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of Table Bay and approaches,
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula east coast
 * Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches

 * Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area


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Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Phoenix Shoal

The dive site Phoenix shoal is an inshore rocky reef and historical wreck in the Seaforth area on the False Bay coast of the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Position
Wreckage is 80 m due 001°T (025°magnetic) from the rock that covers. About 440 m offshore at Phoenix shoal, to the east of the Simon’s Town harbour, towards Noah’s Ark rock.
 * S34°11.388' E018°26.898'

This site is in a Marine Protected Area (2004). A permit is required. The site is entirely inside the Boulders Restricted Zone.

Name
The Phoenix was a British ship of 500 tons, built in 1810. It was wrecked a little to seaward of Phoenix Shoal in Simon's Bay on 19 July 1829 while on a voyage from Ceylon with passengers and a cargo of sundries, part of which was saved. No lives were lost. She was armed with two cast iron cannon. Some of the iron ballast can be seen on the reef, while her stem lies buried in sand.

Depth
Maximum depth is about 10 m. Parts of the shoal reach the surface, and there is an extensive area of shoal shallower than 6 m.

Visibility
Visibility is not generally very good, though it may be better than the more exposed areas of the bay when the wind is southerly or south easterly. On the other hand, if the water is reasonably flat, the visibility is not usually very bad, and this is a site which may be diveable when others are too murky.

Topography
Scattered low to medium profile reef on flat sand bottom. Whale vertebra and rib or jawbone on sand. Encrusted iron wreckage on sand at S34°11.388', E018°26.898'. Buried but with a bit showing above the sand. Probably structure of the Phoenix. The wreckage mostly lies in a gap between two shallower sections of reef at the north eastern side of Phoenix shoal, as shown on the map.

Geology: Late Pre-Cambrian granite of the Peninsula pluton and fine quartz sand.

Conditions
This is a shallow dive, in an area well protected from south west swell, but quite exposed to the north-westerly wind, which may raise a bit of a chop and make it difficult to find the wreck, though unlikely to cause much surge. The north-wester can cause a current that sets east in this area. The site is also exposed to south easterly winds and chop.

The site is usually at it's best in winter, but there are also occasional opportunities during other times of the year.

Facilities
Parking is adequate and tarred (since the aerial photo). The parking area is used by tour buses, use the smaller marked bays. There are three major parking areas close to the beach, with paved pathways to the beach and easy shore access to the water. There is a restaurant and public toilets near the eastern parking area.

Get in
Usually a shore dive, but also sometimes accessed by boat from Miller's Point slipway or Simon's Town jetty.

Turn off the main road into Martello road at the IMT sign at the end of the long brick wall enclosing the navy dockyard. Pass the sportsground and park behind the IMT building. Access to the beach is through the gate to the beach to the right of the IMT main gates, over the dunes to the beach. The water is shallow to the left near the building and there is some dense kelp around the boulders.

There is also parking and beach access down Seaforth road, a little further southeast. The parking is paved to the east and gravel to the west, and between these parking areas there is a public toilet. Between the paved parking and the sea there is a restaurant.

The site is about 5.2 km from Miller's Point slipway, and about 2.2 km from Simon's Town jetty, which is at the bottom of Wharf street.

Features
Wreckage of a wooden ship of historical interest.

Photography
This is not a site with much to photograph, and macro equipment is most likely to produce worthwhile results. Occasionally in good visibility it may be possible to get good results with a wide angle lens and natural light.

Routes
Swim straight out to the wreck on the surface, Dive and explore the wreckage, then swim back to shore on compass bearing 255° magnetic.

Hazards
No site specific hazards known.

Skills
No special skills required.

Equipment
No special equipment required, A compass is useful for navigating back under water at the end of the dive.

Nearby

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Seaforth to Froggy Pond area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of Table Bay and approaches,
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast

 * Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches
 * Dive sites of False Bay east coast
 * Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area


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Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Photographer's Reef

The dive site Photographer's Reef also known as JJM Reef is an inshore rocky reef in the Seaforth area of Simon's Town on the False Bay coast of the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Understand
This site is at a depth which allows long dive times without decompression, is quite small and compact, with a rugged relief and interesting topographical features including several small caverns and swim-throughs, and has a diverse ecology. This is a good site for invertebrate photography. It is near enough to shore and convenient parking for a fit diver to visit from a choice of shore entries, and there are several other small isolated reefs in the vicinity, making the area very suitable for navigation exercises, and it is part of the Long coastal underwater orienteering dive #1 from Pumphouse gully to Noah's Ark to Boulders Beach.

Position

 * S34°11.847’ E18°27.437’
 * S34°11.945’ E18°27.287’ (entry and exit point)

Bearings for Photographer's Reef:
 * 207° magnetic to north point at Windmill Beach.
 * 282° magnetic to concrete platform on the rock at Penguin Point (Boulders).
 * 355° magnetic to middle of Noah’s Ark.
 * 219° magnetic to pole beacon at Windmill Beach

Ranges:
 * Approximately 300 m from Penguin Point gully on 097° magnetic.
 * Approximately 415 m from Windmill Beach North entry on 033° magnetic.

This site is in a Marine Protected Area (2004). A permit is required. The site is entirely inside the Boulders Restricted Zone.

Name
The reef is marked on SA Navy charts as "Photographer's Reef". The alternative name "JJM Reef" is from the 1980s and is said to derive from the initials of three divers who discovered the reef as a dive site, and gave it the name: John Hurter, Josh (surname not known), and Mike Wright.

Depth
Maximum depth is on sand bottom at about 13 m (14 m at high tide), top of the reef is about 3 m.

Visibility
Visibility is variable and to some extent correlates with wind direction. If the wind has been blowing from the north west, the visibility is likely to be better than if it is from the south east. 10 m would be considered good, but the site is worth diving even when visibility is less, though less than 5 m would be considered poor. Visibility is likely to be better in winter than in summer.

Topography
Photographer's Reef proper is a compact cluster of high profile granite outcrops and boulders with deep gaps and cracks, deep overhangs, and a few swim-throughs.

There are other reefs in the general area, as shown on the map, but these are lower and lack the complexity of Photographer’s Reef.

Geology: Granite of the late Pre-Cambrian Peninsula pluton. The rock formations at this site are a "drowned granite tor". A tor is an exposed group of weathered rocks, commonly igneous, usually on top of the bedrock, and formed by weathering of the rock along fracture planes. In the case of the Peninsula pluton, the spheroidal weathering is thought to have occurred largely while the rock was below the surface of the soil, and the feature was later exposed by erosion of the softer saprolite, leaving the boulders stacked in approximately their original positions. At the end of the last ice age, the sea level rose to submerge them. A good example of a similar feature above sea level is the peninsula at Castle Rocks

Conditions
The site should be diveable if Windmill Beach north entry is OK, and in moderate north westerly winds, but be aware that for a shore dive the long swim back may be a problem in an offshore wind. If the wind is blowing from the north west there may be a surface drift which will set you out to sea from your compass course. Check bearings frequently and adjust course to allow for drift. Use back bearings on a surface swim.

Returning on the bottom or in midwater on a compass bearing is convenient if your air is sufficient. (630 litres was enough for the map-maker to swim all the way back to the beach at Windmill on the bottom in a dry-suit. Your mileage may differ). Make sure you are on the right course, and check that the bottom gets shallower. Divers have been known to swim the wrong way and have had to get a lift back from a fishing boat.

The site is usually at its best in winter but there are also occasional opportunities in autumn and spring.

If a strong south east wind comes up during the dive it may make the exit at Pumphouse Gully difficult, and it may be better to swim round the point to Boulders Beach or to use Windmill north cove.

Facilities
Tarred and demarcated parking area at the north side of the bottom of Bellevue road, usually with attendants. Security is good when parking attendants are on duty. There is a restaurant at the parking area, and clean toilets in good condition at the ticket office to the penguin sanctuary to the north.

Limited parking at the end of Links Rd. This area has a history of vandalised vehicles and theft, and there is a slight risk of being hit by a golf ball. (The parking area is right next to a green of the Simon's Town golf course, separated by a chain-link fence). There are municipal public toilets and changing rooms on the path to the beach, which are usually shabby and not very clean. They include a fresh water shower which sometimes works.

Get in

Photographer's reef is usually considered a boat dive. The site is about 4 km from Miller’s Point slipway. These reefs can also be dived as a shore entry dive from North Windmill Beach or a gully south of the parking area at Penguin Point. Either of these entry areas can be reached by driving south through Simon’s Town on the M4 (Queens Road), and turning left into Bellevue road at the golf course.

Windmill Beach shore entry: Turn right from Bellevue road into Links road, and park at the end. See Windmill Beach site description for entry details. This parking area is small and not secure.

Penguin Point shore entry: There is a tarred parking area to the left at the bottom of Bellevue road, usually with attendants. Park as near to the entrance as possible. Go through the wooden gate in the low wall on the south side of the lower end of Bellevue road, which leads to a path alongside the garden walls of the adjoining houses. This path goes behind a dense thicket, then curves down to the south of a large rock outcrop just off the shoreline. Mind the penguins — there may be nesting burrows under the grass. There is a cubic concrete pumphouse structure to the south of the small entry gully (known as Pumphouse Gully), and the gully has a tiny beach at low tide. This entry area is well protected from waves, but can be rather shallow at low tide.

When there is a wind from the north west, the wind chop can push water between the rocks to the north of the head of the gully, and this water takes the easy way out through the east opening where you would swim to get in and out. Going out is no problem, but the current can make getting back in a bit of work. If you have enough air left the easy way to deal with this is to go down and pull yourself in against the current by using the rocks and kelp for hand-holds. The gully is shallow, and unlikely to be deeper than about 2 m maximum in the part with the current.

Do
Dive at one of the listed drop points and explore the reef around that point, or follow one of the routes.

 * S34°11.847’ E18°27.437’. Large, rounded, granite corestones rising almost vertically from the flat sand bottom. There are narrow and wide crevices, some from about 5 m below the surface down to the full 13 m depth. There is also a small swim-through cavern at the south west side at the bottom, and another lower one slightly further to the north, also on the west side. A long very deep gully or crack runs magnetic north/south, but is too narrow to swim through without touching the sides below about 6 m, and two wider gullies from the east and north east, one leading to a small cavern and the other to a swimthrough. In the middle of the northern part of the reef is a depression, or bowl, formed where several cracks meet. At the bottom of this is a very low headroom cavern under a boulder wedged into the gap, and a swim-through leading to the west side, between the previously mentioned caverns. These features are shown on the detail map.

 * S34°11.871’ E18°27.459’. This is a low reef about 30 m across the sand to the south of Photographer's. It is about 8.5 m deep on top, and is fairly flat, with no spectacular features. The area is similar to Photographer's Reef.

 * S34°11.751’ E18°27.394’. A low reef to the north. It is also relatively flat and rises gradually from about 13 m on the sand to about 9 m at the shallowest point. It is of similar area to Photographer's reef and is about 130 m away on a bearing of magnetic north. On the way there are two isolated rocks: the first a long ridge a bit over a metre high with an almost separate end to the south, and the second a low roundish outcrop about 3 m diameter. They are slightly to the east of the direct route. They have been named the "Exclamation mark" and "Full stop" due to their shapes.

 * S34°11.899’ E18°27.374’. The reef to the south west is "Compass Reef", and it is mostly relatively low and made up of a number of quite small outcrops, except for a section of fairly high reef at the west side of the area, this extends up from the sand bottom at about 8 to 9 m to shallower than 6 m. This reef is a landmark on the way to and from Photographer's Reef if it is dived from a shore entry at Pumphouse Gully.

Routes

A swim round the reef will take about 30 minutes at a leisurely pace. Look into the overhang caverns on the western side of the reef, and in the bowl in the middle of the reef. Refer to the detail map for an indication of where the interesting topographical features are located. Note that some of these are at the base of the reef, and others are a few metres above the sand. Most can be found within the depth range of 8 to 12 m, so a circumnavigation in this depth band should allow you to see most of the features. Keep a lookout up and down so you don't miss any.
 * 1) Generally considered a boat dive. Boats usually launch from Miller’s Point slipway, and will usually put down a shotline on the sand near the reef to avoid damage to the reef. Dive around the reef and either return to the shotline, send up your DSMB for ascent, or ascend up the reef if conditions are suitable and do your safety stop on top of the reef where there are things to look at while you wait.
 * 2) Route from a shore entry at North cove at Windmill Beach: Surface swim from a North cove entry at Windmill beach, using a back bearing of 220° magnetic to the post on the rock near the changing rooms. Swim out until Noah’s Ark centre is bearing 355° magnetic, the concrete platform on the top of the rock at Penguin Point is bearing 282° magnetic, and the north point of Windmill rocks is bearing 219° magnetic. Look for kelp under the surface to confirm you are on the reef.  Dive the reef until you reach the pressure required to return underwater (probably about 100 bar on a 12 litre cylinder, but do your own calculation to suit your personal air consumption), then leave from the southern end of reef. Compass swim along the sand bottom to shore on bearing 220° magnetic There are a few small reefs on the way back about half way to the North Point of Windmill Beach.
 * 3) Alternative route from a shore entry at the gully south of Penguin Point: Enter at the Pumphouse gully south of Bellevue road. Swim out to just past the group of low exposed rocks east of the long high rock at the north side of the gully. Descend at the east side of these rocks onto the sand and swim about 50 m on a bearing of roughly 45° magnetic until you reach Compass reef. Cross over Compass reef and swim from the east side of the reef on a bearing of 060° magnetic for about 120 m.This should take you to the south west corner of Photographer's Reef near the cavern. On this route you are likely to see a large number of the white Feathery sea pens in the sand in the shallower water, and Purple sea pens as it gets deeper.
 * 4) A circumnavigation near the base of the reef, with a visit to the caverns and swim-throughs, followed by exploration along the major cracks and ending on top of the reef is recommended. The more open cracks from west to east are connected to the long deep crack from north to south in the middle of the reef. The deeper faces of these cracks are populated by large numbers of small brachiopods.

The route shown on the map will take you to almost all the topographical points of interest on a single dive of about half an hour, depending on your speed. It includes penetration of a small cavern and transit of several swim-throughs. The route is intended for shore entry dives, but can be done on boat dives, if you find the start point first, which is the overhang cavern at the south-west corner of the reef, at the sand bottom. Start by swimming into the overhang cavern and follow the back wall to the left, where you will exit in a sand bottomed gully. Turn right and swim through the tunnel under a large rock wedged in the gully, and into the small cavern under the bowl. This cavern has several small openings around the sides, but they are mostly too small for divers, so turn around and retrace your path to the sandy gully. Keep the reef to your right and follow the edge of the reef round to the right (north then east). There is a small overhang just round the corner, then a few small outcrops and a gap to the south. skip this, and go on round the next big boulder, and take the gap between this and the pinnacle a bit further to the north west. This will take you through a gully and a small swim-through to a short gully opening to the left (north west), onto the sand. Stay deep, and keep the reef to your right again as you go round a moderately high outcrop and into a narrow gully leading back into the reef. At the far end of this gully is a small cavern to the left which is a bit small to enter. Swim up over this cavern and over the ridge to the next gully, which is narrow and leads back south east to the sand. Then swim along the side of the reef with the rock to your right until you reach a very narrow and deep gully which runs right through the reef. It is too narrow to swim through at the bottom, so ascend to where it is wide enough to transit without damaging the reef invertebrates living on the sides, and follow the crack through the reef. It branches to the left about half way, but continue with the main crack until you reach the bowl at the north end. This is a hollow in the reef is almost surrounded by high rocks. The rock at the bottom is the roof of the cavern you went through early in the dive. To return to the starting point, either swim over the pinnacle to the west, or go back part way along the crack to the branch, and follow this over the reef and down, where it ends just south of the overhang cavern.

Marine life
Marine life is typical of the area. The reef is heavily encrusted with Common feather stars, Red bait, Red-chested and Mauve sea cucumbers, false corals and encrusting sponges. Areas with dense populations of brachiopods (lamp shells) can be found in some of the deep crevices. Kelp grows on the upper parts of the reef, but it does not reach the surface and is only visible from the surface when you are over the reef. There is a large variety of invertebrates but usually not many big fish.

There are reports of exceptionally large lobster in some of the crevices in the caverns. They are protected, as this site is in a no-take zone.

Also commonly seen in the crevices and exhibiting a certain skill at remaining just out of photographic range, are small numbers of White seacatfish. Very occasionally, the males can be seen mouth brooding marble-sized translucent orange eggs.

At times there may be huge numbers of Red-chested sea cucumbers covering parts of the reef. It seems that the breeding season for these animals is around August, when mind-boggling numbers of tiny juveniles appear at much the same time on many reefs, and coat them with an almost continuous layer of millimetre scale sea cucumbers of a pale pinkish orange. These grow rapidly and by the end of September are near full size at about 2 to 4 cm, and make large areas bright red. At times they are so densely packed that there is no space between them.

Features
There are several interesting and fairly spectacular topographic features at Photographer's Reef. These are shown on the detail map, and include:
 * Two small overhang caverns, one of which has several boulders partially blocking the opening, so there are several ways in and out.
 * One small cavern formed by a large boulder resting on others at the bottom of a gully, with a number of small openings to the outside and other gullies, too small for use as swim-throughs.
 * Several swimthroughs formed by boulders wedged into gaps between outcrops.
 * Several long narrow and deep cracks between the major outcrops. Some of these provide shelter for fairly large sea fans, and large colonies of brachiopods.

Photography
As the name implies, this is a good photographic site. Macro and Wide angle lenses are likely to be most versatile.

On most dives the visibility will be most conducive to close-up work, involving macro or wide angle shots of the invertebrates, but if the visibility is good, the spectacular topography will provide opportunities for good scenic views, also most likely to work with wide angle and fisheye lenses. Use widely spaced external strobes for anything other than macro work to minimise backscatter, or on a really good day, try natural light.

Hazards
No site-specific hazards have been reported. The security at the Windmill Beach parking area is problematic. Several vehicles have been broken into at this parking area.

Skills
No special skills are required for boat dives. Reasonable fitness, the ability to navigate by compass, and ability to predict air endurance reasonably accurately are required for shore dives.

Equipment
A light is useful for looking into crevices and overhangs, a compass is essential for shore dives and a surface marker buoy is recommended for shore dives to indicate your presence to boats in the area. Nitrox could be of value to increase your no stop dive time.

Nearby

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Seaforth to Froggy Pond area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of Table Bay and approaches,
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast

 * Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches
 * Dive sites of False Bay east coast
 * Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area


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Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Pie Rock and Outer Castle reefs

Pie Rock reef and Outer Castle or Castle Blinder is an offshore rocky reef with a group of dive sites in the Castle Rocks restricted zone on the False Bay coast of the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Understand
This is a spectacular dive in good visibility, and large numbers of fish may be seen. Outer Castle is structurally, topographically, geologically, and by most other considerations part of the same reef, but was historically considered a separate site. It may seem like the name of the area should be Outer Castle Reefs, but the southern part of the site was already known by the name "Pie Rock" before 2004 at which time it was thought to be a separate reef. The sections were named after mapping started and eventually it became obvious that Outer Castle is the northern part of the Pie Rock reefs.

Position
Outer Castle is a blinder about 600 m east of Castle Rocks, which breaks if there is much swell, and is then visible as a patch of white water

North Pie Rock pinnacles are about 760 m from the north entry area at Castle Rocks. Bearing 353° True (017° magnetic) to Bakoven Rock, approximately 278° True (302° magnetic) to north side of Castle Rocks, and about 150 m south east of Outer Castle, There is an iron anchor to the east of the main pinnacles at about 18 m depth at S34°14.381' E018°29.105'

South Pie Rock Pinnacles are in the extreme southern part of these reefs, nearly directly south of the west pinnacle of the North Pie Rock area, on a distinct lobe delineated by sand tongues to the east and west, and sandy bottom to the south. The western reef is inshore of the south pinnacles, and there is a deeper lobe of reef to the east, called East Pie Rock Reef.

There are other nearby reefs across sandy gaps of varying widths. Some have been explored, such as Giant's Castle and Zigzag Reefs to the east, Pyramid Rock reef and Castle Pinnacles to the west, and and Super Fan Reef and Phone Reef to the northeast. Others to the south may never have been dived.

This site is in a Marine Protected Area (2004). A permit is required. The sites are entirely inside the Castle Rocks Restricted Zone.

Name
The northern section is known as "Outer Castle" or "Castle Blinder" due to its position off Castle Rocks, and that it is a permanently submerged rock that often causes a breaking sea. It is marked on the SAN charts as "blindevals", The rest of the area was called "Pie Rock" because one of the larger rocks in the area is said to look a bit like a giant wedge of pie.There does not seem to be any record of which rock this is, but the name stuck. The names for the central and southern parts of the reef were given as descriptions to identify them by relative position. Outer Castle was known by that name and dived on in the 1980s and probably earlier. It is visible from the shore as a blinder, a submerged rock which causes waves to break over it in some sea states and tides. It is offshore of Castle Rocks, a distinctive granite promontory, which is reflected in the name.

Depth
Maximum depth is about 25 m at the sand to the east. The top of the Outer Castle blinder at less than 3 m, is visible from the surface on a good day. Top of the highest pinnacles of the Pie Rock sectors is at 4 to 5 m. Average depth on a dive is about 15 to 18 m, within the range for entry level divers.

Visibility
Visibility will be similar to the nearby reefs, but may be a bit better than on the inshore reefs because there will be less surge on the sand, and the deeper parts may be below the worst of a plankton bloom or offshore of rain run-off.

Topography
Large granite corestone outcrops and boulders. The site is in five main sections, Outer Castle, Pie Rock North Reef, Pie Rock Southern Pinnacles, Pie Rock West Reef and Pie Rock East Reef. Each of these sections is distinguished from the rest of the reef by having local high areas or pinnacles, with deep areas and sand-bottomed gullies between them to some extent, though there is continuous reef connecting all the major lobes. Most of the reef is contiguous, but there are a few outliers and relatively small separate areas.

Geology: Granite of the Pre-Cambrian Peninsula pluton, surrounded by sand.

Conditions
Generally considered a late autumn and winter dive site but there are also opportunities in other seasons. Outer Castle is diveable if there is no break on the reef, and in many cases even if there is. A long low south westerly swell may produce surge and a small break over the top, but may be otherwise quite pleasant conditions. The Pie Rock reefs are diveable in the same conditions.

The sites are moderately protected from south westerly swell. South-easterly chop may make it unpleasant on the surface, but it may be quiet below the wave base, however a strong south-easter or one that blows for a long time will push up a swell that will make it unpleasant all the way down. A strong enough north-westerly wind can raise a chop that can make the boat ride back wet and uncomfortable, though it is unlikely to adversely affect underwater conditions.

Get in
The site is generally considered a boat dive. It is approximately 2 km from Miller's Point slipway and 9.3km from Simon's Town jetty. It could be dived from a shore entry at Castle Rocks, but would require a 750 m swim each way. For a shore dive use a SMB when near the surface, as boat traffic in the area can be heavy on a good day. Bearing from Castle Rocks north entry approximately 120° magnetic. Don't try this in a strong offshore wind, and use a SMB as boat traffic in the area can be heavy on a good day. The area is on the route from Miller's Point slipway to Cape Point, and when the snoek or yellowtail are running, there will be a lot of fishing boats, all in a hurry. Bearing from Castle Rocks north entry approximately 027° magnetic. The sites are easiest to find with GPS, but if the tide is low the waves may be seen to pick up and occasionally break at Outer Castle. If there is a prominent break the site may not be pleasant to dive, and may be dangerous. The Pie Rock reefs could also be dived from the shore entry, but finding the pinnacles would require a GPS.

Do
Dive at one of the drop points listed here, and explore the local reef around each point,

The central area between the pinnacle groups has several, mostly interconnected, sand patches sloping down from 18 m just south of the northern pinnacles to about 20 m depth where they lead out to the surrounding sand between the south and east reef areas, with areas of low to medium profile reef, mostly below 16 m, between them. A similar but less connected row of sand patches about 16m deep separate the south lobe from the west lobe and central area of Pie Rock.
 * S34°14.321’ E018°28.994’ – The main feature of the section is a huge granite boulder on a rock base standing on four points with a swim-through gap underneath. There is a small air cave at about 9m depth on the west side, known as Anton's oven. This is easy to find as it is marked by a deep groove in the west side of the rock which extends from about 7m deep right down and under the rock. The air cave is a part of this groove. The boulder is about 40 m long on a north-south axis and 15 m wide. The maximum width is at 6 to 9 m in most places and below that is overhang to a greater or lesser extent, which eventually curves right under the rock into the swimthrough area. Above the 6 to 9 m range, the upper part of the rock curves away to the top, which is probably about 3 m deep at low tide, but is usually in an area of extreme surge or white water. A short distance to the north there are a few large boulders reaching up to just above 12 m, and a short way beyond them, the reef borders on sand at a depth of about 18 m. The reef perimeter to the north runs roughly east-west. and the next reef system to the north is quite along distance away. To the south, the reef is contiguous with the other parts of Pie Rock reef, which starts about 50 m to the southeast at Pie Rock North Pinnacles, and extends for a few hundred metres to the south and east. Directly to the east of Outer Castle pinnacle the reef is relatively low, with a few odd boulders and outcrops reaching up to 12 m, and to the west the reef is more or less continuous all the way to the Castle Rocks point, interrupted by moderate sized sand gaps and sandy bottomed gullies, depending on exactly which route is taken.
 * S34°14.375' E018°29.075':– Pie Rock North Pinnacles is two adjacent groups of high pinnacles south of the Outer Castle blinder. This is the central part of the Pie Rock reef complex, and the northernmost area referred to as Pie Rock. It is the first of the Pie Rock reefs to be recorded as a dive site, and the early dives were probably mostly near the eastern sand edge of this area. A large part of this area is above 15 m, and the top of the eastern pinnacle is quite large and fairly flat at a depth of about 8 m. There is an old anchor to the east of the pinnacles at about 18 m depth, at S34°14.380', E018°29.105'.
 * S34°14.396' E018°28.943':– Pie Rock West Reef is a relatively shallow area west of the north and south pinnacles, with a shallow point at about 4 m depth, a large area above 12 m, and almost all the rest above 15 m. The surrounding sand is mostly from 16 to 18 m deep
 * S34°14.407' E018°29.150':– Top at 12 m, a small cluster of tall pinnacles with deep cracks between them, with sand edge nearby to the northeast at about 24 to 24 m.
 * S34°14.432' E018°29.153':– Pie Rock East Reef is a to the south-east of the north pinnacles. It is mostly fairly open reef extending to at least 25 m depth to the southeast, with some pinnacles rising to about 12 to 18 m depth to the east and southeast. Much of the reef is below 18 m and remains uncharted in detail. The edges are a bit diffuse, with sandy indentations and patches among the rocks, and rocky bits in the sand. There is a swimthrough under a boulder pinnacle on the southeastern reef edge.
 * S34°14.445' E018°28.985':– Pie Rock Southern Pinnacles are part of a more extensive area of low reef to the south, with a picturesque group of shallow pinnacles rising to about 4 m depth at the shallowest point, and a fairly large area above 15 m.

Marine life
The top of the rock at Outer Castle is heavily colonised by the Red bait ascidian, and some kelp. Below the line of maximum width, a larger variety of invertebrates may be seen. Large numbers of false corals, feather stars, colonial ascidians, red sea cucumbers and colonial hydroids. A reasonable variety of fish, sometimes in fairly large shoals. The site is in the Castle Rocks Restricted Area, which is the best region of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay for observing fish, though poaching does occur and enforcement is very sketchy at best.

Features
Swim-through under the rock at Outer Castle, and a small air-trap overhang half way up the inshore side.

Photography
Like most of the dive sites in this part of False Bay, the visibility is not very predictable, and in most conditions close up and macro photography will be a good choice. Wide angle scenic shots can give good results when the visibility is unusually good. For close up work some form of artificial lighting is advised, both to reduce blur by shortening exposure time, and to bring out the colour.

Routes
No particular routes recommended. Start deep, at Outer Castle, visit the swimthrough under the rock and the little air trap on the shoreward side at about 9 m depth (do not breathe the air, it may be low on oxygen). The surrounding reefs are worth a visit if you have the time. Work your way up and around the sides of the rocks. The pinnacle areas are small enough to visit each on a single dive, but there is a lot of surrounding reef.

Hazards
Offshore wind may increase in strength significantly during the dive, which can be a problem for shore dives if you need to return on the surface. This is an area where boat traffic may be heavy.

Skills
Certification appropriate to the depth is expected, otherwise no special skills are required for boat dives. Ability to deploy a DSMB may be useful if you surface away from the shotline. Ability to navigate using a compass and fitness to swim the distance are required for a shore dive.

Equipment
A surface marker buoy is recommended for shore dives as there is often boat traffic between the reef and shore. A compass is virtually essential for shore dives as it will be needed both to get there and find the site, and to navigate back. A light is useful for looking into small holes and when under the rock to illuminate the organisms on its surface. Nitrox will allow extended time for no-decompression dives, and would be particularly useful on a shore dive as it would allow a deeper return swim, where you can see the reef. A DSMB may be convenient for a boat dive if you surface away from the shotline.

Nearby

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Castle Rocks area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of Table Bay and approaches,
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast

 * Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches
 * Dive sites of False Bay east coast
 * Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area