Gord
01-02-07, 16:33
Just back from 3 weeks in South Africa. What a fantastic place. Petrol is 40p a litre, and you can stay in 5-star accommodation for the price of a 2-star Tobermory B&B! Rogano-standard 3-course meal? Six quid.
We did a lot of eating and drinking around the Winelands, spent 2 days waterskiing at Mofam River Lodge (www.mofam.co.za (http://www.mofam.co.za/)) which was a beautiful place, with great people and fabulous Ski Nautique boats.
Diving? Oh yes. To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend the White Shark Cage Diving, which is a highly artificial experience. Yes, you do get up close to the animals, but the context feels zoo-like and there is no sense of a natural or real shark-encounter. Although this is the most famous shark in the world, and although I was about 10cm away from its famous nashers, there was no buzz which I experienced in the past meeting nurse sharks on Florida wrecks etc.
UMKOMAAS / ALIWAAL SHOAL
Monty Halls’ guide to the top 60 dive sites of the world lists Aliwaal Shoal and rates it highly. We stayed at the Umkomaas Dive Lodge (http://www.aliwalshoalscubadiving.co.za/ (http://www.aliwalshoalscubadiving.co.za/) ) which, to be honest, was a bit dilapidated and spooky, but very dramatic in its setting. The lady who runs it, Helena, was kind and helpful though. But if you want luxury and comfort, stay somewhere else. The rhib ride out to the shoal was mental. It was 7am and there was a strong wind (I would say a 7) blowing in off the Indian Ocean. The surf was quite big and the beyond that there was a swell of around 2-3m. I’ve had a worse experience in a gale off Rathlin in 2002, but aside from that, this was my worst experience of bad surface conditions. The ride out took about 45mins, and the only word to describe it was painful. Painful and exhausting. Several people barfed. No-one spoke. Grim determination was the order of the day.
The diving itself was OK, but nothing to write home about. Saw a few morays, turtles etc, but the coral was as faded as the peeling paintwork of the dive centre, I’m sorry to say … perhaps due in some part to the effluent of the monumumgus papermill located on the Umkomaas river which looks very toxic and, every afternoon, turns the blue sea orange around the mouth of the river. I’ll post some photos later to show you.
I spoke to some local divers later in the holiday who advised that the north part of the shoal, near Umkomaas, is not the best bit. Apparently you need to head quite far out and south to get near the good stuff.
SODWANA
After that we headed up to Sodwana and stayed and dived with the Sodwana Bay Lodge (http://www.sodwanalodge.co.za/ (http://www.sodwanalodge.co.za/) ). This was a beautiful place, and the lodge accommodation was excellent. The beach is one of the finest I’ve ever seen, and the local Zulu people are really straightforward and helpful. All of our guides where local Zulu guys and they were excellent. We dived for 2 days there and it was all good. The launches and landings off the beach are hair-raising, but great fun.
In particular, I liked the Raggie dive and the 5-mile reef which had some excellent and pristine coral. We also saw loads of morays, reef fish and nudis, and turtle galore.
Overall, South African diving is not as good as the Red Sea. However, if you want a varied, sporty holiday which includes diving, but also safari (which was brilliant), other watersports, awesome scenery and fabulous road trips, then give it serious consideration. The time zone means no jet lag, and the devalued Rand means terrific value for money.
Photos to follow.
We did a lot of eating and drinking around the Winelands, spent 2 days waterskiing at Mofam River Lodge (www.mofam.co.za (http://www.mofam.co.za/)) which was a beautiful place, with great people and fabulous Ski Nautique boats.
Diving? Oh yes. To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend the White Shark Cage Diving, which is a highly artificial experience. Yes, you do get up close to the animals, but the context feels zoo-like and there is no sense of a natural or real shark-encounter. Although this is the most famous shark in the world, and although I was about 10cm away from its famous nashers, there was no buzz which I experienced in the past meeting nurse sharks on Florida wrecks etc.
UMKOMAAS / ALIWAAL SHOAL
Monty Halls’ guide to the top 60 dive sites of the world lists Aliwaal Shoal and rates it highly. We stayed at the Umkomaas Dive Lodge (http://www.aliwalshoalscubadiving.co.za/ (http://www.aliwalshoalscubadiving.co.za/) ) which, to be honest, was a bit dilapidated and spooky, but very dramatic in its setting. The lady who runs it, Helena, was kind and helpful though. But if you want luxury and comfort, stay somewhere else. The rhib ride out to the shoal was mental. It was 7am and there was a strong wind (I would say a 7) blowing in off the Indian Ocean. The surf was quite big and the beyond that there was a swell of around 2-3m. I’ve had a worse experience in a gale off Rathlin in 2002, but aside from that, this was my worst experience of bad surface conditions. The ride out took about 45mins, and the only word to describe it was painful. Painful and exhausting. Several people barfed. No-one spoke. Grim determination was the order of the day.
The diving itself was OK, but nothing to write home about. Saw a few morays, turtles etc, but the coral was as faded as the peeling paintwork of the dive centre, I’m sorry to say … perhaps due in some part to the effluent of the monumumgus papermill located on the Umkomaas river which looks very toxic and, every afternoon, turns the blue sea orange around the mouth of the river. I’ll post some photos later to show you.
I spoke to some local divers later in the holiday who advised that the north part of the shoal, near Umkomaas, is not the best bit. Apparently you need to head quite far out and south to get near the good stuff.
SODWANA
After that we headed up to Sodwana and stayed and dived with the Sodwana Bay Lodge (http://www.sodwanalodge.co.za/ (http://www.sodwanalodge.co.za/) ). This was a beautiful place, and the lodge accommodation was excellent. The beach is one of the finest I’ve ever seen, and the local Zulu people are really straightforward and helpful. All of our guides where local Zulu guys and they were excellent. We dived for 2 days there and it was all good. The launches and landings off the beach are hair-raising, but great fun.
In particular, I liked the Raggie dive and the 5-mile reef which had some excellent and pristine coral. We also saw loads of morays, reef fish and nudis, and turtle galore.
Overall, South African diving is not as good as the Red Sea. However, if you want a varied, sporty holiday which includes diving, but also safari (which was brilliant), other watersports, awesome scenery and fabulous road trips, then give it serious consideration. The time zone means no jet lag, and the devalued Rand means terrific value for money.
Photos to follow.