Diving the Infamous Kelp Forests of Cape Town!!

It's that time of the year again when we go diving on the False Bay side of Cape Town. Don’t let the air temperature put you off, Cape Town experiences some of the best ocean conditions during the winter season when the northwester blows which improves the visibility (up to 15m). Diving False Bay (March to September): The average water temperatures during this time is between 12 – 18 degrees. This is an excellent time for shore dive sites, deeper reefs and wreck dives accessed by boat.

We are extremely fortunate in Cape Town as we have some of the most magical diving experiences available. One of the most fascinating dives has to be exploring these incredible underwater forests. Below are some interesting facts about Kelp forests:

• Kelp forests are dotted all over the Cape Peninsula and as divers we have easy access to dive sites that offer this experience both on the Atlantic Seaboard as well as False Bay side.
• Kelp forests are also known as sea bamboo (Ecklonia maxima) which is a species of kelp weed native to southern oceans.
• They grow in shallow waters up to depths of 8 metres, once anchored onto rock or other kelp their long root-like structure reaches all the way to the surface of the water where their large blade-like leaves seemed to appear all tangled up.
• This structure gives us divers a great opportunity to explore these underwater forests diving in between the thin, tall stalks as they provide food and shelter for a variety of organisms and marine life, perfect for spotting plenty of starfish, jellyfish, wide variety of nudibranch, a few hiding octopus and some incredible fish, seals and shark species like pyjama sharks, gully sharks and shysharks.

This kelp forest diving experience is suitable for all levels of diver qualifications, if you are scuba diving with an Open Water certificate or perhaps you have Freedive qualifications, this diving experience will certainly be an unforgettable one. These environments are a paradise for not only the experienced underwater photographer enthusiasts but also if you are new to this incredible underwater world.

Don’t miss out on this unique adventure, diving through the fascinating underwater habitats of Cape Town. Join the OceanX team or surprise a friend with an experience voucher of a life time by either clicking THIS LINK to our scuba dive trips for shore diving or boat diving packages or simply click on the BOOK NOW tab of the 2 Shore Dive package ---------------->