Mzanzitravel Local Travel Inspiration Issue 11

marinescapes and aquatic life. Some of the best are located off Mossel Bay,
whether close to the coast around Seal Island, around The Point along the many
sea-cliff caves, or out on the banks. There are plenty of corals, drop-offs, a great
variety of fish as well as great white sharks.
COME PARK
WITH US
Some of the most popular diving spots around Cape Town are found at Smitswinkel
Bay and Partridge Point near Miller Point on the False Bay side of the Peninsula,
and at Oudekraal and Duiker Island near Hout Bay along the Atlantic seaboard.
You are likely to encounter great white sharks, penguins, seals, kelp forests and
plenty other marine life, while these sites also have a number of wrecks that can
be dived.
Shipwreck diving
With some 2,500 shipwrecks along South Africa’s coast – almost one wreck
for every kilometre of coastline – shipwreck diving opportunities abound. It has
become an extremely popular part of the diving experience.
Airport Valet Parking
offers a service that makes flying out
of Cape Town International Airport
convenient and hassle free. We are
conveniently located on the ground
floor of Parkade 2, clearly sign
posted “Valet Parking”.
Simply drive into Parkade 2 where
one of our drivers will show you to
our dedicated, reserved bays. Whilst
you are away your vehicle is stored
with us and given a valet. You will
find your sparkling clean car
waiting for you on your
return. Talk about
convenience!
Make your travel
experience a lot less
stressful by allowing us
to take care of your car
while you’re away.
park business class
Imagine being suspended in clear blue waters under a bright summer’ sky. Below
you is some 15m of clear water, teeming with marine life, and turning to a dark blue
deeper down. You start your descent, slowly paddling with your flippers. And then,
looming hauntingly up out of the depths you see a large structure, its rails and
decks and superstructures covered with all sorts of colourful marine life and shells.
Crabs slip into crevices. A variety of fish swim around and over the wreck, some
popping inside through glassless portholes. A shark swims lazily around a funnel
lying at an angle across the deck. You find a large gap in the side of the hull,
torn open by the violence of striking rock. You signal to your diving buddies and
swim through the gap into the bowels of the ship. You’re now in what was once
the engine room, a place where apart from divers, no humans have been in the
seventy years since the ship went down in a black stormy night.
Many sunken ships remain in remarkably good condition on the ocean floor. Some
that rest on sand may be half buried, storms and currents from time to burying
them completely, only to wash them open again. Others have been reduced to a
few steel plates or wooden ribs. Inside or scattered around the outside of some you
may find objects like pieces of broken porcelain, little medicine bottles, a piece of
a chair, some coins if you’re lucky. The sea buries and the sea exposes…so you
never know what you might find. A number of ships – some never found – along our
coast are said to still hold vast treasures.
Cape Town having been the earliest port of call at the southern tip of Africa, the
coast around the Peninsula has more than its fair share of shipwrecks, many
that can still be dived. They include ships from almost 40 different countries that
floundered here over a period of 400 years. With so many shipwrecks along our
coast, it’s impossible to list all the shipwreck diving sites.
Different levels of PADI certification is required for shipwreck dives depending on
location, depth and difficulty. Most shipwrecks are suitable only to scuba diving
and sites mostly have to be reached by boat. In a few instances shipwrecks lie very
close to the shore and can be explored also by snorkel divers.