Umkomaas

Once again we woke up at 5 am, this time to go diving. We had to be at the dive shop in Umkomaas, 40 minutes south of Durban, at 6 am. Luckily Nico adjusted to driving on the left side easily. The dive destination is Aliwal Shoal, one of Jacques Cousteau's top 10 sites, renowned for sharks and other big fish. Getting out to sea with the little dingy boat was quite the spectacle. We put on life vests, strapped our feet in and held on to ropes. We launched from the river mouth and the skipper expertly navigated the large waves, sometimes going parallel to shore at full speed to avoid the largest peaks, and then still shooting several feet out of the water at times.

After that excitement, we dove in over the site (after some equipment adjustments). The surge was very strong due to the high winds (40 km/h) which, along with unfamiliar dive equipment, made for a challenging dive. There was not much soft coral but tons of hard coral on the rocky surfaces. There was a plethora of colorful fish including very large bass, potato cod, and parrotfish. They seemed to be more accustomed to the strong surges which whipped us left/right/up/down; Brittany bruised her knee and wrist as a result. There were also huge honeycomb moorays, big scorpionfish, starfish, nudis, and a devil ray. Unfortunately the raggedtooth sharks had already migrated elsewhere for the season. The return to shore was just as exhilirating as the departure as we shot across the larger waves and then approached the sandy beach at full speed and quickly decelerating to a halt.

The third dive was cancelled for safety reasons due to the strong winds, but we were rather relieved since the first two dives were quite exhausting. We had lunch, walked along the beach, and checked out the nearby CrocWorld before heading back to Durban.

Aliwal Shoal was one of the toughest dives we've done, closely behind Crystal in Komodo. We enjoyed the dive site but, to get the full experience, would like to come back for a few days, preferably during the Sardine Run in June-July. Maybe we'll stop over on our way to the Maldives or Seychelles ;-).Read more