OP
xyrandomyx
Contributor
It's almost hard to believe that Cape Town's weather would play along nicely, but the weather forecast WAS right. Low swell, very little wind and pretty decent vis -- 5--12 metres, a bit less clean near the surface and patchy at some sites, but good on the whole.
I only managed to do three of my six planned dives. Anchor Reef and Castor Rock on the Friday, both new to me and great sites. Lots of nudibranchs (too many to count, at least six different species), a few octopuses, a couple of cuttle fish, lots of cat sharks (Pyjama, Leopard and Shysharks) and all the usual Cape Town critters (Hottentot, Roman of all sizes, etc.). My drysuit wristseal woes continued, though, so after one not-exactly-dry drysuit dive and one wetsuit dive I decided I was too cold for the third.
Unfortunately, my car's alarm refused to disarm on Friday afternoon, so I spent the earlier part of Saturday morning running around trying to get that sorted out. I still managed to make my last planned dive for the day on Photographer's Reef. I've dived it a couple of times before, it was great as expected. I really enjoy all the Cape Town reefs with huge granite boulders -- in good vis, it feels like you're flying as you swim out off the edge of the rocks.
I managed to lose my reel on Saturday's dive -- I detached it from my SMB at the surface and forgot that it's best to clip it off on the BC before letting go. I spent about ten seconds rolling up the SMB before realising what I'd done, at which point the reel was long gone. So not the smoothest Festival for me personally, but I still had a great time.
I only managed to do three of my six planned dives. Anchor Reef and Castor Rock on the Friday, both new to me and great sites. Lots of nudibranchs (too many to count, at least six different species), a few octopuses, a couple of cuttle fish, lots of cat sharks (Pyjama, Leopard and Shysharks) and all the usual Cape Town critters (Hottentot, Roman of all sizes, etc.). My drysuit wristseal woes continued, though, so after one not-exactly-dry drysuit dive and one wetsuit dive I decided I was too cold for the third.
Unfortunately, my car's alarm refused to disarm on Friday afternoon, so I spent the earlier part of Saturday morning running around trying to get that sorted out. I still managed to make my last planned dive for the day on Photographer's Reef. I've dived it a couple of times before, it was great as expected. I really enjoy all the Cape Town reefs with huge granite boulders -- in good vis, it feels like you're flying as you swim out off the edge of the rocks.
I managed to lose my reel on Saturday's dive -- I detached it from my SMB at the surface and forgot that it's best to clip it off on the BC before letting go. I spent about ten seconds rolling up the SMB before realising what I'd done, at which point the reel was long gone. So not the smoothest Festival for me personally, but I still had a great time.
