Hello from South Africa

[gumby]

Howdy from sunny South Africa. I noticed that apparently no-one on this board has ever dived here as Africa/Mid East under Travel/Locations consists pretty much entirely of the Red Sea! Well not only are you missing some of the best diving in the world, but it's now obviously a much safer option, it's incredibly cheap due to the exchange rate, you'll enjoy the most professional operators and only the best first-world ammenities. I'll be diving the incredible Aliwal Shoal (rated top 10 in the world) next w/end and will definately report back! Happy diving!!

 

[SA-Diver]

Nice to meet a fellow South African on the board !

 

[DiverBuoy]

gumby, please tell us a little about your personal diving history ...

 

[gumby]

Been diving for about ten years. Unfortunately didn't do too much diving last year, but determined to make up for lost time. Have a fairly hectic itinerary this year! Only dived in SA and Mozambique so far, but will be travelling to Thailand and Australia later this year. Originally did the NAUI open water course, and have since done the PADI Advanced course, as well as wreck, and peak-performance bouyancy specialities. And that's about it, what more can I say except that when I'm in the sea I'm happy!

 

[DiverBuoy]

From everything I've heard you'll love Australia - once again welcome to the board, and thanks for the info!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Welcome to the boards from the other side of the world. Did you ever do any of the Great White shark dives?

 

[gumby]

Never done a packaged 'shark dive' or cage dive. Was lucky enough (if that's the right expression to use) to see a Great White while diving the east coast of South Africa - fairly anxious moment shall we say! Aliwal Shoal is well known as a 'raggie' dive. 'Raggie' being Ragged Tooth shark, what you call a Sand Tiger in the US. I have yet to do a dive there without seeing at least one, but on average 3 per dive. For the really brave we have Protea Banks, a well known shark dive in SA. There's a year-round certainty of encountering sharks, and the range of species is formidable. Grey reefs to threshers to the odd hammerhead, but once again it's the raggies that dominate. This is not cage diving by the way, and it's no small comment on the excitement level of the dive that you are unlikely to surface with any memory of colourful reef fish or fascinating invertebrates - the sharks grab your attention and don't let go!

 

[gemma]

Welcome from Spain, please let us know something about your dives in Aliwal Shoal.

Happy divings

Josep & gemma

:hi: :hi:

 

[mexman]

Welcome from Canada. You'll find this group a very diversified group from all parts of the world. I know I've certainly been impressed over the last few weeks, reading the posts and learning who's who!

How about we do some diver exchanges? I'd love to visit South Africa and you can come to Canada to do some ice diving.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

mexman once bubbled...
How about we do some diver exchanges? I'd love to visit South Africa and you can come to Canada to do some ice diving.

Yeeeeeah. . . that sounds fair!