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Big Five Shark Dive South Africa

This twelve-day shark dive has to be the ultimate in shark diving. Three days are spent diving with the great white sharks in the waters of the Cape and five days are spent diving with the Hammerheads, Raggies (Sand Tigers or Grey Nurse sharks), Zambezis (Bull sharks), and Tigers in the temperate waters of KwaZulu/Natal. This is adventure diving at it’s very best and is unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

Day 1:
Arrive Cape Town International Airport. Day spent sight seeing and exploring the beautiful Cape Peninsula including the majestic Table Mountain, Cape Point, Chapman's Peak Drive and Kirtenbosch Botanical Gardens. The next two nights are spent at the Avenue Protea Hotel in the quaint seaside village of Fish Hoek.

Day 2:
A full day diving in the Atlantic Ocean with the only 5 Star PADI dive charter in Cape Town. The actual sites that we will dive depend mainly on the weather and prevailing winds, either the western or eastern seaboards. The first dive will be on one of the many wrecks scattered around the Peninsula, and on the second dive we will meet the Cape fur seal on his home turf. A full tank dive with the playful and friendly Cape fur seal. This is a diving experience not to be missed.

Day 3:
A morning dive exploring the many wrecks and reefs around the Cape Peninsula and after lunch we start on our three hour drive through spectacular coastal mountain passes en route to the Grootbos Nature Reserve in Gansbaai where we will be spending the next three nights.

Day 4:
A full day spent on the water in "Shark Alley", a narrow channel between Dyer Island and Geyser Rock, home to some 60,000 fur seals and which is 5km (3 miles) from the mainland. This is the natural hunting ground of the Great White Shark and the area in which they are most commonly encountered.

Day 5:
An action-packed day in the company of the Great White Shark.

Day 6:
Morning - a final farewell to the ultimate predator of the deep. After lunch we return to Cape Town in time to catch our connecting flight to Durban. On arrival in Durban we transfer to the seaside town of Margate on the KwaZulu/Natal South Coast. The next two nights are spent at Kenilworth-on-Sea.

Day 7:
Two dives with the resident dive operator in Margate on the fabulous Protea Banks. This site boasts the possibility of diving with raggies, Zambezis, hammerheads, tigers and even the odd Great White! It has been known to be able to dive with over 100 sharks in the water at any one dive.

Day 8:
Another two dives on Protea Banks looking for the other four of the Big Five sharks. After the dives we transfer to Sea Fever Lodge in Umkomaas where we spend the next four nights, and meet Andy Cobb (South Africa’s Mr. Shark), and the local dive team.

Day 9:
Dive Aliwal Shoal under the leadership of Andy Cobb. The first of three dives which will qualify you as a NAUI specialist shark diver. These dives could take place at Protea Banks depending on the time of year as the raggies are only found on Aliwal Shoal during the months of July through to November.

Day 10:
Your second day with Andy on Aliwal Shoal searching for sharks. We end the day with a shark dissection to enable us to better understand these magnificent creatures.

Day 11:
The final dive on Aliwal Shoal exploring either the wreck of the Nebo(1884) or the wreck of the Produce (1974). In the afternoon we join the Natal Sharks Board and find out what they are doing to protect South Africa’s beaches, divers, surfers and spear fisherman against these "fearsome killers", the shark!

Day 12:
Travel by microbus to the Johannesburg International Airport for your return flight home.

TRIP COSTS:
Big Five Shark Dive: 11 nights USD $3850.00pp based on DBL.

Big Five Shark Dive Frequently Asked Questions

What dive qualifications must I have?
On this dive safari certain dives are restricted to advanced sport divers only.

The best time to dive " The Big Five Shark Dive"?
The raggies are only found on Aliwal Shoal in significant numbersfrom July to November so if you wish to be surrounded by these sharks those are the months to come. Otherwise the prime months to dive both Aliwal and Protea are April, May, June and July with the other months being very good but not the recognized shark months.

What to bring?
The water temperature varies from 8 degrees C to as high as 20 degrees C (46 degree F to 68 degrees F) in the Cape so a 7 mm semi-dry suit or a dry suit is ideal for diving there. The water temperature at Aliwal and Protea varies from 19 degrees C to 25 degrees C (66 degrees F to 77 degrees F) so, depending on your resistance to cold, bring a suitable wet suit. Also bring any of your equipment that you do not feel comfortable with in hiring, i.e. a regulator, BCD, mask or fins, etc. However, there is a full range of equipment available for hire at a nominal fee.

Dive versions:
If the weather should turn foul or if there is a non-diver in the group, there is so much to do!:

In the Cape:
· visiting museums, art galleries or antique shops;
· visiting theaters , coffee shops or just shopping;
· whale watching from June through October;
· a visit to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of the continent and the true meeting point of the Indian and Atlantic oceans;
· snorkeling for abalone and crayfish in season;
· a visit to Danger Point where HMS Birkenhead went down in 1852;
· explore the famous Cape wine-lands;
· explore Grootbos Nature Reserve on horseback.

In KwaZulu/Natal:
· the South Coast is a very well developed tourist area. There are lovely long beaches with lots of rock pools, safe bathing, resorst offering golf, tennis, horseriding. There are modern shopping malls and restaurants and the Wild Coast Sun Casino a short drive down the coast.

The Big Five Shark Dive includes:
Accommodations; all meals; all dives; transfers in air-conditioned microbuses; airfares from Cape Town to Durban; tour accompanied by a full time staff member of "Dive The Big Five" who is registered tour guide or a qualified dive instructor; certification as a specialist NAUI shark diver; park entrance fees; tanks air fills and weight belts; dive-evac emergency evacuation; gratuities; additional tours in the event of not diving as a result of weather conditions.
Not included:
International airfares; drinks and alcoholic beverages; hire of dive gear.

Departure dates:
Monthly except during December. Please contact Dive Discovery for exact departure dates.

Dive The Big Five reserves the right to change tour prices, hotels and game lodges without notice up to the dates of departure. Such changes might be required in the event of changes in prices imposed by airlines, hotels, lodges or car hire companies, as a result of fluctuations in the exchange rate of the rand against other currencies or in order to maintain the same high level of accommodation in hotels and game lodges should this be necessary.

Please email us or call us for price and details!

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