South Africa is undoubtedly one of the top shark diving regions of the world, South Africa offers everything from shark diving with raggies to the ultimate experience of cage diving with Great Whites!
With an enormously long coastline, South Africa offers an array of diving opportunities. With it's warmer waters in the north, tropical and sub-tropical species inhabit the reefs, and whale sharks, turtles, dolphin, and ragged-tooth sharks (another name for what we call sand tigers in the U.S.), all of these species can be seen on occasion in different places. Temperate waters to the south provide opportunities to dive in magnificent kelp forests, as well as the chance to dive in a cage surrounded by great whites!
The Protea Banks. The protea banks have gained a reputation as one of the world's best places to dive with the bull shark (also known as the zambezi), sand tigers, reef sharks, hammerheads and even the great white! Located on the east coast of South Africa, protea Banks is a reef system created by an old, fossilized sand dune. This reef is not only a great place for shark diving in South Africa, but makes for a great place to dive along side of manta rays, dolphin, turtles, and even whale sharks. Please note the protea banks is considered an advanced dive, for experienced divers equipped to deal with unpredictable currents.
Six miles off of Gansbaai, off the Western Cape of South Africa, lies Dyer Island,- a low, rocky island that serves as a breeding ground for a wide variety of seabirds, while it's neighbour, a rocky outcrop called Geyser Islet, serves as a home for a large resident seal population. Put those two together and what you have is a nice meal for Great White Sharks! White Sharks, especially juveniles but also a few adults, are seen on a regular basis in the channel between the two islands where they feed on a variety of seals, seabirds, and penguins. This natural feeding ground is the main reason that many divers consider South Africa to be the one of the world's top shark diving destinations. With it's unique combination of wreck, reef, tropical and sub-tropical diving, and this prime natural hunting ground for great whites, South Africa has earned a reputation as "the shark diving capital of the world!"
Also experience the thrill of Australia, which has some of the most diverse scuba diving destinations available anywhere in the world, making this vast island nation undoubtedly unique.
With it's combination of the Great Barrier Reef and tropical marine life that it supports in the north, along with the temperate diving zones and the temperate marine life of the south, Australia offers some of the most diverse scuba opportunities available anywhere. A visit with the great white sharks near the Neptune islands of southern Australia may be the pinnacle of a diver's career, while a chance encounter with a grey nurse shark on the Great Barrier Reef may be the ultimate experience for another!
The Great Barrier Reef is not just one reef, but actually a collection of reefs, comprised of over 2,700 smaller reefs, and dotted with hundreds of islands. Considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef forms a chain hugging the north-eastern coast of Australia for thousands of miles, running all the way from Bundaberg in the North, down to the tip of the Cape York Peninsula in the South. The reef plays host to numerous organisms and marine life, including over 350 species of coral, thousands of species of fish, molluscs, and crustaceans, birds, sea snakes, and turtles. All together, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park covers an area as big as California.
Two of the sharks most commonly encountered on the Great Barrier Reef are the black tip and the white tip reef shark. These sharks, like other fish-eaters, have small, pointed, needle-like teeth, perfect for catching fish and small prey on the reef. As long as they are not harassed or provoked, they normally pose no threat to divers, and chance encounters with these shy, timid sharks are the exception rather than the rule. The grey nurse shark can also be encountered on the reef, and just as with the reef sharks, divers who keep a respectful distance from them are more likely to have an enduring encounter rather than just a fleeting glimpse
LuxRes will put together an experience that you will not want to pass.
