DIVE
ALIWAL SHOAL
EAST COAST, SOUTH AFRICA

 

The KwaZulu-Natal coast has become a popular destination for diving enthusiasts from around the world with colorful tropical reefs and wrecks and a stunning variety of sea-life to be found. Added attractions are the pleasant all-year-round climate, the warm, clear water and excellent back up in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

Aliwal Shoal is a 40-minute drive south of Durban and lies off the small coastal town of Umkomaas. The shoal is a fossilized sand dune, and lies 5 kilometres offshore. It comprises a variety of sponges, some soft and hard corals and a convergence of warm water reef fish and cold water fish. The boat trip to Aliwal is normally preceded by an exciting surf launch.

From August to October, encounters with Ragged Tooth Sharks are frequent. The “Raggies” come into the shoal to breed, Cathedral, Raggies’ Cave and Shark Alley are best known sites for housing the Raggies.
February and March are good months for sighting the Tiger Sharks at Eel Skin. Betty has become a firm favourite among divers.

RAGGIE WEEKEND:
We can tailor make a package for a "Raggie" experience for you
from July to October 2003

Typical group Raggie Experience weekend:
14-17 August 2003

Thursday 14 August – Travel to Umkomaas, overnight at Lala Manzi

Friday 15 August – Early morning dive with the Raggies

Late morning dive with the Raggies

Overnight Lala Manzi

Saturday 16 August – Early morning dive with the Raggies

Late morning dive with the Raggies

Overnight Lala Manzi

Sunday 17 August – Morning dive optional, and return to Johannesburg

 

3 night 5 dive package per person sharing ₤175

5 night 7 dive package per person sharing ₤224

 

Package includes return transfers from Durban Airport, bed and breakfast, dives, tanks and weight belts, transfers from Durban Airport to Umkomaas. Excludes dive gear hire and meals.

TIGER SHARK DIVE TRIP:
The Tiger Shark: Our sightings offshore occur from January to May. Isolated animals have been encountered in other months of the year but are by no means as consistent as the core period.

Diving :

Typical structure of a Tiger Dive:
08h00 - Meet on beach and dive briefing
08h30 - Launch
09h00 - Set up station
09h30 - First dive crew (maximum 3 divers plus guide)
10h30 - Second dive crew (maximum 3 divers plus guide)
11h30 - First dive crew (second dive if applicable)
12h30 - Second dive crew (second dive if applicable)
14h00 - return to beach

Light refreshments in the form of chips, chocolate and soft-drinks are provided.
There is no guarantee of a shark sighting.
No cage is used.

Packages :
We can tailor make a package for a Tiger Shark experience for you - her is a typical package:

3 Nights Accommodation at Lala Manzi Guesthouse sharing
4 Dives - ( 2 x 2 tank dives)
Breakfast 3 days
Return airport transfers

PACKAGE PRICE 3 NIGHTS 4 DIVES AND BREAKFAST ₤250
SINGLE SUPPLEMENT  - ADD ₤25
As space on the boats is limited, numbers are limited, so bookings will be on a first come first served basis. Deposit required to secure bookings.

Please note that there is a fair amount of time spent on the boat, so sunscreen, hats and if necessary sea sick tablets must be taken on the boat.
Equipment is not included in the price

We have been viewing a few areas to the south of the main Aliwal Shoal reef body over the last four years and the success rates have been as follows:

1999: 16 sharks sighted and 97% success rate of sightings per dive;
2000: 8 sharks sighted 83% success rate per dive;
2001: 9 sharks sighted 56% success rate per dive;
2002: 18 sharks sighted and 93% success rate per dive (three sharks tagged with acoustic tags and thus now we know better their movements and can in fact follow them on a daily and hourly basis).
Plans for 2003 are well advanced and more listening stations and tags will be deployed which should help us even more.

The modus operandi is to set up baits on the seabed at 15-17m and then observe the sharks as they come to the baits to feed. As many as 8 tigers at once may be expected but typically two or three are the norm at any one time. The animals tend to arrive around 09h00 and stay until the divers leave the site. Either one or two dives are conducted by the group of no more than five divers.

The most number of passes (a pass is measured to within 1m of the divers) in a single dive (1h30) is 68 by Betty (a 4.5m female) in 2000. The most number of continuous days without a tiger sighting is five although we had a White shark, hammerheads, Zambezi and Blacktips to take up the slack. Typical visibility is from 5 to 40m and water temperature between 22 and 27 celsius. Wind and swell conditions are usually quite favourable at this time and daytime temperatures range from 20 to 38 celsius.

PLEASE EMAIL JUDY FOR DETAILS AND BOOKINGS

"RAGGIES": Carcharias taurus (Grey Nurse Shark or Ragged Tooth Shark)

The raggies typically arrive in mid/late June on the Aliwal Shoal as part of their migratory pattern. Both males and females congregate on the northern section of the Aliwal Shoal in the spectacular recesses of Raggie Cave (18m) and Cathedral (27m). These are not the only areas but certainly some of the most spectacular. By day the Raggie is a docile creature that moves slowly about the reef, but by nightfall the behaviour changes considerably and the interaction with divers changes drastically from one of avoidance to one of contact.

It is this late afternoon behavioural stuff that our operators have been working on and it has really resurrected the raggies in my eyes. They seek out social contact at this time and allow you to stroke and tickle them. Amazing stuff and a great photo opportunity.

Visibility is typically 5 to 30m and water temp from 19 – 25 celsius. Day time temps are more variable ranging from 10 to 25 celsius.

carcharo - sharp pointed, jagged (Greek). Refers to the teeth.
taurus - bull (Latin). Presumably refers to the stocky body
The Ragged Tooth Shark / Grey Nurse Shark grows to a length of 3.6m. Males mature at 2.1m and females at 2.2m.
There are over 370 species of shark world wide, 166 occur in Australian waters. The family Odontaspidae contains two genera; Carcharias and Odontaspis
The family Odontaspidae is recorded throughout the world oceans. Ragged Tooth Sharks are found in tropical and temperate waters in the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans, although the species is known by different common names in different regions.
They live in shallow coastal waters from the surf zone down to 60m, although it has been recorded from water as deep as 190m.
During the day, they are generally found in the vicinity of drop-offs, caves and ledges.
The Ragged Tooth is a distinctive fish, which is usually grey-brown on top and a dirty white underneath. A distinctive character of this species is that both dorsal fins and the anal fin are of a similar size. It is a sluggish species, which is not considered dangerous to people, although divers should never provoke it.
In some parts of the world, the Grey Nurse Shark is known as the Spotted Ragged-Tooth. The reason for this name is obvious. This species has fang-like teeth, which are visible when the shark's mouth is closed. Grey Nurse Sharks / Raggies are not however the "man-eaters" that some people thought in the past.
The teeth of the Raggies are constantly being replaced. This means that older, damaged or blunt teeth on the exterior surfaces of the jaws are replaced by new teeth. In the whaler sharks, family Carcharhinidae, each tooth is replaced every eight to fifteen days.
They are sluggish sharks, which feed on fish, which are pierced with the sharp teeth.
The Ragged Tooth Shark also swallows air at the surface, and holds it in the stomach. This provides buoyancy and enables the shark to hang almost motionless above the bottom.
The Ragged Tooth Shark has an interesting twist to its reproduction, which begins, like all sharks with internal fertilization. The developing young are enclosed in egg cases within each uterus of the female. They hatch from the egg cases at about 55mm in length and then eat not only unfertilized eggs, but also their brothers and sisters. After about nine to twelve months two young are born, one from each uterus.
The Grey Nurse Sharks is ovoviviparous, it produces eggs, which hatch inside the female and have no placental connection. The Grey Nurse Shark is not the only shark in which the young are egg eaters.

TIGER Shark: Galeocerdo cuvier

Scavenger/ predator noted for indiscriminate feeding habits. The fearsome dentition, powerful jaws and huge size make them a formidable predator, easily able to bite through the bony shell of a sea turtle or cut a large shark in half. Their usual food is sharks, rays, and various fishes, but they also consume sea birds, turtles, marine mammals, and a variety of the miscellaneous rubbish that man dumps in the sea. May attack man and is greatly feared by men wrecked beyond the reefs, but is more likely to feed on humans that are already dead from other causes. A tropical species found in all major oceans; ranges south to Natal (chiefly juveniles and adolescents) and rarely to the eastern Cape.
Viviparous, 23 –46 pups per litter. Born at about 70cm; males mature at about 2.7m; attains 4.1m in our area; longest definite record elsewhere 5.5m.
The following is an analysis of Tiger Shark catches for the entire netted coast (Richards Bay to Port Edward) for the last eleven years.
Jan : 28, Apr : 29, Jul : 45, Oct : 52, Feb : 39, May : 25, Aug : 28, Nov : 55, Mar : 33, Jun : 28, Sep : 55, Dec : 51 
The netted beaches that form the core area of these catch returns are from the Bluff to Hibberdene. The sharks caught in the nets are generally under 2.5m precaudal length. The sharks we are seeing are generally bigger than this, ranging between 2.5m and 4.5m.

ZAMBEZI Shark