Dive into Cape Town's Kelp Forests

During an unforgettable ocean adventure in False Bay, visitors can observe a diverse array of marine wildlife, including seals, dolphins, and whales, making it an exceptional destination for nature enthusiasts.

Bronze Whaler Sharks
African Shark Eco-Charters is now diving with the beautiful Bronze Whaler Sharks. The tours are very exciting and the sharks are interactive around the boat. This makes for a great shark diving trip.
Bronze Whalers are also known as “Bronzies”, or Copper Sharks. With the decline of the Great White Shark in the areas, these sharks have now been spotted more frequently in False Bay. We have been seeing them on our day tours in the summertime. They can reach up to 3.5m in length, but we generally see sharks around the 2.5m mark.

Broadnose Sevengilled Cow Sharks
Over the last few years, we have seen a distinctive increase in Broadnose Sevengilled Cow Shark sightings around Seal Island. This is an astounding shark to dive with, as it is primitive looking and has calm slow movements. This shark was primarily seen in Cape Town in the shallows and in the stunning protected reefs in the Kelp forests along the Cape Peninsula marine reserve. However, in the last few years, they have moved to Seal Island and we have been privileged to be able to dive with them on our shark cage diving tours.

Hammerhead Sharks
It’s not often we see hammerhead Sharks in False Bay, but we have seen a few of them on our day trips when the warm water has pushed into the bay. They are named for the distinctive shape of their heads. It’s a great privilege to see them in False Bay.

Sting Rays
Occasionally we have been graced by Short-tailed Stingrays. We love these weird-looking creatures. They are the largest stingrays in the world and can reach upwards of 2.1m across and 350kg in weight.

Penguins
Did you know that you can see African Penguins on Seal Island? There are not a lot of penguins found on the island. Their numbers vary, but we roughly see around 50-80 penguins. They are very cute and happily live with the Cape Fur Seals.

Whale Watching
Whales are often seen on our trips in False Bay. We see Brydes whales, Southern Right whales and Humpback whales. We have also spotted Orca’s on our trips, especially the infamous shark eating “Port” and “Starboard”.

Great White Sharks
The iconic shark of all sharks is the Great White Shark. They are known and famous in False Bay to breach out of the water when hunting and catching their prey, which is the Cape Fur Seals. This behaviour is known as breaching or as we call it “AIRJAWS”. This behaviour is predominately seen in our peak season which is our Wintertime, with peak seasons being June, July and August.

Short Fin Mako Sharks
This extremely fast pelagic shark can be found on our Blue and Mako shark trips off Cape Point. This is a full day trip. We can go anything from 5-20 miles off Cape Point in search of warmer “blue water” where they are found. They are also known as the Blue Pointer or just Mako Shark. They are classified as endangered.

Blue Sharks
These open ocean sharks are found in temperate to tropical waters. They are long pointy sharks, of a blue shade on the top with white underneath and have long pectoral fins. They are also called the Great Blue Shark. They are most frequently seen on our pelagic shark trips.

Cape Fur Seals
Seal Island is heaving with Cape Fur seals. Depending on breeding season, the rock can boast anything from about 40 00-70 00 seals. They are large muscular seals, extremely noisy animals and bleat like lambs.

Common Dolphins
These beautiful sleek dolphins can be found in their hundreds in False Bay. We see them on many of our shark trips.

So, now that you know what False Bay has so much to offer, it’s like going on a marine safari!
Book your spot now for the trip of a lifetime!