Exploring Aliwal Shoal in KZN

By Jax Bath

This week’s underwater adventure takes place 6 hours south of Sodwana on the world renowned Aliwal Shoal. The south coast of KZN is where I spent most of my seaside holiday’s growing up. It’s a stunning part of our coast, lined with tropical forests and rolling hills. Aliwal Shoal is about an hour away from our family holiday home, so I set out nice and early to arrive at the dive center at around 6:30.

Gear was organized and tested and within half and hour we were making our way through some precarious surf. Here, the boats are first dropped into the river before they make their way out into the area where the waves meet the shore. The sets were coming in strong but after only 2 attempts we made it to the backline and then travelled towards our dive site.

As we arrive, we readied ourselves before dropping and descending into a greenish haze, a far cry from last weeks crystal clear blue hues further up the coast. The reef here is perhaps not as aesthetically pleasing as Sodwana with its coral gardens, but I was soon to discover that the life it holds is truly out of this world. As we dropped down to the sandy bottom surrounding the reef, our first sighting for the day was a Honeycomb Ray.

We watched as the ray enjoyed a rest on the bottom before beginning our exploration of the site. My next spot was a tiny sea slug, an Ocellate phyllidia Nudibranch making his way along the bottom in search of a sponge to munch on. This dive had the perfect combination of mega fauna and macro life. From a sting ray to a nudibranch to a sighting that has been a lifelong dream.

After the nudi, we moved along the reef, taking in the sights of several species of Wrasse, many Moorish Idols and some feeding Surgeon Fish. The highlight of the day was however what happened above. I’d sensed movement in the water column a little while a way from us and to my hearts delight, I saw something move in the way only a mammal would. For the first time in my life, I was about to encounter dolphins underwater! A small pod of Bottlenose Dolphins were moving past us, only around 10m away. These incredible creatures were unperturbed by us, though the little ones did give us a quick once over as they past by.

It’s important to note that swimming with whales and dolphins is not permitted in South Africa and that if you are lucky enough to find yourself in a similar position, that you give the animals their space and do not harass them. After this breathtaking experience, I would have been content to end the dive, but we all had over 100 bar worth of air left and there was so much more in store.

Click on the link below to read more (see page 23).