Diving the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area

Drive over the spine of the Cape Peninsula and the ocean changes character. West side: cold Atlantic. East side: False Bay, warmer on average and a different cast of creatures altogether.

That is the whole pitch for the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area. Cold Benguela water and warm Agulhas water meet and mix near Cape Point, and the biodiversity that results is unusual for an area this size.

The MPA wraps 127 km of coastline and covers 953.25 square kilometres, from Mouille Point in the northwest, around Cape Point, up to Muizenberg in the northeast. Inside it sits a large number of recreational dive sites, plus historical wrecks, culturally significant fish traps and traditional fishing communities. It is temperate diving with a lot of endemic life, not tropical diving.

Two sides of the peninsula

The park reaches into two coastal marine bioregions, and divers here talk about the two sides almost as separate destinations. The Atlantic Seaboard side is noticeably colder on average. The False Bay side differs in both character and biodiversity.

Both are classified as temperate waters. That means the choice between them on any given day is usually about wind and swell rather than about which one is better, which is why Cape Town divers watch the forecast obsessively.

The six no-take zones

Most of the MPA is a controlled area, where extractive activities happen under permit. Woven through it are six restricted, or no-take, zones where all harvesting of marine life is prohibited. Together they add up to 56.4 square kilometres.

Their names read like a tour of the peninsula:

• Karbonkelberg, between Oudekraal and Hout Bay
• Cape of Good Hope, from Scarborough south to Hoek van die Bobbejaan
• Paulsberg, between Smitswinkel Point and Venus Pool
• Castle Rock, between Millers Point and Partridge Point
• Boulders, between Seaforth in Simon's Town and Rocklands
• St James, between the St James and Kalk Bay tidal pools

These zones are thought to be breeding and nursery grounds, the idea being that leaving them undisturbed lets threatened species recover and restock the areas around them. Karbonkelberg has one exception written into the rules: fishing for snoek is allowed beyond the 35 m isobath.

Water temperature through the year

Numbers help here, because the Cape does not have a warm season in the way most dive destinations do. Modelled figures from Open-Meteo put the sea in the low-to-mid teens all twelve months, with April the warmest month in the set and November the coolest.

Wave heights in the model sit between 2.1 and 3.0 m across the year, which is a reminder that this coast is exposed and that the peninsula's two sides rarely behave the same way at once. The same swell that closes one seaboard often leaves the other workable.

What lives here

The MPA exists partly to protect a wide range of endemic species, so much of what you see on the reefs is found only in this corner of the world. Abalone, West Coast rock lobster and territorial linefish are the headline species in management terms, all of them targeted by poachers from the no-take zones.

Above the water there is plenty going on too. Shark and whale watching are established tourist industries inside the MPA, and shark cage diving and whale watching are both activities the park regulates by permit.

Practicalities

Three harbours sit inside the MPA: the naval base and yacht club marina at Simon's Town, the fishing harbour at Kalk Bay, and the fishing harbour and marina at Hout Bay. Cape Town's major international port is just outside the boundary.

Small craft launch sites include Witsands, Kommetjie (no slipway), Millers Point, Simon's Town and Buffels Bay, plus Granger Bay just outside the MPA. Between them they cover both seaboards, which is how operators here chase the weather.

One thing to know before you go: within the controlled area, scuba diving is among the activities that require a valid permit, as the MPA regulations set out. The MPA was proclaimed on 4 June 2004 and is managed by South African National Parks, with permits, quotas and enforcement handled at national government level.

Planning a trip

Base yourself close to the water and you can reach both sides of the peninsula from a single bed. Simon's Town, Kalk Bay and Hout Bay all have working harbours, and the Boulders and St James restricted zones are right there on the False Bay side. Sort the permit question before you arrive rather than on the morning of your first dive.

Keep in mind that the park protects the seabed, the water and the airspace above it to 1000 m, and that the six no-take zones are the reason the reefs elsewhere keep producing.

When you get there, log each dive with the side of the peninsula noted and the temperature you actually saw, then compare the Atlantic sites against False Bay over a week. Add your photos of the endemics, rate the sites near Millers Point and Oudekraal, and plan the two seaboards with a buddy at Scubaspot so you can switch coasts when the swell decides for you.