Dive festival during the day and St George’s Festival Night Market later. A great weekend to look forward to at the end of April.
Stay over and get 20% off at Mariner Guesthouse: info@marinerguesthouse.co.za / 021 786 4528.
What to expect
The combined scuba diving community of Cape Town, having been inspired by the success and popularity of our 2012, 2014 and 2016 festivals, present the 4th Cape Town dive Festival.
Aim of the festival
The aim of the festival is to showcase our spectacular and diverse reefs and wrecks to visitors and locals alike.
Who is involved?
The event is arranged and run by a committee drawn from local dive shops, dive clubs and dive charter operators. This is a non-profit event and any unforeseen profit generated will be held to help fund future festivals.
THE FESTIVAL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday 27th April
1400 Sponsors setting up of gazebos and displays at False Bay Yacht Club.
1600 Local dive operations setting up of gazebos and stands at False Bay Yacht Club.
Saturday 28th April
0700 Dive Control Desk opens for registrations, bookings, collection of registrations tags and entering competitions.
0800 to 1500 Diving as per the Dive Schedule.
0900 DSD program starts.
1530 Professionals Cannon Dive Race.
1800 to 2000 Fund Raising Event. Details to be advised.
Sunday 29th May
0700 Dive Control Desk opens for registrations, bookings, collection of registrations tags and entering competitions.
0800 to 1500 Diving as per the Dive Schedule.
0900 DSD program starts with DSDs starting every 30 minutes.
1530 Open Cannon Dive Race.
1800 to 1900 Closing Ceremony and Prize Giving.
FESTIVAL INFO
What will it Cost?
- All participating divers need to register. Registration costs R150 per person.
- Late registration. For on-the-day Registrations, R250 per person.
- Boat dives cost R200.
What will you get for your money?
Your registration fee gets you:
- Participation in the festival, entry into False Bay Yacht Club and use of the facilities such as showers and kit washing/drying areas on both days.
- A unique Event Participant Tag. (We do not provide goodie bags in an effort to reduce litter and avoid single use plastics)
- Free entry into any of the event competitions you may want to participate in.
- Free participation in shore dives and check out dives.
Your boat dive fee gets you:
- A boat dive to the dive site you have booked for (conditions permitting) with an experienced skipper and an experienced DM.
What if the weather or sea conditions are bad?
We will NOT cancel or postpone the Festival. We know full well that this is the “Cape of Storms” and anything can happen but the chances of having a complete blow-out at this time of the year are quite low. If dive conditions are bad and the festival organisers decide not to run dives, you will be refunded your dive fees in full. We unfortunately can’t refund registration fees or refund dive fees where a diver decides to cancel his/her dive.
We have a plan to introduce a range of fun dry activities that we can run if no diving is possible. These will include a land based treasure hunt and wine tasting tours. We can also arrange dives at the Two Oceans Aquarium (where dive conditions are always good) and expand the cannon race competition which does not require good dive conditions. And the bar will be open….
How to Register and Book Dives
Bookings open on the 1st March.
All bookings will be captured electronically with Sign up Genius.
What if you only want to dive with a specific boat operator(s)?
As we did at the 2016 festival we are not going to allow the various boat operators to indicate which boats are theirs in the schedule and market only their dives. We are doing this to mix up the groups of local divers a bit more and create more of a festival-like atmosphere as opposed to it just being the same divers diving on the same boats.
About Keeping Informed
Make sure you like our Facebook page (there is a link on the Contact page) as we will be posting regular updates there.
About Check-Out Dives
If you are diving in Cape Town for the first time or are using rented equipment we will require you do a check-out shore dive with a local DM or instructor prior to doing any boat dives. This is just to ensure that you are comfortable and check your weight and buoyancy. Please don’t book onto the early boat dives if you need to do a check-out dive. Details of the times that check-out dives will be done will be posted on our Facebook page.
About Festival DMs
All the dives have a dedicated local dive master to lead you on the dive and help you with any problems you might encounter. The DMs are all volunteers that know the particular site you will be diving at. Divers (particularly experienced local divers) who do not want to follow a DM are not obliged to do so but must then carry their own SMB and reel.
DMs don’t pay to dive but are required to pay for registration unless they are bone-fide local dive shop staff. DMs are also responsible for herding their divers onto and off the boats in a controlled way, to control the loading and unloading of equipment and to give a short briefing on the dive.
About Festival Dive Durations
To keep the dive schedule on track we must limit dive times to maximum of 45 minutes. Kindly plan your dives accordingly.
About Permits
All the dive sites are in the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area and a permit is required to dive these sites. Please get an annual permit from any post office before the festival. We may check permits at the dive registration so please don’t take a chance.
About Air and Nitrox
Air and Nitrox are not provided by the Festival and you need to make your own arrangements to ensure that you have sufficient cylinders for your dives. The local dive shops and clubs will have all their rental cylinders available on site and some will have a cylinder exchange system in place. So you should be able to hand in your empty cylinder, take one of their full ones and collect yours (full) in exchange for theirs later in the day or the following day.
About Parking
The parking area just outside the yacht club gates is somewhat limited and we have made a commitment to the yachties that we will not use it at all. Please DO NOT park there. Fortunately there is a huge navy parking area called Cole Point on the other side of a brick wall and we have permission to use it. So just drive up to the yacht club gates, drop your gear at the secure kit area provided, and drive around to Cole Point parking. The kit area guards can direct you and there will be signage. There is a pedestrian gate through the brick wall so getting back to the yacht club is quick and easy.
About Festival Catering
The yacht club has it’s own restaurant which will be open on both days until 2000 and the upstairs bar will also be available. In addition there will be diver-friendly fast food stalls and trucks to keep the dive munchies at bay and ensure you are well hydrated.
Below is a list of the sites with a link for more info, the depth and the Q rating which is a qualifications standard explained at the bottom of the page.
The Wrecks;
SAS Pietermaritzburg here 17m to 22m Q2
MFV Orotava here 25m to 32m Q2
SAS Good Hope here 28m to 35m Q2
The Reefs;
Ark Rock here 5m to 12m Q1
Photographers Reef here 5m to 14m Q1
Outer Photographers Reef here 20m to 30m Q2
Maidstone Anchor Reef here 10m to 24m Q2
Roman Rock here 6m to 18m Q1
Castor Rock here 12m to 25m Q2
Wonders Pinnacles here 12m to 22m Q2
Tivoli Pinnacle here 10m to 22m Q2
Roman’s Rest here 9m to 27m Q2
Rambler Rock South here 9m to 24m Q2
Omega Reef here 15m to 29m Q2
Pyramid/Shark Alley (Cow Sharks) here 5m to 14m Q1
Dive Qualifications Key “Q”
Q1 = Suitable for PADI/NAUI/SSI Open Water Divers and CMAS 1-Star Divers (and above).
Q2 = Suitable forPADI/NAUI/SSI Advanced Open Water Divers and CMAS 2-Star Divers (and above).
All divers must adhere to the depth limitations of their dive qualification. Divers that book onto dives which they are not qualified to do will loose their booking fee and may be banned from any further diving at the festival. Check with the festival bookings manager if you are unsure.
All dives will be no-decompression dives.
Source: ctdf.co.za