Conditions:

Shore entries:

Paquita Wreck: The Paquita was a 460 ton German sailing vessel en route to Barbados when she went to ground inside the Knysna Heads in 1903.

The wreck itself lies at a depth of 3-9 meters. She lies on a reef that drops off into the main channel with a max depth of 19 meters. The dive site lies in a marine reserve and is host to an assortment of marine life. Common sightings include black tails, white steenbras, zebra’s, cape stumpnose, two tone finger fin, doublesash butterfly fish, nudibranch and loads more.

The Paquita Wreck has to be dived on the turn of high tide due to extremely strong currents in the channel.

Heads Drift: A short walk after kitting up at the dive shop. We enter the water close to the heads and drop down into the channel and let the current take us where we need to be. Max depth of 19 meters and loads of reef and marine life to be seen.

Normally dived about 2 hours before the high tide.

Tapas Jetty: Located on Thesen Island, the Jetty was used by the sea traders back in the day and also had a railway line running onto it.

It is commonly referred to as a junk yard dive as there are loads of old railway sleepers and tires lying on the bottom. Max depth of 9 meters.

Also best dived on the high tide due to the current. Tapas Jetty has always been a fun dive with plenty to find from the fisherman who sit along the jetty. There is also a little reef made up by the local dive club a few years back that hosts quite a few fish.

The Knysna Seahorse is likely to be found around the jetty if you keep your eyes peeled and have a bit of luck on your side.

Boat Dives Inside the heads:

Drift Dive: Our favorite dive!!! We take the boat right into the entry of the heads and drop off with a quick decent and catch the current straight away. Most common sighting on this dive is definitely the haze of the bottom as it passes you rather quickly. We see a few little sections of reef here and there but the biggest part of the dive is doing summersaults and flick flacks while maintaining buddy contact!!! We can cover a distance of up to nearly a kilometer in less than an hour. A definite must for any thrill seekerJ

Boat Dives Outside the heads:

All of our outside sites are very untouched and in extremely good condition.

Rene’s Reef: Named after Stefan’s wife. This is one beautiful reef. It is actually made up of a number of reef’s lying parallel to each other. Depth ranges from 5m down to 26m on the different sections. Covered in both hard and soft coral. Fish life you wouldn’t believe.

If you don’t count more than 30 basket stars on a dive then you need to get some corrective lenses for your mask!

The Longdrop: Named by a very avid local diver who is also a plumber. The Longdrop is a pinnacle that lies just below the surface and drops down to 21m.

We drop down to the bottom of the pinnacle and start circling it while making our way to the top. Also covered in both hard and soft coral and loads of other marine life.

East Cape Wall:  A bit of a longer boat ride but worth it. East Cape has a wall that runs a few hundred meters long. We drop down and use the current to ease us along the wall while taking in its majestic beauty. Depth ranges from around 6m-28m.

Sightings of Ragged tooth sharks are often seen on this dive.