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    Diving in Cape Town – Wikivoyage

    • 15 September 2010
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    I’ve mentioned Peter Southwood a couple of times, in the context of a set of web pages that he’s largely responsible for. It’s on the Wikivoyage website, which (like Wikipedia) is a collaborative project where many contributors work together to create something useful. In this case, the something useful is a worldwide travel guide.

    Peter’s project is to catalogue the dive sites of South Africa. The area that has received most attention thus far is the Cape Peninsula and False Bay – he has a list of the dive sites in each area, and most of the Cape Town have at least a skeleton article in place.

    There is a detailed article on Diving in South Africa, and one for Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay. The introductory article lists dive operators, describes local climate, weather and sea conditions, lists reference books on the marine life in the area, describes the marine ecology, recommends equipment configurations, covers any legal requirements such as permits, details emergency services available, and provides safety and travel tips. The overview article also lists the dive sites in the area, with links to the detailed page on each site. This information is very useful for tourist divers coming to South Africa, but also contains a host of information useful to the local diver.

    Peter Southwood maps the sites in a lot of detail. He has a small polystyrene boat, painted red, with a waterproof container containing a GPS mounted on it. This is towed behind him like a buoy as he dives (often solo) and maps the sites. Particular projects of his with very comprehensive reference pages and detailed maps are Long Beach in Simon’s Town (including a fantastic navigation route that covers a series of highlights of the site), and the Partridge Point area, where a location has been named Peter’s Pinnacles in his honour.

    The dive site pages are very comprehensive, covering everything you could possibly wish to know about each area:

    • position (GPS co-ordinates are usually given)
    • naming convention and origins of the name of the location
    • depth
    • visibility – what the usual range is
    • bottom topography and composition
    • expected conditions, including tips on when it’s good to dive there
    • access information (boat or shore, with detail on the entry point if it’s a shore dive)
    • facilities on site (for shore dives) such as parking, restrooms and showers
    • marine life in the area
    • features of the site – caves, overhangs, pinnacles, air traps and so on
    • photography information – what equipment is recommended, and what subjects are promising
    • routes around the site
    • hazards
    • recommended equipment (e.g. an SMB, a light, etc.)
    • required skills to dive the site – sometimes relatively shallow sites are only suitable for more advanced or experienced divers… Shark Alley comes to mind!

    The Cape Peninsula and False Bay wikivoyage page is Tony’s and my go-to guide whenever we want to dive a new site, as well as a good reference to familiar places. Even the articles on well-known sites give new insights or tips on what can be found there. The evolving nature of the online medium means that we check back often for updates and improvements to the articles. The Partridge Point article is a case in point – it’s undergone huge development in recent months.

    This project deserves as much publicity as it can get – it’s incredibly impressive and useful, and reflects years of work on the part of Peter Southwood. The fact that he has made it freely available online is very generous. What’s more, the collaborative nature of the site it’s hosted on means that other divers can create accounts and contribute to the detailed information already there.

    13 Comments

    • Zero to… HERO! « Learn to Dive Today

      10 Dec 2010 08:12 am

      [...] at Long Beach, exchanged information on the layout of the SAS Pietermaritzburg with wikitravel guru Peter Southwood, enjoyed high-speed boat rides to various local dive sites on Ruby Runner – the Blue Flash [...]

    • False Bay and Cape Peninsula dive sites « Learn to Dive Today

      01 Jun 2011 04:06 pm

      [...] dive sites Peter Southwood has a list of the dive sites in the Cape Peninsula and False Bay on his wikitravel site for diving in the region. Here’s our list (which is just his, alphabetised, plus some other [...]

    • Newsletter: Birds and dolphins « Learn to Dive Today

      09 Jun 2011 06:06 pm

      [...] were … well, only they know! The second launch took us to a new reef discovered by Grant and Peter Southwood called Tivoli Pinnacles, near Roman Rock. Being  a new dive site we were possibly the first to see [...]

    • Newsletter: The best of winter « Learn to Dive Today

      14 Jul 2011 09:07 pm

      [...] This is an old fishing trawler lost since 1960 and found by Grant from Blue Flash last year. Peter Southwood has put up a lot of info on Wikitravel. The sun shone all day, there was very little wind and 14 [...]

    • Newsletter: Diving Cape Point, False Bay and Table Bay « Learn to Dive Today

      21 Jul 2011 10:07 pm

      [...] you need information about any of these dive sites, please go and check out Peter Southwood’s wikitravel site on Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay (full list of dive sites here). We always read up about [...]

    • Handy hints: Draining your drysuit « Learn to Dive Today

      22 Jul 2011 07:07 am

      [...] is Peter Southwood doing just that at Miller’s Point… Maximum allowed drain time here is 20 minutes, [...]

    • Bookshelf: Scuba Diving Malta – Gozo – Comino « Learn to Dive Today

      23 Aug 2011 07:08 pm

      [...] dives are given, as well as route suggestions. It’s much like the Maltese print equivalent of Peter Southwood’s wikitravel pages for Cape Town diving! Boat dive sites are also listed with descriptions as an [...]

    • Dive briefings « Learn to Dive Today

      26 Aug 2011 07:08 am

      [...] it a few times. Once you have decided to dive a site, read all the available information on the wikitravel site for diving in Cape Town. This website will be your Divemaster. It will tell you how to get in and out, what skills and [...]

    • Dive sites: Roman Rock « Learn to Dive Today

      27 Sep 2011 06:09 am

      [...] part of Roman Rock that we dived is a newish area, I think, that Peter Southwood is busy mapping for the Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay wikitravel site. It’s a very, [...]

    • Cape Town slipways « Learn to Dive Today

      28 Sep 2011 12:09 pm

      [...] charters. There are a few slipways on the eastern side of False Bay in the Gordon’s Bay area. Peter Southwood has more information on the harbours and slipways here. LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "1"); [...]

    • Dive sites: MV Aster « Learn to Dive Today

      07 Nov 2011 09:11 am

      [...] we dived it, Peter Southwood was venturing inside to check that his schemes of arrangement on the wikitravel site are correct and current. Peter Southwood’s line stretches beneath a hatch in the [...]

    • Dive sites: Caravan Reef « Learn to Dive Today

      19 Nov 2011 07:11 am

      [...] this part of Caravan Reef, but the current prevented us from making much progress into those areas. Peter Southwood is busy mapping this reef, so contours should be added to the existing map on Wikitravel. I think [...]

    • Dive sites: 13th Apostle | Learn to Dive Today Blog

      13 May 2012 07:05 am

      [...] very large cavern. The reef itself has kelp growing on top and down to at least 15 metres which, as Peter Southwood points out, implies that light often penetrates to that depth, in turn implying frequent good [...]

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