Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Harvest Capella

The dive site Harvest Capella or MFV Harvest Capella is an inshore recent wreck in the Karbonkelberg area on the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

Position

 * S34°01.600', E018°18.750'

This site is in the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area since 2004. A permit is required. The site is entirely inside the Karbonkelberg restricted zone.

Name
The site name is the name of the vessel wrecked at this location.

Depth
Maximum depth is about 15 m. (Average depth is likely to be about 10 to 12 m.)

Visibility
Visibility is likely to be similar to other sites in the vicinity, possibly a little less due to shallow depth and proximity to the shore. It is sheltered from the worst of the SW swell by the headland.

Topography
The wreck lies on a relatively low profile granite shoreline reef on the north side of the Oude Schip headland on the Karbonkelberg peninsula west of Hout Bay. The wreck has been broken up and part has washed up on the shore. The rest is largely fragmented and scattered just offshore in fairly shallow water, exposed to the full force of the winter storms. The reef is relatively flat, without many large boulders, and not much in the way of large ridges and gullies, but much of the wreckage is scattered along the bottom of one of those gullies.

Geology: Pre-cambrian granite of the Peninsula pluton

Conditions
The site is exposed to north westerly winds and seas, so should be dived in south-easterly winds. The site is reasonably protected from south westerly swells.

The site is usually at it's best in summer but there are also occasional opportunities at other times of the year This is an area which sometimes has upwellings, caused by south easterly winds, resulting in a short period of clear very cold water, which is usually followed by an algal bloom and a reduction in visibility

Get in
Access is usually by boat from Hout Bay harbour. Although it is close to the shore, and the exit does not look unusually difficult, there is no access by road to anywhere reasonably near the site.

The site is about 8.8 km from Hout Bay harbour slipway or 19 km from the Oceana Power Boat Club slipway at Granger Bay.

Features
Rather broken up wreckage of a steel fishing boat. There are reports of more substantial wreckage, but the location is not known.

Suggested routes
No specific routes recommended.

Hazards
No site-specific hazards known. A light current may run around the point, but this is some distance from the wreck.

Skills
No special skills required. The site is suitable for entry level divers if the weather and sea conditions are acceptable.

Equipment
Standard recreational diving equipment should be adequate. There are no known penetrations. The water is usually cold, and a good wetsuit or drysuit is necessary.

Nearby






Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Oude Schip and Leeugat area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of Table Bay and approaches


 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula east coast
 * Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches
 * Dive sites of False Bay east coast
 * Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area