Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/MV Gemsbok

The dive site MV L M Gemsbok is an offshore deep recent wreck in the Sea Point area on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Position

 * S33°52.910' E18°20.315'

This site is in the Robben Island Marine Protected Area since 2019. A permit is required.

Name
The 39.2 x 8.3 m 314 grt single screw buoy tender MV L M Gemsbok built 1965, capsized and sank about 4 km from Green Point Light house on 2nd September 1975 while transferring an anchor chain of a cargo vessel. The chain snagged and the weight of the chain caused the vessel to capsize and sink within minutes. The wreck lies on its starboard side.

Depth
Deep dive: Maximum depth on the wreck is about 57 m on the sand, and the top of the port side is about 50 m. Average depth of the site is likely to be about 54 m.

Visibility
Visibility is unpredictable, and is not necessarily indicated by surface conditions. In December 2019 visibility exceeded 20 m under a 6 m layer of plankton bloom one weekend, and the next weekend it was less than 2 m all the way down, and almost totally dark at the wreck.

Topography
The wreck is substantially intact, with the mast still in place. There are a few places where hull plating has wasted sufficiently to break through. Th wreck lies on the starboard side on a fairly flat sand bottom with the deck almost vertical. The propeller is still in place on the shaft and there is a gantry mast and bow gantry still in place A large hatch on the foredeck gives access to part of the interior. The port bow anchor is in the hawsepipe.

Get in
Access to this site is only possible by boat, usually from Oceana Power Boat Club slipway at Granger Bay.

Marine life
Marine growth on the wreck is relatively sparse.

Features
Recent steel wreck of buoy and mooring tender vessel in substantially intact condition.

Hazards
Cold water. Nitrogen narcosis. Decompression sickness, Breathing gas emergencies. Sea and wind conditions changing during a dive.

Skills
Competence in planning and performing technical dives to depths beyond the range of recreational diving. Skill in the use of appropriate equipment and gases for the planned dive. Dives on this site will be decompression dives

Equipment
Dives on this site should make use of appropriate helium based gas mixes and equipment suitable for the planned profile. Redundancy of gas supply, decompression gases, Backup light, DSMB with reel, redundant buoyancy control, and adequate thermal protection for cold water (dry suits strongly recommended) are necessary. If penetrations are planned, the appropriate equipment must be used.

Nearby


Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Table Bay area

Other regional dive sites:
 * Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast
 * 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