Snorkelling Simonstown, south of Cape Town South Africa
Located on the east side of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, is Simonstown – a protected location within False Bay – and a snorkeller’s delight for exploring the giant kelp. The amazing kelp forests can be seen all along the peninsula.
South Africa has two prevailing oceanic systems. The cool currents of the Atlantic Ocean lies along South Africa’s western coast and the warmer tropical waters of the Indian Ocean lies on the eastern side of South Africa. South Africa, sitting at the intersection of these oceans, creates a particularly diverse marine life environment. The nutrients carried by the Benguela and the Agulhas currents supports the giant kelp, otherwise known as the Great African Kelp Forest, which is a site to behold.
Simonstown, south of Cape Town South Africa, is one town on the eastern side of the peninsula, there are other towns both east and west you can base yourself to snorkel from (such as Hout Bay). It’s not too far a drive from the Cape of Good Hope (about an hour or so) where there is plenty of kelp but the mighty wind blows you off your feet – no snorkelling there.
Snorkelling sites at Simonstown, South Africa
We were faced with chilly waters and not so kind weather but when there was a break we had the opportunity to visit Windmill Beach and the A-Frame, two snorkelling (and diving) spots at Simonstown.
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About snorkelling Simonstown, South Africa
Windmill beach
Windmill beach is a sheltered dive and snorkelling spot, surrounded by large granite boulders with little penguins watching from above. It’s full of urchins, seastars and, of course, giant kelp. From the shore, it’s a gentle sloped walk on the sandy bottom with some smaller rocky outcrops then a swim around the larger boulders, after which the ground drops about eight meters, which caters to the divers to explore (here’s a good aerial shot of Windmill Beach from Cape Town Freediving).
The A-Frame
The A-Frame is a popular dive site in False Bay, Simonstown. It is about seven to eight metres deep and has swim throughs and rocky outcrops for to explore. For us snorkellers, we were more interested in swimming amongst the kelp forests nearby (and an aerial shot of the A-Frame, also from Cape Town Freediving).
In the 13 degree waters, we needed 8 mm wetsuits swimming Windmill Beach Simonstown
Getting there
Simonstown is about an hour’s drive south of Cape Town. It’s located on False Bay, which is a protected side of the peninsula.
Snorkelling is also available at Hout Bay, on the other side of the peninsula (about a 40 minute from Simonstown) but wasn’t available to us at the time because of the weather and big waves.
Looking back at Hout Bay and a beautiful day at Simonstown, South Africa.
Snorkelling with our tour operator – Pisces Divers
Our original intention was to snorkel at Hout Bay but because of the inclement weather we contacted Pisces Divers at Simonstown who were happy to accommodate us. They’re a very friendly relaxed bunch, and we were lucky to have Shannon be our snorkel guide at both Windmill beach (a snorkel off the beach) and the A-Frame (further south) where we explored some of the Great African Kelp Forests growing in about 8-9 metres depth about 100 metres off shore.
Pisces Divers supplied the 8 mm wetsuits – a hooded vest, dive suit and gloves. We had our own snorkelling gear so that’s all we needed.
Getting to Windmill Beach was a short drive in the back of the operator’s ute. We parked the car, walked a short distance down a path and into the gentle sloped shored. The water was 13 degrees, we needed every inch of our wetsuits – it took your breath away.
Shannon, our Pisces Divers snorkelling guide, and walking to the boat for our second snorkel day.
Getting to the A-Frame required a short walk from the dive centre, over the railway line when there were no trains – not really a problem as the trains were few – and to the boat waiting on the shore. The boat took us south, past Windmill Beach, and to the A-Frame site about 100 metres off shore and into the kelp forest sitting in about 8-9 metre water depth.
Looking back at the shore, south of Simonstown, where we dropped into the water.
Swimming with the seals
One of our intentions was to swim with the seals. Sounds scary and shark infested but swimming with them near Simonstown is relatively risk-free – the water is too shallow for sharks apparently. The only small risk is being bitten by an angry seal. After talking to the operator in Hout Bay before leaving Australia and planning our trip around the snorkel with the seals we were pretty disappointed to find out seal snorkelling was cancelled due to a rabies outbreak. Who knew seals got rabies! (not me).
Here’s an interesting article by the Guardian as to why that happens. In short, orca’s had been visiting the bay and killing off the sharks (ramming into their sides, eating only their livers and leaving the rest of the shark to other predators). Sharks rapidly left the area and the seal population flourished. The increasing mass of seals meant rabies became rampant.
Snorkelling Windmill Beach and the A-Frame
We were in South Africa end of September, and the water was damn cold. People crowded the beach around Cape Town but no-one swam in the water – it was a mere 13 degrees celsius. I take my hat off to the die-hards who I saw swimming their daily laps from bouy to bouy with no wetsuit.
Wearing a wetsuit snorkelling was essential. We had a 3 mm vest for chest and head and a full 5 mm wetsuit covered up the rest – so 8 mm all up over the torso. The third time I snorkelled, my suit didn’t fit as well and every time I turned my head water trickled down my back. In the end it got too much for me, I only lasted half the snorkel – to a waiting cup of hot sweet tea supplied by our operator. Gerard stayed in and enjoyed the kelp forest for as long as he could.
There were plenty of fish but not as many as I thought would show. Mind you, we were pretty focused on the kelp.
Snorkelling Windmill beach
Shannon took us around the boulders (we were very impressed she didn’t wear gloves). Divers went into the opposite direction and around the boulders and unfortunately our snorkel was timed by how long the divers were in the water – a regular theme for snorkellers – otherwise we would have been happy to stay longer.
The weather was windy and overcast and it had been raining for a week, so there was a lot of runoff from the land into the ocean which made the viz not so good. Despite that we still saw a lot, it’s just a shame that the pictures we took don’t show that!
Snorkelling near the A-Frame and then further around the bay
Snorkelling near the A-Frame was something special. We had two snorkels, one near the A-Frame and then further down the bay opposite a bunch of caravans on the shore (sorry, not sure what it’s called). We were surrounded by 8 metre stalks of swaying giant kelp with a visit from an inquisitive fish or two. We feel pretty lucky to have experienced it.
Here’s a video we put together.
Snorkelling amongst the giant kelp at the A-Frame snorkelling (and diving) site.
Closer to the rocky outcrops, we were confronted with walls of mussels, sea stars and other sea creatures. Apart from the sediment which reduced the visibility, the cold water made sure the viz was still pretty good – we easily saw eight metres below to the sandy bottom.
Our recommendation
Our recommendation is based on a comparison with other sites we’ve visited, the snorkelling guide, the abundance of corals and fish life. It also includes environmental factors such as damage to corals by tourists and/or climate change.
We’d give all three snorkels (Windmill Beach, the A-Frame and further down the bay) 4 out of 5 when snorkelling Simonstown, South Africa.
The main reasons being the clean cold water and the experience of a lifetime to swim amongst the Great African Kelp Forest in the colder months. It takes a lot to get to South Africa from Australia but if you’re headed that way, take some time out to check out the snorkelling. It’s worth it.
