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Guide to diving with Cape Town's local marine life.
When you think about scuba diving, usually the first image that comes to mind is diving in warm tropical waters, hovering over coral reefs. But have you considered there might be an even more colourful dive site out there, teaming with life? Along Cape Town's shores, there lives a world beneath the waves. From the surface, kelp forests just look like floating, slimy plants, but once you submerge underneath, you will see an alien landscape come to life. In these kelp forests l
Danel Wentzel
Nov 6, 202514 min read


Tropical Kelp Forests: Why kelp in Mozambique is a lot like finding a penguin in the Maldives.
This kelp forest is made of a species thought to be Ecklonia radiata, an abundant intertidal species of kelp found around the East coast of South Africa. Here in Mozambique, this population is sitting at around 35 m depth. I first fell in love with kelp when I moved to Cape Town from a small land-locked farm town in order to pursue my lifelong dreams of becoming a marine biologist. It’s here beneath these shifting shades and slimy kelp blades where my love for marine life, ed
Danel Wentzel
Nov 6, 20255 min read


Ten Things That Will Change How You See Kelp
It’s easy to think of kelp forests as just another patch of seaweed, but as a marine biologist I can tell you, they are vibrant,...
Danel Wentzel
Aug 13, 20253 min read


Ponta do Ouro: Where Sharks Reign and Tourists Don't (Yet)
Okay, confession time. I've dived in some pretty swanky spots, places where the water is so clear you can see your anxieties bubbling up...
Danel Wentzel
Aug 12, 20254 min read


Beyond the Lens: A Guide to Capturing Ocean Stories with Your Action Camera
There’s a myth in the world of photography that a creator is only as good as their equipment. I’m here to tell you that this is the...
Danel Wentzel
Aug 11, 20253 min read


Dive Site Guide: Aliwal Shoal
Of Sharks and Shipwrecks: My Journey into the Heart of Aliwal Shoal To know Aliwal is to know a wild, subtropical haven where the lines...
Danel Wentzel
Aug 11, 20254 min read


The Sardine Run: a Question of Access, and a Climate on the Brink
There are moments in the natural world so vast and so raw that they force a pause. They humble you. They challenge your perception of...
Danel Wentzel
Aug 11, 20254 min read


Behind the Glass: Sustainable Seaweed Harvesting at the Two Oceans Aquarium
A spotted gulley shark and stumpnose sea bream – two common residents found swimming in the Two Oceans Aquarium kelp forest exhibit....
Danel Wentzel
Aug 11, 20253 min read
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