Whittle Rock

城市概覽

Whittle Rock and the surrounding reefs cover a large area, and are the most significant navigational hazard in False Bay, as they are in the approaches to Simon's Town harbour, but as very little shipping of large displacement enters the bay, it is not at present that much of a problem. The English East-Indiaman Euphrates was reported to have been wrecked on the reef, but its position is not known, and the claim is dubious. An English East-Indiamann of that name struck a rock near the Cape of Good Hope and was damaged in June 1810, but returned to harbour, was repaired and later wrecked off Ceylon in 1813. Several anchors have been found, of various sizes, mostly of fairly old design. Some are thought to be from the Euphrates, and some of them are mapped. It is also a popular fishing area for reef fish, and a spectacular dive site. Almost the whole reef is within the depth range generally accepted for recreational scuba diving (40 m (130 ft)), and a fairly large area is accessible to entry level divers. It would certainly be more popular if it was closer to the launch areas. Visibility is often better than at the inshore sites on either side of False Bay on the same day. The reef extends about 1,300 m (4,300 ft) from east to west, and about 950 m (3,120 ft) from north to south, with sand patches in locally deep areas, and sand tongues leading up from the surrounding sand bottom between the lobes of the reef.

Position

Whittle Rock reef is about 8 km offshore, west of Miller's Point, and south of Seal Island. There is officially a navigation buoy marking the navigational hazard, but there have been occasions when it was not there. The current buoy replaces one which sank some years ago. Divers have reported that it lies on the bottom, still attached to its mooring system, and probably simply sank after years of neglect, but this has not been confirmed, and the area has been mapped in high resolution by multibeam sonar. The artifact known as "Neptune's Bathplug" an

如何抵達

The sites are only accessible by boat. It is about 8.5 km from the slipway at Miller's Point, but boats usually leave from Simon's Town jetty. On a good day in a fast boat it is a bit less than a half hour run from Simon's Town Jetty, a distance of about 14.5 km. Occasionally boats will leave from Gordon's Bay Old Harbour or Harbour Island marina, which are both about 29.4 km away. Anchoring is not recommended. Most of the sites are on unpredictable holding ground, and there is a good chance that the anchor will either drag or foul, possibly both, and a rope rode may chafe through during a dive. This is a site where only the suicidally foolhardy would dive from an unattended boat, as it may not be possible to swim back to the boat on the surface due to current, and besides dragging or fouling, the anchor tackle will do undesirable and unnecessary ecological damage. Leave the boat in the charge of a competent person who will be able to pick up stray divers and call for help in an emergency. If for some reason you really must dive from an anchored boat, a distance line to either the anchor cable or directly to the boat will improve the chances of getting back safely. There are day charter boats which can take a diver to any of the dive sites in the region, but most operators only work from a limited number of launch sites, which limits the dive sites they visit. Visits to a dive site also depend on the weather and are generally not predictable or bookable more than two to four days in advance. See the listing for Cape Peninsula and False Bay boat dive charters and the associated services directory for contact details.

必看景點

You could return to Whittle Rock every weekend for a year and not see it all. It is big, with a huge variety of topography and large depth range, and is highly rated by local divers who have actually dived there often enough to develop a reliable opinion.

Marine life

Much depends on which part of the reef you dive. There are a wide variety of invertebrates and quite a variety of fish seen in the vicinity, including occasional shoals of pelagic Yellowtail. This is a popular fishing area and unfortunately there has been noticeable damage to the reef by anchors in the shallower parts. The ecology of the reef is zonated by depth and by profile. Areas with similar depth, slope, orientation and protection tend to be occupied by a similar group of organisms, but there are a large range of combinations of these factors. The shallowest parts are dominated by large red-bait pods on the upper surfaces. Deeper areas have more sea fans and scrolled false corals, and below 20 m there are more sponges. Near-vertical walls may be covered by huge numbers of elegant feather stars, and basket stars are relatively common. Some days there are shoals of fish, which may follow divers around, while on other days hardly any can be seen, and those that are seen are skittish and keep well away. This may be a function of water temperature, illumination, and

體驗活動

Dive at some of the known drop points listed here, grouped by sector of the reef, and explore the local reef around each point, or follow one of the routes. Alternatively, dive at an unsurveyed place and let us know what you find.

Main reef This is the region around the shallowest pinnacle, and was the first part of the reef to be systematically surveyed. The area above the 21 m contour is about 550 m from northwest to southeast on the long axis, and about 250 m from southwest to northeast on the short axis. This constitutes most of the area of reef shallower than 21 m and almost all of the reef above 15 m. The main reef is fundamentally a large ridge running northwest-southeast, with a shallower plateau to the east, and a large, slightly deeper lobe – the Euphrates Rise – extending to the northeast. It is demarcated from the southern reef areas by a relatively steep sided valley which has a sand bottom – the Eastern sand tongue – and large boulders strewn along the northeastern slopes – to the southeast, a wide pebble bed to the northwest, and at least one sandy patch in the middle. Plateau The high area of the main reef, nominally bounded by the 15 m contour. 1 Whittle Rock: S34°14.846' E18°33.714'. The main reef near the 5 m pinnacle is the shallowest part of the reef, with an extensive area above 15 m, and several parts above 12 m, separated by gaps and gullies of varying depth and width. The main pinnacle, and the feature known specifically as Whittle Rock, is a huge boulder standing on top of the main outcrop, with a gully to the east. A second pinnacle stands a few metres to the southwest, rising to 8 m on top, which is the third shallowest place on the reef. Slightly further to the east of the main pinnacle there is a long, deep and narrow gully running north and then east. To the immediate north and west is a plateau between 10 and 15 m deep. There is a large anchor lying flat on top of the high reef area just south of the main pinnacle (Marc's anchor).