Middlebank Reef

Launching from Stormsriver Mouth in the storm-prone Tsitsikamma doesn’t suggest ideal diving conditions. But partly because of the extreme conditions, the diving off this turbulent river mouth, when launches are possible, is truly extraordinary.

To dive Middelbank, a reef about 2kms offshore, and about 30m deep, is to find the most astonishing variety of marine life. Seafans wave in the deep sea surge, sponges of many colours provide shelter for crabs and shy fish, and vivid soft corals extend their carnivorous cauliflower heads to feast. Crawling and creeping over this subsea bounty is an array of marine snails, flatworms and sea spiders, all in search of their prey. Schools of hottentot drift over the reef and pyjama catsharks glide along with sinuous tailflicks.

This bounty of marine life is no accident. The stormy seas of the Cape’s south coast wash up against the rocky cliffs of the Tsitsikamma, bringing a soup of nutrients and plankton both to feed and to restock the reef fauna. In addition, this is the centre of the Tsitsikamma Marine National Park, the oldest no-take reserve in the country, having been declared in 1964. It conserves 11 per cent of South Africa’s temperate south coast and provides a baseline for fisheries research on endangered fish species.

The success of the reserve system is evident from the healthy reefs and abundant fish. Now, however, this reserve is under threat as politicians ponder the possibility of gaining votes by opening the area to fishing.