Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Froggy Pond

The dive site Froggy Pond is a shoreline rocky reef in the Froggy Pond area of Simon's Town on the False Bay coast of the Cape Peninsula, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Understand

Aerial view of the dive sites at Froggy Pond at top left of picture and Fisherman’s Beach at lower centre. The northern ridge of the point between them extends over 100m out and is an important part of the dive site. (Photo CDS&M)

A shore dive site which is suitable for training exercises as it is sheltered and has a flat sandy bottom.

Position

S33°12.22’ E018°27.40’

First little cove south of the golf course in Simon’s Town.

This site is in a Marine Protected Area (2004). A permit is required. The site is entirely inside the Boulders Restricted Zone.

Name

This little bay is actually called "Froggy Pond" on the official maps and charts of the area. In spite of its name this is a sea dive, and there will be no frogs

Depth

Shallow, the 10m contour is about 200m out at the end of the reef south of Froggy Pond .

Froggy Pond cove seen from the roadside. This is a very sheltered little bay and not very deep. A suitable site for training exercises on the sand, but an interesting dive along the reefs.

Topography

Sandy beach with boulders in shallows. Quite steeply shelving at the shoreline. Rocky reefs to both sides. Huge granite corestone outcrops with some dolerite dykes at south end of beach form a wide point separating Froggy Pond from Fisherman's Beach to the south. The point continues out to sea as a reef of medium to low outcrops on a sand bottom. Inshore the sand is loose and clean and fairly coarse. Further out there are places where it is finer and others where there is a coarse overlay of granular shelly sand. There are some narrow deep crevices in the rocks of the point which shelter a surprising variety of organisms.

Geology: Late Pre-Cambrian granite of the Peninsula pluton.

View from the rocks to the North, showing the pipeline

Conditions

There may be a small beach break, and surge as it is quite shallow. Winter dive. Sheltered from the northerly chop

The site is exposed to wind and waves from the south east, and is reasonably protected from south westerly swell, so it is usually at it's best in winter. There may be occasional opportunities at any time of the year.

Facilities

Reasonable off road parking nearby.

Get in

Beach entry and exit very sheltered. The beach is fenced as a penguin sanctuary and the gate is not diver-friendly. It may be necessary to take off your cylinder to get through.

There is off road parking on the shoreward side of the road slightly to the south, opposite Fisherman's Beach.

See

Marine life

More interesting than one might expect from the shore. The open rocks are quite bare, but there is a long horizontal crevice at quite shallow depth on the north side of the point which has a lot in and around it. It seems to be open at the back as a strong surge runs through it which may be unpleasant in a larger swell. Shallow areas have lots of pear limpets on top of the rocks, urchins a bit deeper with fairly sparse Red bait, Common feather stars deeper still. Deepest reefs have some Elegant feather stars too, and Mauve and Red chested cucumbers. The sand is fairly bare, with a few buried horseshoe cucumbers, some Long siphoned whelks, Sand stars and Puffadder shy sharks. Kelp on the rocks is fairly sparse. There are a lot of twiggy corallines in the shallows, more crustose corallines deeper.

Photography

There are plenty of subjects for close-up photography.

Routes

Follow the edge of the reef on the south side of the cove, making excursions up the rocks and occasionally onto the sand. You can go right round the point and exit at Fisherman’s Beach.

Stay safe

Hazards

No site specific hazards are recorded.

Skills

Easy entry and exit, and sandy patches make this a suitable site for entry level training dives. There is plenty of shallow reef for novice snorkellers.

Equipment

No special equipmnt is necessary. A light is useful to see into crevices and overhangs. A compass is useful to keep track of where you are if you follow the point out far or explore over the sand.

Back to Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#Seaforth to Froggy Pond

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