Scuba Diving Tours in South Africa: 5 Ranked for a Real Itinerary

1.CapeTown: Shark Cage Diving Experience with Scuba

★★★★★★★★★★4.5 · 146 reviews · from $218Our pick

Meet your captain and crew at Simon’s Town for a roughly 3.5-hour shark cage experience at Seal Island. You’ll use supplied scuba equipment to spend time underwater with bronze whaler sharks, with possible Cape Point trips for blue and mako sharks. Seals, dolphins, whales, and seabirds may add to the outing.

“We had the day rearranged as the crew advised it was bad conditions and wouldn’t have been pleasant - we’re so glad they did! We had lots of sharks and seals and the crew were very friendly and professional.”

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2.Scuba Diving Experience for Beginners

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 14 reviews · 3.5 hours · from $112Best value

Meet Kobus and the African Ocean Adventures team at the Just Nuisance statue in Simon’s Town. After a PADI e-learning course, equipment fitting, and a 45-minute safety briefing, you’ll spend about 1.5 hours underwater among kelp, fish, octopus, seals, penguins, and possibly small sharks. The site changes with weather and experience.

“Amazing scuba diving experience! Everything was perfectly organized and very professional. The guide was knowledgeable, friendly, and made the dive both safe and fun. I really enjoyed exploring the underwater world — it was unforgettable! Highly recommend to anyone looking for a great diving adventure.”

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3.Scuba Dive in Cape Town: 2 Dives for certified divers

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 12 reviews · 6.5 hours · from $205

Spend 6.5 hours with a PADI professional from Diveteam in Simon’s Town, exploring two False Bay sites by boat. Expect kelp forests, reefs, possible shysharks, octopus, stingrays, and endemic fish, plus mountain views, hot showers, snacks, and help identifying what you see.

“Really friendly and helpful dive team. Professional and courteous . Sights excellent - dive 1 was the Kelp Forest and dive2 was a reef covered with starfish and anemones in all colours. Cold water though !!!”

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4.Discover Scuba Diving – 1 day experience

★★★★★★★★★★5.0 · 5 reviews · 4 hours · from $155

Meet the Dive Team in Simon’s Town for a four-hour PADI Discover Scuba session. You’ll complete e-learning, a class, safety briefing, equipment practice, and at least 45 minutes underwater at Long Beach. Small groups of up to four get close guidance from an English-speaking instructor, with octopus, fish, kelp forests, and stingrays possible.

“We recently went scuba diving for the very first time with the Dive Team in Simon’s Town! Our instructor was incredibly patient, knowledgeable, and made safety the top priority while still keeping the whole experience fun and relaxed. I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life! From the moment I arrived, the entire team made me feel completely comfortable and excited for the adventure ahead. Offering coffees, water, sweets, and fresh fruit!! Once we started diving, the guidance was amazing — I felt supported the entire time and could just focus on enjoying the beautiful underwater world seeing lobsters, fish, octopus and beautiful Kelp…”

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5.Shark Science SCUBA Diving Experience

★★★★★★★★★★4.3 · 3 reviews · 1 day · from $178

Join Cape RADD's marine biologists for a small-group scuba session in Simon's Town. After a 20-minute safety briefing, you'll search for puffadder sharks, pyjama sharks, rays, fish, and octopus, photograph shark patterns for Fin Spotter, and record marine-life data. Guide Mark has earned praise for careful equipment checks and patient answers.

“I loved my instructor. no one else was in my group so I had 1 on 1 attention. it was neat learning about the marine ecosystem but nothing described was given to me. certificate was not given and felt kind of rushed out after. my instructor said he would email photos but never got them. I've messaged a couple of times now with no response. Just feel disappointed with the no contact and getting what was detailed in activity.”

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