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Aliwal Shoal

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa · 12–30m · advanced · exposed

Raggie (sand tiger) aggregations in winter and baited shark dives year-round on a rocky reef 5km offshore.

Conditions today

Retrieved · refreshed hourly

poor

Poor — 1.6m effective waves in the morning window.

Limiting factor: waves

Wave height
1.5–1.9m
Wave period
8.9–9.9s
Wind chop
0–0.5m
Sea temp
21.7–22.5°C

Ranges span today's hours. Wave height here is the raw sea state — the rating scales it for how exposed the site is. Exposed — open water with nothing to block the swell, so it is scored at full height.

Next few days

  • TodayPoor — 1.6m effective waves in the morning window.poor
  • SundayPoor — 1.9m effective waves made worse by local wind chop.poor
  • MondayPoor — 2.7m effective waves made worse by local wind chop.poor

Each day is scored over its morning dive window, the same as today's rating.

Dive briefing

AI-generated

This advanced reef site sits 5km offshore and drops to 30 metres. Conditions today are poor due to wave state, with 1.6m effective waves in the morning window limiting your options. Raw sea state is running 1.5–1.9m with a period of 8.9–9.9 seconds, and water temperature sits at 21.7–22.5°C.

Divers commonly log sand tiger sharks here, along with common blacktip sharks and a range of reef fish including Cape white seabream, convict surgeonfish, and lyretail anthias. Hawksbill sea turtles and blotched fantail rays are often recorded. The site offers baited shark dives year-round, though you'll need to weigh today's conditions against your plans.

Written by Claude (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) from the rating, forecast, and sightings on this page — it has no other source and cannot look anything up. Treat it as a summary, not as local knowledge.

Commonly seen here

Most-recorded species near this site, ranked by research-grade iNaturalist sightings from divers, snorkelers, and naturalists.

Species come from iNaturalist — research-grade sightings logged by divers, snorkelers, and naturalists nearby. The ranking reflects what people photograph most, not guaranteed abundance. Ask a local operator what's actually being seen. Species names link to iNaturalist for range maps, seasonality and more photos. Photos by iNaturalist contributors under Creative Commons licences — individual credit on hover.