PROTEA BANKS, SHELLEY BEACH, KWAZULU-NATAL “Tigers and Bulls”
Located approximately a 90 minute drive south of the city of Durban, the Protea Banks is a fossilized sand dune reef about 5 miles directly off-shore from Shelley Beach. The reef itself is 4 miles long and one-half mile wide and varies in depth from 90 feet to 130 feet plus. The Protea Banks are known as the “shark diving Mecca” of South Africa, with a large concentration of Bull Sharks and providing fantastic opportunities to dive with large schools of Hammerhead Sharks, Guitar Sharks, Copper and Black-Tip Sharks and the Banks are home to an annual aggregation of mating Ragged-Tooth Sharks, or Sand Tigers, from June through October, with literally hundreds aggregating on the Banks in the last few years. The Protea Banks are also known for abundant pelagic fish life, including Barracuda, Tuna, Yellowtail and Kingfish.
The diving on Protea Banks was pioneered in large part by Roland and Beulah Mauz, who began to dive the Banks in the early 1990s and who established African Dive Adventures, the premier owner operated dive center in the area, in 1996. Only a few short years ago, Roland Mauz began to experiment with shark baiting on the Banks, and has established an excellent success with Tiger Sharks together with an excellent success rate with Bull sharks, with anywhere from 5 to 10 individual Bull Sharks on a single dive. For clients wishing to dive the Banks, In Depth Dive Travel works exclusively with African Dive Adventures to provide for unforgettable Bull and Tiger Shark diving experiences.
