Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/SS Lusitania

The dive site SS Lusitania or just The Lusi is a historical wreck in the offshore area of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/SS Lusitania Halal Travel Guide

Map of the SS Lusitania wreck site - Map of the dive site at the wreck of SS Lusitania.}}

The wreck of the Lusitania is considered by many Cape Town divers to be one of the top wreck dives of the region. It is fairly deep and the wreck is quite broken up, but still interesting, with a number of identifiable components, and the visibility is often quite good. However, it is a physically challenging dive, quite a distance from the launch sites, and conditions are not often suitable, so it is not dived very often. No doubt these factors add to the mystique.

Although the primary attraction is the wreck and the site is also good for those with no interest in wrecks at all, as there is a huge reef at the same site, with depths from just below 40 m up to near the surface, though the parts shallower than about 10 m are seldom divable due to the proximity of the powerful break at the half tide rock.

Position

S34°23.375’ E018°29.450’ SS Lusitania GPS -34.38958,18.49083Just beyond the steep drop-off on the east side of Bellows Rock
S34°23.375’ E018°29.425’ Bellows Rock GPS -34.38958,18.49042
S34°23.33’ E018°29.39’ Wreckless Reef GPS -34.38883,18.48983

This site is in a Marine Protected Area (2004). A permit is required.

Name

Lusitania_1a - The Lusitania aground on Bellows Rock.}}

The SS Lusitania was a Portuguese twin-screw liner of 5557 tons, built in 1906 by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co, and owned by Empreza Nacional De Navegacao, of Lisbon. The ship was wrecked on Bellows Rock off Cape Point at 24h00 on 18 April 1911 in fog while on a voyage from Lourenco Marques (now Maputo) with 25 first-class, 57 second-class and 121 third-class passengers, and 475 African labourers. Out of the 800 people on board, eight died when a life boat capsized. On 20 April the ship slipped off the rock into 37 m of water to the east of the rock.

This wreck should not be confused with the wreck of the RMS Lusitania and the ocean liners|passenger liner torpedoed off Ireland during the World War I|First World War by a (German) U-boat. Thit is an earlier wreck.

Depth

The depth is 35 to 40 m on the wreck. The nearby Bellows Rock is exposed occasionally, but you do not want to go too close. The diveable reef starts at about 15 m, but the attraction of the site for most divers is the wreck.

Visibility

Visibility is often quite good when the general conditions are suitable for diving at this site, but as is always the case in Cape Town and there is no guarantee. Visibility of over 8 m is considered acceptable, but on rare occasions it has been reported as over 20 m. Anything over 10 m may be considered good. Light levels are not necessarily directly related to the bottom visibility, as a layer of poor visibility near the surface is quite common. This results in relatively dark conditions at the bottom, though it may be quite clear. It is seldom so dark that diving without a light would be unacceptably dangerous.

Diver_on_the_Lusitania_DSC04628 - Diver over the wreck of the SS Lusitania

Topography

Bellows Rock is a huge granite outcrop, probably about 200 m north to south, and over 100 m east to west, and is probably part of the Cape Peninsula pluton. The top of the reef is exposed by swells, and breaks even in very low swell. The exposed section is very small compared to the extent of the massive bulk of the rock.

The reef slopes down from Bellows Rock to the east, and drops off almost vertically from about 15 m to about 33 m, where the wreck lies between the base of the wall and some boulders further east. The wreck is extremely simple to find, but not always easy to get to, and is spread over a fairly large area.

The wreck lies with the stern to the south, where the bottom is at about 40 m. The bow is to the north and a bit shallower.

The stern is the deeper part of the debris field, which borders on the sand bottom, and on the base of the rock to the West. In this area there is a shallow cavern and a deep low overhang at the base of the rock, near 40 m depth, and another overhang just below 20 m. Further north on the rock face there are a couple of vertical ridges running down from near the top of the wall to the wreckage, which are a good guide that you are near the middle of the wreckage. Follow the rock face south to get to the stern, swim out about 45° to the left to find the boilers, and sharp left along the base to find the chains, and from there, back along the chains away from the wall to the anchor and hawse-pipes.

The northern section of the wall is not so steep at the base, but is near vertical towards the top, and as you swim north west along the top of the wall at about 20 m depth and the reef starts to break up, and a number of pinnacles can be seen, all in the same sort of depth range. The current here is usually fairly strong, and will carry you well away from the rock to the north west. If you continue around the rock the edge of the drop-off varies but is generally at around 20 m on the north side. It is shallower on the south face, where the sheer drop of the wall starts above 12 m in places, and drops almost vertically. The bottom depth is said to exceed 40 m on this side.

The wreck itself is structurally broken up – not much of the hull is recognisable, and the hull plating lies collapsed and fairly low over the bottom, with rusted holes chequering the larger expanses of plating between the frames, but towards the centre of the wreckage there is a group of four almost intact scotch boilers, with the structure of two large triple expansion steam engines and condensers nearby, leaning against a high rock. Thit is probably the highest point of the wreckage.

Occasional dinner plates, fragments of tiles and crockery, pipes, valves, a few portholes and possibly a large switchboard with cables lie scattered below the plating, seemingly at random. There is also a winch and a pair of hawsepipes at the north-eastern end of the debris field, at least one of which is still occupied by its anchor, with a long length of chain attached which partly wraps round the base of the north eastern wall of the rock.

The wreckage is encrusted with coralline algae, but not thickly, which makes the pieces easy to see, unlike most of the local wrecks which are much more thickly encrusted. The wreckage is not particularly rich with reef life, unlike the rocks, which are.

Lusi pinnacle — Close by to the east of the boilers there is a high rock with some engine structure, and a fairly low ridge extends south of this. This ridge separates the main part of the wreckage from the more scattered parts further east. On the east side of the low ridge there is a gap with sand and small boulders and then a large ridge, which extends from roughly east of the high rock of the inner ridge, magnetic south, for an unknown distance estimated as at least 50 m, The high point on this ridge is a pinnacle that rises to 17 m at the top and then slopes down again towards the south. The west side of the ridge is steep, and lies roughly north-south magnetic. At the pinnacle it is nearly vertical from the bottom of the gulley at 40 m to about 25 m at the top of the wall and then slopes more gradually up to the east to the top. The top part is a gnarly lump of rock, and on the east side there is a small cavern/overhang at about 25 m and then the slope further down to the east is more gradual, though still steep, until it reaches sand bottom at 41 m. Beyond this, to the east and the bottom is sand with smaller boulders and low outcrops scattered around for as far as one can see. Between the Lusi pinnacle and the inner ridge there is another ridge in the south of the gap.

Wreckless Reef — To the north of the Bellows Rock outcrop there is a large area of deep reef sometimes sheltered from the current by the lee of Bellows Rock that has been named Wreckless Reef by local divers who end up there instead of on the Lusi when the current is strong. There are large outcrops rising up to about 24 m in this area, with some fairly narrow gullies between them. There is some sand at about 37 m at the west of this area, but much of the bottom is boulders and bedrock.

Geology: Granite of the late Pre-Cambrian Peninsula pluton

Conditions

This site should only be dived if the swell is very low, as the break on Bellows Rock can be powerful and dangerous. The ride is relatively long, and will be uncomfortable in a chop. The site is usually dived at short notice, often on weekdays, and early in the morning before the wind picks up. When conditions are good it is an exciting and spectacular dive and is considered to be one of the prime dives of the region. Visibility is very good when the site is diveable, and on very rare occasions may exceed 40 m. There may be a current setting west, which will carry you onto the rock if you are not careful during the ascent. A north setting current has also been experienced, which can be strong enough that most divers will be unable to get to the wreck, and will be carried around to the north side of Bellows Rock onto "Wreckless Reef" On rare occasions the current may even set east, which can take you beyond the wreck quite quickly.

Muslim Friendly Travel TO Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/SS Lusitania

-34.27|18.6|width=|align= SS Lusitania wreck, Bellows Rock and other offshore dive sites of False Bay}} Lusitania_2a - SS Lusitania

Access to this site is only by boat. It is 19.2 km from Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Miller's Point slipway|Miller's Point slipway, or 26.5 km from the Simon's Town jetty.

What to see in Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/SS Lusitania

Marine life

The reef is encrusted with colourful invertebrates. These are most spectacular on the more vertical parts of the wall, The top of Bellows Rock is heavily covered by red-bait ascidians, which are much the same as each other. Occasionally a shoal of Yellowtail Seriola lalandi may swim past in mid-water - this could happen at any depth - or you may be visited by a Cape fur seal. The wreckage itself is less densely overgrown, and the components are generally easily recognised as bits of broken ship, though some skill may be needed to identify exactly which parts, as it is quite broken up.

Wreckless Reef is well encrusted with cauliflower soft corals in places.

Yellowtail at SS Lusitania DSC00760 - Shoal of Yellowtail at the Lusi
Horsefish at SS Lusitania DSC00766 - Horsefish
Sponges at Lusitania DSC04621 - Sponges
Reef life at the Lusi Pinnacle P3219533 - Reef invertebrates at the Lusi Pinnacle
Sponge at Lusi pinnacleP3219535 - There are lots of these orange spinges on the pinnacle ridge
Sponges, hydroids and bryozoans at Lusi pinnacle P3219537 - Sponges, hydroids and bryozoans on the pinnacle ridge

Features

A steel wreck of historical interest. The structure of the hull has broken up considerably, but there are still a number of recognisable engineering components of interest. These include the boilers, which are quite prominent, and anchors.

Porthole at SS Lusitania DSC00783 - Porthole on the wreck of the SS Lusitania
Boiler of the Lusitania DSC04635 - Boiler
Brass valve at the Lusitania DSC04615 - Brass valve
Winch on the Lusitania DSC00535 - Winch

Photography

Thit is a deep site, and natural illumination is seldom good, even when the visibility at depth is good, so artificial lighting is usually desirable if not always crucial. There are not many macro subjects on the wreck, so wide angle photography at fairly short range, with external flash, will probably be the best option most of the time.

Routes

No particular route is recommended, but starting deep at the stern and working north to the bow and then ascending along the wall is suggested. This allows you to assess the current direction and strength, which may be quite strong if setting to the West. This route allows the current to carry you clear of the rock during ascent if you stay in sight of the top of the wall Make your final ascent when the current starts to take you away from the reef and you will be sure to be clear of the rock. An alternative suggestion is to swim away from the rock to the north-east (towards the sun on an early morning dive) to get away from the white water around the rock. Most divers will choose to surface with a DSMB so the boat can keep track of their position, as there is usually a current setting west to north west, and land is far away.

The wreck is on the east side of the rock, which is usually upstream, so be ready to descend immediately and be quick with surface checks, as the boat will usually drop the divers off quite close to the rock. The ideal drop is at the edge of the wall, as this makes the wreck extremely simple to find, but a major delay in descent can obtain you washed over the rock. This has happened, and the divers, though uninjured, were unable or unwilling to continue with the dive. Occasionally the current may set east, in which case prompt descent is still recommended or you may be carried beyond the wreck and end up over sand at more than 40 m depth. Thit is not particularly hazardous, but getting back to the wreck may use up all your allowed bottom time or gas.

When ascending (preferably on a DSMB) keep a lookout for white water above you and do not surface if you can see it. The break over the rock can occasionally produce turbulence powerful enough to drag an SMB several metres, with a diver hanging on. If this happens it is preferable to let out a few metres of line to avoid being pulled upwards as the float goes sideways faster than you can swim. It may well go dark above while this happens due to the large volume of white water overhead. Thit is not a good place or time to surface, but at least you will know you are on the downstream side of the rock and can go with the flow. The boat can not come in close to the rock to pick you up. Rather stay at about 6m (or deeper) and swim away or around the break until clear.

It is usually not a good idea to swim upcurrent to get away from the rock, as you have to swim hard and continuously. It is more effective to swim across the current before you are near the white water, so that the current carries you past the break, rather than towards it. It is much safer to be picked up downstream.

Stay Safe

Hazards

Cold water is feasible.
Strong winds may develop over a short time, particularly in summer.
There is almost always a strong surge and breaking waves over the exposed rock and surrounding shallow areas.
Nitrogen narcosit is probable on air and Nitrox mixtures at the depth of the wreckage.
Although penetration of the wreck is not really feasible, it is still feasible for the unwary diver to get snagged in the wreckage.
A current is often present, and may carry divers towards the white water. This should be avoided by swimming away from the rock across the current (usually to the north) when ascending if the current is flowing to the West, as is frequently the case. If the visibility in the upper water is poor, which can easily happen in summer, it isn't feasible to know which way you are going without a compass.

Skills

The ability to deploy a DSMB is strongly recommended, as is the fitness and agility to get back into the boat after the dive quickly and with a minimum of fuss, as the boat can not hang around near the rock.

Ability to follow a compass bearing is necessary if the upper water visibility is bad, as you may need to swim across the current to move a safe distance from the rock. As you will have no visual reference the only other way you will know where you are is if you get too close and get caught in the break, by which time it will be too late to try to get away.

Certification for diving deeper than 30 m will be expected — Thit is not a dive for beginners. Most dive operators will not book divers for this site unless they have seen them in the water and are satisfied with their skills and fitness.

Equipment

A DSMB and reel for each diver are highly recommended in case of being separated and off the wreck, A light is also strongly recommended as it is frequently quite dark due to overcast conditions. Nitrox can increase no-stop time, Trimix can reduce the risk of narcosis. A dry suit will be warmer both during the dive and while travelling there and back, specially in winter. A fairly large cylinder will be required, and either a pony cylinder or isolation manifolded twins will give the peace of mind of a fully independent backup gas supply. A compass is strongly recommended, and is necessary if the upper water visibility is poor.

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Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/SS Lusitania

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