Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Windmill Offshore Reefs

The dive sites at Windmill Offshore Reefs are offshore rocky reefs in the Seaforth area of False Bay, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Windmill Offshore Reefs Halal Travel Guide

Windmill Offshore Reefs map - Map of the offshore reefs off Windmill Beach Dangerous Doug Reefs Map - Detail map of Dangerous Doug Reef

These are several scattered groups of granite outcrops between about 400 m and 1.5 km offshore of the well-known shore entry site at Windmill Beach. These offshore reefs are seldom dived and little known. Some may never have been dived. Most have not yet been surveyed, and do not feature on the official navy hydrographic charts. Those which have been partly surveyed are Outer Wimdmill, Dangerous Doug Reef, Windmill Offshore and Lace Reef.

Position

S34°11.887' E18°27,788' Three Bears Pinnacle GPS -34.198117,18.463133
S34°11.950' E18°27,650' Dangerous Doug Reef GPS -34.199167,18.460833
S34°11.960' E18°28,125' Lace Reef GPS -34.199333,18.468750
S34°12.050' E18°27,800' Windmill Offshore GPS -34.200833,18.463333
S34°12.090' E18°27,610' Outer Windmill GPS -34.201500,18.460167

This area is in a Marine Protected Area (2004). A permit is required. Some of the sites are inside the Boulders Restricted Zone.

Name

Windmill Offshore Reefs describes the geographical location offshore of the local landmark, Windmill Beach, as do the names Outer Windmill and Windmill Offshore. If there ever was a windmill, it is lost to memory.
Lace Reef was named for the large numbers of lacy false corals (bryozoans) seen at the reef.
Dangerous Doug reef was named for a local diver who did a shore dive to Photographer's Reef, and for the return swim, made the error of using the same course he had used to get to the reef, eventually surfacing quite far out to sea, possibly in the general vicinity of this reef, and was picked up by a passing boat.
Three Bears Pinnacle has three outcrops; one large, one small, and one in between in a tight little clump.

Depth

Dangerous Doug reef: The high points is at about 12m, towards the northwest, and maximum depth somewhere in the vicinity of 20m, to the east of the reef
Lace Reef: The maximum depth is about 30 m at Lace Reef and the furthest offshore of the group, shallow point about 23&nbso;m
Windmill Offshore: The top of the pinnacle is at about 18m, and the sand bottom is about 27 m
Outer Windmill: The shallowest point is at about 7 m, and the sand bottom is at about 12 m

Topography

The reefs are likely to be all granite corestone outcrops with occasional boulders. The reefs vary considerably from clusters of moderately sized outcrops to massive lumps of rock, much like other reefs of the area.

Dangerous Doug reef: Medium profile granite reef with occasional areas of higher and lower profile. Eastern part includes large area of fairly level lower profile reeftop. West end is a cluster of relatively high outcrops with sandy bottomed gullies between them. There are a few low outliers to the northeast, and a group of outcrops to the north known as Dangerous Doug North Reef, from a bit below 15 m on the sand to about 10 m at the top.
Lace Reef: Top of reef at about 23 m. Reeftop mostly quite flat, and some areas very flat. Reef edge drops off from about 27m to 32m. Most of the edge fairly steep with a 3 to 5 m drop, bur some flat areas with a little bit of broken reef. Large area of exposed granite bedrock. Fairly flat on top, several long straight gullies with sand bottom.
Windmill Offshore: Maximum depth recorded about 27 m on sand, top of reef about 18 m. Granite outcrop with deep sandy bottomed gullies and indentations and a few high points. A couple of small outliers to the northwest.
Outer Windmill: Sand bottom at about 12 m, top of reef at about 6.5 m. Not much relief.
Three Bears Pinnacle: A tall almost vertical sided pinnacle rising from the sand at 27 m to peak at 17.5 m, with a narrow crack separating it from the lower pinnacle at about 22 m on top, and the third outcrop which is even lower.

Precambrian granite of the Peninsula pluton, surrounded by fine quartz sand and patches of shelly sand and gravel.

Conditions

Muslim Friendly Travel TO Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Windmill Offshore Reefs

-34.199|18.4605|width=|align= Windmill Offshore Reefs and nearby dive sites}} Usual access is by boat from Simon's Town or Miller's Point. It would be feasible for a fit diver to do some of these reefs as shore dives from Windmill Beach, but the route is across the path of small craft and there would be a risk of being run down while at the surface.

The site is about (distance) km from the Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Miller's Point slipway|Miller's Point slipway, or (distance) km from Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Simon's Town jetty|Simon's Town jetty

What to See

Marine life

Dangerous Doug reef:

Pink lady whelk and serpent skinned brittlestars at Dangerous Doug Reef P5280332 - Pink lady whelk and serpent skinned brittlestars on the sand
Marginella at Dangerous Doug Reef P5280372 - Marginella
Purple sea pen at Dangerous Doug Reef P5280389 - Purple sea pen
Flagellar sea fan at Dangerous Doug Reef P5280502 - Flagellar sea fan
Mauve and red-chested sea cucumbers at Dangerous Doug Reef P5280582 - Mauve and red-chested sea cucumbers
Dendrodoris caesia at Dangerous Doug Reef P5280575 - Dendrodoris caesia
Palmate sea fan at Dangerous Doug Reef P5280519 - Palmate sea fan

Lace Reef:

Notable for the large numbers of pristine lacy false corals (Retoporella lata?), for which the reef was named. Numerous juvenile puffadder shy sharks have been seen, and there is heavy cover of hairy brittle stars in places on top of the reef. Mauve sea cucumbers are common, and a few varieties of sponge, palmate and sinuous sea fans. Sea spiders (pycnogonids) and spider crabs have also been seen,

Puffadder shyshark at Lace Reef P5260347 - Puffadder shy shark at Lace Reef
Red sponge at Lace Reef P5260321 - Red sponge
Lacy false corals at Lace Reef P5260334 - Lacy false corals (bryozoans)
Long siphoned whelk at Lace Reef P5260332 - Long siphoned whelk
Elegant feather star at Lace Reef P5260339 - Elegant feather star

Windmill Offshore:

Cape sea urchins at Windmill Offshore P5120263 - Cape sea urchins
Angular ascidian at Windmill Offshore P5120264 - Angular ascidian
Gas flame nudibranchs at Windmill Offshore P5120265 - Gas flame nudibranchs
Gas flame nudibranch at Windmill Offshore P5120267 - Gas flame nudibranch
Red fanworm at Windmill Offshore P5120269 - Red fanworm

Three Bears Pinnacle:

A compact and rather small reef, which feels a little crowded with more than 6 divers, as it is only about 20 m in diameter. At the time of survey there were a few small sea fans, and the dominant group was echinoderms. Lots of mauve sea cucumbers, elegant feather stars and fragile brittlestars.

Purple sea pen at Three Bears Pinnacle P9090460 - Purple sea pen
Sinuous sea fan at Three Bears Pinnacle P9090479 - Sinuous sea fan
Striped anemones at Three Bears Pinnacle P9090486 - Striped anemones
Elegant feather star at Three Bears Pinnacle P9090533 - Elegant feather star
Mauve sea cucumbers and a blenny at Three Bears Pinnacle P9090599 - Mauve sea cucumbers and a blenny

Photography

Suggested routes

The sites are not well known and there are no recommended routes.

Stay Safe

Hazards

The area is crossed by small boat traffic from the False Bay Yacht Club at Simon's Town, and from the town jetty.

Skills

No special skills are required, other than those appropriate to the depth of the dive, Several of the sites are in the depth range appropriate for entry level divers, and the rest are within the normal recreational diving depth range.

Equipment

A DSMB is recommended if you are likely to surface away from the shotline, as a way for the boat crew to find you, and for other boats to be warned of your presence at or just below the surface.

Nearby

Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Maidstone Rock|Ammo Reef GPS -34.192733,18.462567
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Noah's Ark|Noah’s Ark - Heat exchanger GPS -34.192767,18.454783
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Maidstone Rock|Anchor Reef GPS -34.192917,18.460000
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Maidstone Rock|Maidstone Rock GPS -34.192950,18.457900
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Noah's Ark|Ark Rock Boiler wreck#3b GPS -34.193600,18.455883
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Noah's Ark|Noah’s Ark - Double row of concrete pillars GPS -34.193633,18.454617
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Noah's Ark|Ark Rock Barge wreck GPS -34.193833,18.453300
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Noah's Ark|Noah’s Ark - Single row of concrete pillars GPS -34.194150,18.453667
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Noah's Ark|Ark Rock Boiler wreck #2 GPS -34.194500,18.453267
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Noah's Ark|Ark Rock Boiler wreck #3a GPS ,
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Torch Reef|Torch Reef GPS -34.195000,18.466000
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Outer Photographer's Reef|Outer Photographer's Reef GPS -34.196306,18.464972
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Photographer's Reef|Photographer’s Reef GPS -34.197450,18.457283
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Penguin Point|Penguin Point GPS -34.198150,18.454233
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Windmill Beach|Windmill Beach GPS -34.201000,18.456667
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Froggy Pond|Froggy pond GPS -34.203667,18.456667
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Fisherman’s Beach|Fisherman's Beach GPS -34.205950,18.458283

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

Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Windmill Offshore Reefs

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