Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Mooivlei

The dive site Mooivlei is an offshore recent wreck in the Table Bay, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

The site is at the wreck of a steam powered steel side trawler, scuttled at the end of its useful service life. The Mooivlei was a 252 ton steel steam trawler built in 1935 in Yorkshire for the National Trawling and Fishing Co. Ltd of Cape Town. The ship was powered by a single triple expansion steam engine with a coal fired scotch boiler. It was requisitioned to serve as a minesweeper in WW II, but was converted for antisubmarine work by 1940. In 1944 it was returned to the owners and worked as a fishing vessel again until it was stripped and scuttled in Table Bay in February 1964.

-33.873118.3249171 Mooivlei: S33°52.386' E018°19.495', 7.7 km northwest of Green Point lighthouse. This site is in the Robben Island Marine Protected Area since 2019. A permit is required.

"Mooivlei" is thought to be the name if the vessel wrecked at this site, but it may be its sister ship, the Blomvlei. Both ships were scuttled in the same general vicinity.

Maximum depth is about 62 m. and the top of the shallowest point is about 53 m. (Average depth of a dive is likely to be about 60 m.

Visibility is unpredictable. The site has not been dived often. It is likely to be similar to other sites in the area of similar depth. Surface visibility is not a reliable indicator of visibility at depth, and a heavy layer of plankton bloom may overlay a dark but relatively clear deeper layer. Or maybe not.

The wreck lies on a flat sand bottom with the centreline at about 200°T. The vessel is roughly upright, but inclined to port, and the hull is structurally fairly intact except for damage to the stern, which includes damage to the propeller. The forecastle still carries the anchor winch. The midships superstructure and trawl winch are gone. The aft superstructure with skylights is largely intact. There are scour pits in the sand at bow and stern.

The site is exposed to all winds and swells with a westerly component, so should be dived in calm or light offshore winds and low swell, and may be good after a southeaster. The depth limits the effect of surface waves on the wreck, but conditions during the ascent and visibility of divers at the surface should be taken into account. South-easterly winds may be strong on the south peninsula but light over Table Bay.

The site is likely to be at its best in summer but there may be opportunities at other times of the year. This is an area which sometimes has upwellings caused by south-easterly winds, but it is not as strongly affected as some other parts of the Cape Peninsula. Sunny days in summer will generally cause plankton bloom to close down surface visibility, but under the bloom it may be relatively clean but can be very dark.

Access is by boat. The site is about (distance) km from the V&A Waterfront, or ? km from the Offshore Powerboat Club at Granger Bay.

Explore the wreck, and let us know if you find anything that could help with a positive identification.

Wreck of a steam powered steel fishing vessel in moderately intact condition.

The site is deep and in the approaches to a large international port, where shipping traffic can be expected.

Appropriate skills are needed for the depth and associated equipment. Training in technical diving skills with Trimix is recommended as a minimum.

The site is at a depth below that generally accepted as safe for air and nitrox breathing gases. Trimix is recommended to limit narcosis and work of breathing. Decompression may be assumed necessary from this depth, and appropriate gas mixtures are recommended to reduce decompression time in the cold water. DSMBs are also recommended if ascent occurs away from the shotline. A rebreater can limit the consumption of helium.

• Bruce Henderson and Kelly Graham, 2024, Wood, Iron and Steel: Shipwrecks Mapped off the Western Cape, Wreckless Marine, Cape Town. ISBN 978-1-037-00702-6 (high resolution sonar images).

• -33.8245518.4710171 MV Seli 1
• -33.83353318.3447672 MV Afrikaner
• -33.83518.3816673 SS Hypatia
• -33.835218.3809674 Whale Rock
• -33.8398618.385565 MV Daeyang Family
• -33.86273318.2694336 T.S. McEwan
• -33.86918318.4863837 MV Winton
• -33.87016718.4875838 Hermes
• -33.873318.316359 Disa
• -33.87473318.34548310 Blomvlei
• -33.8818318.33858311 MV Gemsbok
• -33.88596718.430512 Highfields
• -33.88713318.409713 SS Cape Matapan
• -33.88778318.36581714 King Emperor
• -33.89666718.39666715 SS SA Seafarer
• -33.897518.409516 RMS Athens
• -33.90618.397517 Three Anchor Bay
• -33.90793318.417918 Two Oceans Aquarium
• -33.91508318.35701719 Sea Point Ridge Pinnacles

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Table bay and approaches

Other regional dive sites:

• Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula west coast
• Dive sites of the Cape Peninsula east coast
• Dive sites of False Bay offshore and approaches
• Dive sites of False Bay east coast
• Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area