The owner, Steve Benjamin, doesn't just run Animal Ocean for the purpose of making bread-and-milk money but does it because of his unwaivering passion for marine life in general. That's why I love Animal Ocean. Steve's also always there to help some flailing predator that's washed up onto the beach back into the ocean.
Animal Ocean ensures you have fun exploring the underwater world of the Cape Coast, but there's no shortage of educational lectures while on board Steve's boat. There are quite a variety of dive trips to choose from, which include anything from snorkelling with seals (we swam with dolphins and sunfish when we did this dive tour), scuba diving with cow sharks, underwater photography trips, pelagic bird watching and big wave surfing at Dungeons.
The dive trip we went on with Animal Ocean ended up being on of those "dream come true" moments. Why? Because we swam with dolphins. Dolphins seem to always feature in "dream come true" moments ever since that old school movie Flipper came out on circuit. Snorkelling with dolphins was a surreal, awe-inspiring experience.
How the Cape Town snorkel trip began...
We kitted up and departed from Hout Bay harbour on an 8m semi-rigid rubber duck and headed out to Duiker island. After hurling our cumbersome wetsuit clad bodies into the water, we enjoyed a great snorkel with the seals of Duiker Island. After clambering back on board Steve navigated the way towards the old wreck at Sandy Bay and kept us entertained with a few stories of shipwrecks in Cape Town. We were lucky enough to climb aboard the Sandy Bay shipwreck and spent a bit of time exploring the corroded iron-ore colour deck.
After exploring the shipwreck, we headed towards Llandudno where we dropped anchor. A pod of dusky dolphins made a guest appearance and decide they wanted to play. Witnesses would have noticed a mass exodus from the boat into the water. I've never jumped into the ocean so quickly - well, once maybe when I saw that R100 note floating about. I had 5 dolphins circling me and was overcome with an urge to attempt dolphin-style communication. I was amazed and enthralled - this was one of the most mind-blowing, defining moments of my life.
Who is Steve Benjamin from Animal Ocean?
Steve is a Marine scientist, a qualified scuba diver, freediver, and general underwater fanatic. He was featured on Carte Blanche, is affiliated with Hanli Prinsloo (well known champion freediver) and is well respected within the Cape Town and KZN diving community.
I've known big wave surfers to use Steve, surf photographers, famous underwater photographer's and even the film industry. Steve also conducts educational talks at schools and his trips are great for team building! Sold? I certainly am !
Here are a few of his current dive and snorkel trips in Cape Town:
Cowshark SCUBA dive - R500 p/p
Cape Fur Seal snorkel with equipment - R350 p/p
Spearfishing offshore - R1500 p/p
Big wave viewing (half day) - R200 p/p
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