The dive site Phil's Bay is a shoreline rocky reef in the Gordon's Bay area on the east side of False Bay, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Understand

See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#Understand

Position

• S34°11.199’ E018°49.133’ 1 Phil's Bay (anchorage)

This site is not in a Marine Protected Area. A permit is not required.

Name

The name "Phil's Bay" is named after Philip Faure a diving instructor in the area in the early 1990’s.

After his national service in the SA Navy as a Diver, he worked for Ocean Divers International, at the old harbour, before starting Faure Marine Services. Faure Marine Services provided private scuba diving instruction and commercial diving services.

He spend many years exploring the area with Tony Smit, another local dive instructor.

The reef is called Phil’s Reef, which is within Phil’s Bay. This was a favourite dive site of his.

Depth

Maximum depth is about 14 m.

Visibility

Visibility on a good day is likely to be 5 to 6 m, and is quite likely to be less. On a very good day it may be as much as 10 m.

Topography

Sand bottom at about 14 m, then moderate relief reef of sandstone rocks and ridges with sandy gaps running more or less parallel to shoreline. Gets more rugged closer to shore, and remains deep quite close inshore.

Geology: Ordovician sandstones of the Table Mountain formation, and a sand bottom.

Conditions

Best after south-easter, but swell must be low.

The site is exposed to swell and wind from the south west and to a lesser extent north west, so should be dived when the sout west component of the swell is low, and is likely to be good in or after south easterly winds. The site is usually at it's best in summer but there are also occasional opportunities in other seasons.

Get in

See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#Boat dives

Boat dive. The site is about 5.0 km from Gordon's Bay harbour or 5.4 km Harbour Island.

See

Marine life

See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#The marine ecology

Rocks overgrown with the usual red bait in the shallower areas and feather stars in deeper places. Sponges and sea fans brighten up the scene, and a variety of smaller critters are there to be found.

Photography

Macro photography is most likely to produce good results.

Routes

No particular route recommended. There may be a slight current, so plan your dive to surface where you can get back to the boat.

Stay safe

See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#Stay safe

Hazards

No site specific hazards reported.

Skills

No special skills required. Suitable for night dives if conditions are appropriate.

Equipment

See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#Equipment

No special equipment recommended.

Nearby

• 1 Bikini Beach
• 2 Ledges
• 3 Vogelsteen
• 4 Cow and Calf
• 5 Stone Dog
• 6 Pinnacle
• 7 Tony's Reef
• 8 Troglodyte's Cove
• 9 Lorry Bay
• 10 Rocky Bay Noble Reef
• 11 Rocky Bay

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of dive sites in the Gordon's Bay area

Other regional dive sites:

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