Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Billy's Reef
Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Billy's Reef
The dive site Billy's Reef is an offshore rocky reef in the Whittle Rock offshore area 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
A small high profile reef with fairly impressive topography of deep gullies and wall-sided granite outcrops. Found on multibean survey in 2022 by Wreckless Marine, and first dived in November 2022 by Wreckless Divers.
Position
Billy's Reef 📍: S34°15.237' E18°34.126', South-east from Whittle Rock.
This site is not in a Marine Protected Area. A permit is not required.
Name
The name Billy's Reef commemorates the first known dive at the site, when one of the divers left some vital gear in his car and could not dive.
Depth
Maximum depth is about 46 m on the sand south of the reef and the top of the highest outcrop is about 31 m. Average depth of a dive is likely to be about 38 m.
Visibility
See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/Whittle Rock#Visibility
Visibility is likely to be similar to other sites of the Off-Whittle Southern Reefs area.
Topography
A moderate sized reef for the area, made up of a set of parallel ridges of varying depth, with the ridge axes roughly northwest-southeast, most of the high reef concentrated in the central to northern parts, with lower reef around it, surrounded by sand. Jointing is roughly aligned with the major and minor aces of the reef, with a deep and wide sand-bottommed gully running north south, and crossed by an east-west gully of the same depth and similar width roughly in the centre of the reef.
Geology: Pre-Cambrian granite of the Peninsula pluton.
Conditions
The site will usually be at it's best in winter but there will also be occasional opportunities during the rest of the year
Get in
See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#Boat dives
The site is only accessible by boat. It is about 8.5? km from the slipway at Miller's Point, but boats may also leave from Simon's Town jetty. On a good day in a fast boat it is a bit less than a half hour run from Simon's Town Jetty, a distance of about 14.5? km. Occasionally boats may leave from Gordon's Bay Old Harbour or Harbour Island marina, which are both about 29.5? km away..
Do
Dive at the reef starting near the mark and explore in whatever direction looks good.
Routes
No routes are known.
See
Marine life
<gallery mode="packed"> File:Sponges at Billy's Reef PB300202.jpg|Sponges File:Strawberry anemones at Billy's Reef PB300221.jpg|Strawberry anemones File:Noble coral at Billy's Reef PB300233.jpg|Noble coral File:Sponge at Billy's Reef PB300235.jpg|Sponge File:Mandela's nudibranch, Billy's Reef, False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa.jpg|Mandela's nudibranch File:Shell-mimic hydroid, Billy's Reef, False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa.jpg|Shell-mimic hydroid File:Stylaster bithalamus, False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa.jpg|Stylaster bithalamus </gallery>Features
The crossing gullies passing though the high reef area are a good landmark if the visibility is good.
<gallery mode="packed"> File:Sand bottomed gully at Billy's Reef PB300203.jpg|Sand bottomed gully, looking northwest from near the crossing. File:Ridge crest at Billy's Reef PB300213.jpg|Ridge crest with white cauliflower soft corals on the south-east side of the cross gully. </gallery>Photography
The site is fairly deep, so it will usually be quite dark. Wide angle may give some good results if the visibility is good all the way down giving good natural light, but macro is a safer bet.
Stay safe
See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#Stay safe
Hazards
There are no known site-specific hazards other than the depth. Most of the site is below the depth range usually accepted as suitable for recreational diving, or for emergency swimming ascent. Surface currents due to wind are likely and may take the divers away from the descent area during an ascent with decompression stops.
Skills
The competence to follow suitable decompression procedures is strongly recommended. This includes carrying and using appropriate gases and deploying a decompression buoy to mark the position of the divers during ascent.
Equipment
See also: Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay#Equipment
Adequate and reliable alternative breathing gas supply, as the depth is beyond the range for which emergency swimming ascent is a reasonable response. A decompression buoy is strongly recommended, and may be required by the service provider. A fully redundant emergency gas supply is recommended. Use of breathing gas mixtures appropriate to the depth is recommended,
Nearby
Other offshore dive sites of False Bay:
Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, or list of reef dive sites in the Whittle Rock and surrounds offshore area
Other regional dive sites:
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