Diving the Cape Peninsula and False Bay/SS Lusitania

The dive site SS Lusitania or just The Lusi is a historical wreck at the reef Bellows Rock in the offshore area of the Cape Peninsula just outside False Bay, near Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Understand

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

The wreck of the Lusitania is considered by many Cape Town divers to be one of the top wreck dives of the region. It is fairly deep, the wreck is quite broken up, but still interesting, with a number of identifiable components, and the visibility is often quite good. However, it is a physically challenging dive, quite a distance from the launch sites, and conditions are not often suitable, so it is not dived very often. No doubt these factors add to the mystique.

Although the primary attraction is the wreck, the site is also good for those with no interest in wrecks at all, as there is a huge reef at the same site, with depths from just below up to the surface, though the parts shallower than about are seldom diveable due to the proximity of the powerful break over the half tide rock.

Position

SS Lusitania 📍:S34°23.375’ E018°29.450’. Just beyond the steep drop-off on the east side of Bellows Rock

This site is in the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area (2004). A permit is required.

Name

The SS Lusitania was a Portuguese twin-screw liner of 5557 tons, built in 1906 by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co, and owned by Empreza Nacional De Navegacao, of Lisbon. The ship was wrecked on Bellows Rock off Cape Point at 24h00 on 18 April 1911 in fog while on a voyage from Lourenco Marques (now Maputo) with 25 first-class, 57 second-class and 121 third-class passengers, and 475 African labourers. Out of the 800 people on board, eight died when a life boat capsized. On 20 April the ship slipped off the rock into 37 m of water to the east of the rock.

This wreck should not be confused with the wreck of the RMS Lusitania, the passenger liner torpedoed off Ireland during the First World War by a German U-boat. This is an earlier wreck.

Depth

The depth is 35 to 40 m on the wreck, with a few parts rising as high as 27 m. The nearby Bellows Rock is exposed, but you do not want to go too close, as there is almost always a strong break over it. The diveable reef starts at about 15 m, but the attraction of the site for most divers is the wreck.

Visibility

Visibility is often quite good when the general conditions are suitable for diving at this site, but as is always the case in Cape Town, there is no guarantee. Visibility of over 8 m is considered acceptable, but on rare occasions it has been reported as over 20 m. Anything over 10 m may be considered good. Light levels are not necessarily directly related to the bottom visibility, as a layer of poor visibility near the surface is quite common. This results in relatively dark conditions at the bottom, though it may be quite clear. It is seldom so dark that diving without a light would be unacceptably dangerous, but it is never so light that a light is not useful.

Topography

Bellows Rock is a huge granite outcrop, probably about 200 m north to south, and over 100 m east to west, over 40 m high, and is probably part of the Cape Peninsula pluton. The top of the reef is exposed by swells, and breaks even in very low swell. The exposed section is very small compared to the extent of the massive bulk of the rock.

The reef slopes down from Bellows Rock to the east, and drops off almost vertically from about 15 m to about 33 m, where most of the wreck lies between the base of the wall and a large ridge and some boulders further east. The wreck is very easy to find, but not always easy to get to, and is spread over a fairly large area.

The wreck lies on a rocky bottom with the stern to the south, where the bottom is at about 40 m. The bow is to the north and a bit shallower.

The stern is the deeper part of the debris field, which borders on the sand bottom, and on the base of the rock to the west. In this area there is a shallow cavern and a deep low overhang at the base of the rock, near 40 m depth, and another overhang just below 20 m. Further north on the rock face there are a couple of vertical ridges running down from near the top of the wall to the wreckage, which are a good guide that you are near the middle of the wreckage. Follow the rock face south to get to the stern, swim out about 45° to the left to find the boilers, and sharp left along the base of the wall to find the chains, and from there, back along the chains away from the wall to the anchor and hawse-pipes.

The northern section of the wall is not so steep at the base, but is near vertical towards the top, and as you swim north west along the top of the wall at about 20 m depth, the reef starts to break up, and a number of pinnacles can be seen, all in the same sort of depth range. The current here is usually fairly strong, and will carry you well away from the rock to the north west. If you continue around the rock the edge of the drop-off varies in depth but is generally at around 20 m on the north side. It is shallower on the south face, where the sheer drop of the wall starts above 12 m in places, and drops almost vertically. The bottom depth is said to exceed 40 m on this side, which could make this a higher wall than Star Wall near Hout Bay.

The wreck itself is structurally broken up – not much of the hull is recognisable, and the hull plating lies collapsed and fairly low over the bottom, with rusted holes chequering the larger expanses of plating between the frames, but towards the centre of the wreckage there is a group of four almost intact scotch boilers, with the structure of two large triple expansion steam engines and condensers nearby, leaning against a high rock, the Lusi pinnacle. This is probably the highest point of the wreckage, at about 28 m.

Occasional dinner plates, fragments of tiles and crockery, pipes, valves, a few portholes and possibly a large switchboard with cables lie scattered below the plating, seemingly at random. There is also a winch and a pair of hawsepipes at the north-eastern end of the debris field, at least one of which is still occupied by its anchor, with a long length of chain attached which partly wraps round the base of the north eastern wall of the rock.

The wreckage is encrusted with coralline algae, but not thickly, which makes the pieces easy to see, unlike most of the local wrecks which are much more thickly encrusted. The wreckage is not particularly rich with reef life, unlike the rocks, which are.

Geology: Granite of the late Pre-Cambrian Peninsula pluton

Conditions

This site should only be dived if the swell is very low, as the break on Bellows Rock can be powerful and dangerous – divers have been carried over the rock on at least one occasion. The ride is relatively long, and will be uncomfortable in a chop. The site is usually dived at short notice, sometimes on weekdays, and early in the morning before the wind picks up. When conditions are good it is an exciting and spectacular dive and is considered to be one of the prime dives of the region. Visibility is usually good when the site is diveable, and on very rare occasions may exceed 40 m. There may be a current setting west, which will carry you onto the rock if you are not careful during the ascent. A north setting current has also been experienced, which can be strong enough that most divers will be unable to get to the wreck, and will be carried around to the north side of Bellows Rock onto "Wreckless Reef" On rare occasions the current may even set east, which can take you beyond the wreck quite quickly.

Get in

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

Access to this site is only by boat. It is 19.2 km from Miller's Point slipway, or 26.5 km from the Simon's Town jetty.

Do

Dive at one of the marked drop points and explore the vicinity, or explore an uncharted area.

SS Lusitania 📍:S34°23.375’ E018°29.450’. Just beyond the steep drop-off on the east side of Bellows Rock. The wreck is on the east side of the rock, which is usually upstream, so be ready to descend immediately and be quick with surface checks, as the boat will usually drop the divers off quite close to the rock. The ideal drop is at the edge of the wall, as this makes the wreck very easy to find, but a major delay in descent can have you washed over the rock. This has happened, and the divers, though uninjured, were unable or unwilling to continue with the dive. Occasionally the current may set east, in which case prompt descent is still recommended or you may be carried beyond the wreck and end up over sand at more than 40 m depth. This is not particularly hazardous, but getting back to the wreck may use up all your allowed bottom time or gas.

No particular route is recommended, but starting deep at the stern and working north to the bow and then ascending along the wall is suggested. This allows you to assess the current direction and strength, which may be quite strong if setting to the west. This route allows the current to carry you clear of the rock during ascent if you stay in sight of the top of the wall. Make your final ascent when the current starts to take you away from the reef and you will be sure to be clear of the rock. An alternative suggestion is to swim away from the rock to the north-east (towards the sun on an early morning dive) to get away from the white water around the rock. Most divers will choose to surface with a DSMB so the boat can keep track of their position, as there is usually a current setting west to north west, and land is far away.

When ascending (preferably on a DSMB) keep a lookout for white water above you and do not surface if you can see it. The break over the rock can occasionally produce turbulence powerful enough to drag an SMB several metres, with a diver hanging on. If this happens it is preferable to let out a few metres of line to avoid being pulled upwards as the float goes sideways faster than you can swim. It may well go dark above while this happens due to the large volume of white water overhead. This is not a good place or time to surface, but at least you will know you are on the downstream side of the rock and can go with the flow. The boat can not come in close to the rock to pick you up. Rather stay at about 6 m or deeper, and swim away or around the break until clear.

It is usually not a good idea to swim upcurrent to get away from the rock, as you have to swim hard and continuously, which will increase the risk of decompression sickness. It is more effective to swim across the current before you are near the white water, so that the current carries you past the break, rather than towards it. It is much safer to be picked up downstream.

Bellows Rock 📍: S34°23.375’ E018°29.425’ Bellows Rock is a huge granite outcrop with a relatively shallow, flattish top, with a small peak that extends above the water, and where there is almost always a strong break. The sides are mostly very steep, sometimes vertical, and occasionally with a slight overhang. The edge of the drop-off is relatively shallow to the south, at about 12 m, east, and northeast (about 15 m), and slopes down to about 24 m to the northwest.

Lusi Pinnacle 📍: S34°23.375’ E018°29.462’ Close by to the east of the boilers there is a rock pinnacle with its top at about 26 m with some engine structure leaning against the western side, and a fairly low ridge extends south of this. This ridge separates the main part of the wreckage from the more scattered parts further east. On the east side of the low ridge there is a gap with sand and small boulders, then a large ridge, which extends south, for an unknown distance estimated as at least 50 m.

Lusitania Ridge pinnacle 📍: S34°23.410’ E018°29.485’ South of the Lusi pinnacle, across a small sandy gap there is a large ridge. The high point on this ridge is a steep sided pinnacle that rises to 17 m at the top, then drops down again to about 25m with an overhang towards the south, then slopes down more gradually further south. The west side of the ridge is steep, and lies approximately north-south magnetic. At the pinnacle it is nearly vertical from the bottom of the gulley at 40 m to about 25 m at the top of the wall, then slopes more gradually up to the east to the top. The top part is a gnarly lump of rock, and on the east side there is a small cavern/overhang at about 25 m, then the slope further down to the east is more gradual, though still steep, until it reaches sand bottom at 41 m. Beyond this, to the east, the bottom is sand with smaller boulders and low outcrops scattered around for as far as one can see. Between the Lusitania Ridge and Bellows Rock there is another small ridge in the south of the gap.

Wreckless Reef 📍: S34°23.33’ E018°29.39’. To the north of the Bellows Rock outcrop there is a large area of deep reef sometimes sheltered from the current by the lee of Bellows Rock, that has been named Wreckless Reef by local divers who end up there instead of on the Lusi when the current is strong, in recognition of the absence of wreckage in the area. There are large outcrops rising up to about 24 m in this area, with some fairly narrow gullies between them. There is some sand at about 37 m at the west of this area, but much of the bottom is boulders and bedrock.

Northeast pinnacle 📍: S34°23.301’ E018°29.506’. There is a pinnacle to the northeast that rises to about 15 m that was picked up on echo sounder but has probably never been dived.

See

Marine life

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

Bellows Rock is right on the boundary between the warm temperate Agulhas inshore ecoregion and the cool temperate Benguela ecoregion, but as the current tends to flow more to the west, the ecology tends to be more representative of the south coast Agulhas ecoregion.

The reef is encrusted with colourful invertebrates. These are most spectacular on the more vertical parts of the wall, The top of Bellows Rock is heavily covered by red-bait ascidians, which are much the same as each other. Occasionally a shoal of Yellowtail – Seriola lalandi – may swim past in mid-water – this could happen at any depth – or you may be visited by a Cape fur seal. The wreckage itself is less densely overgrown, and the components are generally easily recognised as bits of broken ship, though some skill may be needed to identify exactly which parts, as it is quite broken up.

Wreckless Reef is well encrusted with cauliflower soft corals in places.

Features

A steel wreck of historical interest. The structure of the hull has broken up considerably, but there are still a number of recognisable engineering components of interest. These include the boilers, which are quite prominent, the steam engine, several winches, and anchors. The masts are said to be lying a bit further to the east.

Photography

This is a deep site, and natural illumination is seldom good, even when the visibility at depth is good, so artificial lighting is usually desirable if not always essential. There are not many macro subjects on the wreck, so wide angle photography at fairly short range, with external flash, will probably be the best option most of the time.

Stay safe

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

Hazards

• Cold water is possible.
• Strong winds may develop over a short time, particularly in summer. The forecasts are usually reliable.
• There is almost always a strong surge and breaking waves over the exposed rock and surrounding shallow areas.
• Nitrogen narcosis is probable on air and Nitrox mixtures at the depth of the wreckage.
• Although penetration of the wreck is not really possible, it is still possible for the unwary diver to get snagged in the wreckage.
• A current is often present, and may carry divers towards the white water. This should be avoided by swimming away from the rock across the current (usually to the north) when ascending if the current is flowing to the west, as is frequently the case. If the visibility in the upper water is poor, which can easily happen in summer, it isn't possible to know which way you are going without a compass.

Skills

The ability to deploy a DSMB is strongly recommended, as is the fitness and agility to get back into the boat after the dive quickly and with a minimum of fuss, as the boat can not hang around near the rock.

Ability to follow a compass bearing is necessary if the upper water visibility is bad, as you may need to swim across the current to move a safe distance from the rock. As you will have no visual reference the only other way you will know where you are is if you get too close and get caught in the break, by which time it will be too late to try to get away.

Certification for diving deeper than 30 m will be expected — This is not a dive for beginners. Most dive operators will not book divers for this site unless they have seen them in the water and are satisfied with their skills and fitness.

Equipment

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

A DSMB and reel for each diver are highly recommended in case of being separated and off the wreck, A light is also strongly recommended as it is frequently quite dark due to overcast conditions or turbid upper water. Nitrox can increase no-stop time and reduce decompression time, Trimix can reduce the risk of narcosis. A dry suit will be warmer both during the dive and while travelling there and back, specially in winter. A fairly large cylinder will be required, and a bailout cylinder, sidemount twins, or isolation manifolded twins will give the peace of mind of a fully independent backup gas supply. A compass is strongly recommended, particularly if the upper water visibility is poor. For decompression gas, if needed, a mixture that can be used deeper than 12 m is recommended, as it may be necessary to stay well below 6 m to drift past the white water during ascent. Oxygen is not recommended as the only decompression gas, as it may be necessary to stay at 9 to 12  for quite a while to drift past the white water zone over the top of the reef, and using this time for accelerated decompression is more efficient.

Nearby

Other offshore dive sites of False Bay:

• Choirboys Reef 📍

• Seal Island 📍

• Drop Zone 📍

• East Shoal 📍

• Moddergat 📍

• Sterretjies Reef 📍

• York Shoal 📍

• SAS Fleur 📍

• Offshore Barges – North Barge 📍

• Steenbras Deep - South Pinnacles 📍

• Blue Flame Pinnacles 📍

• SATS General Botha 📍

• Off-Whittle Ridge 📍

• SAS Bloemfontein 📍

• Whittle Rock 📍

• Bruce's Mark 📍

• Deep South Whittle Reef 📍

• Anvil Rock 📍

• Rocky Bank 📍

Back to the Alphabetical list of sites, list of wreck dive sites in the False Bay offshore area, or list of reef dive sites in the Southern False Bay offshore reefs 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 east coast

• Fresh water dive sites of the Cape Town Metropolitan Area