Aliwal Dive Centre

Great place to stay and friendly staff working there. Recommend this lodge for anyone who wants to go for Diving or shark cage diving.

I came here with my mother, This was only our second diving experience, and even as a beginner this place was just amazing! The sea-life we saw was beautiful: rays, moray eels, reef sharks, turtles..... the whole team was really nice, talkative, friendly, our dive master Danny was great and really made us feel comfortable, we will definitely be back at Aliwal dive centre ! We stayed in the rooms up in the centre and it was really nice too, with a balcony and a view on the sea. I don’t usually write reviews online but this place was really amazing and worth writing a review on!

Many many sharks!Very nice and friendly staff, very helpful, professional and knows what they are doing.Place is quiet good with nearby restaurants and supermarkets.Recommended.

Baited shark dive or shark feeding?We booked a baited dive shark this month with Aliwal Dive Center and did not have a likeable experience.Besides the fact that we found the divemaster very unprofessional, we were told specifically this was not shark feeding. First thing when we arrived at the spot : the boat captain took a plastic bag full of dead fish and threw all of it in the water. Looking at our videos after the dive (attached is a still image), we clearly see multiple sharks getting excited and aggressive while eating pieces of dead fish.Whilst baited dives are debatable, there is no doubt shark feeding is not right neither for shark conservation nor their interactions with humans. Having up-close interactions with these wonderful animals is truly a gift but definitely not in these conditions. We felt betrayed, this is not what we signed up for.We’re posting this message on Google and public, not to tarnish the club’s image but hoping to reach more people and make a difference.

A very incredibly supportive dive centre! I arrived to do my open water course in order to proceed onto an underwater photography internship but arrived in SA only to discover I have developed an ear infection and couldn't dive for many days. So they referred me to a doctor immediately. I then had a few more days rest whilst taking medication and had a deadline to finish before my internship. They managed to squeeze me in for more time to finish the rest of my course procedures before deadline and did just that.I have to personally thank the instructors and receptionist for getting me through the course supportively and efficiently!

What an amazing experience. As a first time cage diver I was scared the whole time, but the team members were so understanding and supportive the whole time. Riaan and Basie really know exactly what they are doing and their years of experience shows.The whole experience was amazing from start to end. The only thing I would change from this day would have to be the weather, the sea was not being nice to us, but the professionalism of the crew made it safe and enjoyable.I would 100% recommend anyone to go here.

I enjoyed the wildlife a lot and it was fantastic to be surrounded by the sharks, groupers, triggerfish, etc. Reception staff was very welcoming and responded really fast to emails.However, I was shocked by some aspects of my dives with one of the divemasters.Before the first two dives while getting geared up, nobody from the staff introduced themselves to me. I was also not given any information on how many and what kinds of dives we inteded to do on that day. There was literally no communication. Even though I had booked full equipment, I was not given a dive computer.There never was a buddy check with my divemaster, who was my buddy, which is really unprofessional. As on the surface, there was no communication whatsoever under water. The divemaster never checked my level of diving, never made eye contact or knew about my whereabouts in the water. Mind you, this was a baited shark dive with poor visibility. I would think it appropriate for a divemaster to check the participants' level of diving. I felt like I was alone in the water and had anything happened to me, the divemaster would not have noticed it for a while.The second dive was worse. It was not mentioned to us that the current would be quite strong and that visibility would be so poor. As an advanced diver I managed. But again, there was no communication. When I signalled to my divemaster that I was cold, he wanted to sent me up to the surface on my own. I declined and stayed with the group. I thought this was crazy. It had never happened to me.When I later signalled to him that I was at 50 bar, he again signalled to me to surface on my own. Mind you, I did not have a dive computer and did not know when and for how long I had to decompress. This is unheard of. I had no choice but to surface alone because I was short on air. So I slowly surfaced on my own.On the surface I saw our skipper chatting with someone in another zodiac and when he finally came to pick me up (he was great, enthusiastic, pleasant, and enjoyable otherwise!), I realized that about 20m away from where I had waited in the water, there were tuna fish racing back and forth and jumping out of the water. I asked him what was chasing the tuna and he said, they must be bull sharks. Fantastic stuff! But I would have enjoyed it if I had been with a buddy. All alone by myself in the ocean, being in a bull shark feeding frenzy is just scary.The way things are done can lead to very dangerous situations. Had I panicked and surfaced too quickly, it would not have ended well and nobody would have noticed. The divers that stayed in the water did not see me anymore. Waves were high, current was strong.I sent this feedback to ADC, but management never got back to me.

Amazing experience diving with the sharks. How beautiful animals they are.Great diving center, experienced and supportive. Just need a bit more attention in briefing and debriefing, especially for people that have not done this kind of dives before.The accomodation is basic and clean, perfect for scuba divers.We will go again for the sardine run.

Such an awesome experience, amazing and friendly staff also. Accommodation and breakfast were brilliant. Thanks (Rick & Jonathan)

This is one of the greatest places to go for a quick weekend dive! It is truly value for money. The staff is very professional and I always feel like I'm in good hands. The operation is all well run from the set up to the launch to the boat ride. The dives are so good and there is so much wildlife to see! The other amazing part is the fact that we can get breakfast after the dive.