Protea Banks

Protea Banks is a reef system off Shelly Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast, well known in South African diving circles as a shark diving destination. Tiger sharks are a confirmed draw here, and divers have also reported bull sharks, great whites, hammerheads, oceanic whitetips, and thresher sharks, along with eagle rays, manta rays, trevally, tuna, and even whales passing through. The reef is generally worked to around 20 metres and rated an intermediate dive, though a strong current runs through the site and it is often treated as a deep drift dive, with some reporting deep water among the hazards. Access is by boat from Shelly Beach or Margate, and the combination of current and open water shark encounters keeps it among the more demanding reef dives on this stretch of coast.

Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.

• TunaTunaReported here · unconfirmed
• Common Blacktip SharkCarcharhinus limbatusReported here · unconfirmed
• Great white sharkGreat white sharkReported here · unconfirmed
• Oceanic whitetip sharkOceanic whitetip sharkReported here · unconfirmed
• WhaleWhaleReported here · unconfirmed
• Manta rayManta rayReported here · unconfirmed
• Eagle rayEagle rayReported here · unconfirmed
• Tiger SharkGaleocerdo cuvierConfirmed present · 2 independent sources
• Hammerhead sharkHammerhead sharkReported here · unconfirmed
• TrevallyTrevallyReported here · unconfirmed
• Bull SharkCarcharhinus leucasReported here · unconfirmed
• Thresher sharkThresher sharkReported here · unconfirmed