South Coast

The beaches along the South Coast are some of the finest in the country with beach friendly weather all year round even during winter. Almost all the beaches offer safe swimming environment with shark nets, which are serviced regularly by the Natal Sharks Board personal. Lifeguards are on duty at swimming beaches. Our beaches offer something for everyone. Golden sands and tidal pools make our beaches the perfect place for swimming and sunbathing.

Blue Flag

The KwaZulu-Natal South Coast continues to fly the Blue Flag at some of our major beaches. The Blue Flag is a prestigious international certification awarded to beaches that maintain high levels of service, facilities and environmental education. Awarding the status assures visitors that the beach you are going to is safe, clean and environmentally friendly
Hibberdene, Margate, Ramsgate and Marina beach all have Blue Flag status.

Surfing

The KwaZulu-Natal South Coast is blessed with plenty consistent swell and numerous point and reef breaks, which create the perfect conditions for quality surfing waves. The most consistent swells can be found during the winter months from May – August, mainly due to the cold fronts that move up the coast from the Cape, brining solid six to eight foot surf. You will find good clean surf most mornings during the winter as a gentle land breeze blows straight offshore. In the summer the swell tends to be a bit smaller with fun surf available at the many beach breaks and the best time to go surfing is during light south westerlies and early mornings before the northeast picks up. There are a number of world-class breaks along the South Coast, which are well known among the local surfers as well as the international surfing contingent.

St Michaels on Sea

Right hand point break that breaks off the tidal pool. Known for its big powerful right handers that grind off the point and run all the way to the beach.

Lucien beach

Left hand point break. Good summer break, protected from the northeast wind. Good shore break.

Southbroom

A good quality sand bottomed point break that wraps around a grassy hill lined with rocks. Like most south coast point breaks, it requires a light south westerly and three – six foot swell
Trafalgar. Fun beach break, with a big wave right hander that breaks off a reef further out off the tidal pool.

T.O.Strand

Right hand point break. Breaks off a small grass headland. Super hollow on the low tide. Good big, powerful wave.

Dolphin and Whale watching

Bottlenose dolphins are common residents of KwaZulu-Natal South Coast with pods of up to 30 – 50 dolphins patrolling up and down the coast just beyond the breakers.
Humpback whales and the occasional Southern Right whale are seen between May and November as they migrate along the coast en route to their feeding and breeding grounds off Mozambique. The whales travel on occasion just beyond the breakers on their return trip along the South Coast.
Boat based tour operators launch from Shelly Beach offer dolphin and whale watching from close quarters.
Good vantage points along the KZN South Coast are Orange Rocks, Margate, Ramsgate Conservancy’s Whale View Site and Southbroom [particularly good due to the elevation] and a number of vantage points around Glenmore Beach, Leisure Bay as well as Splash Rock in Port Edward.

Diving/Shark Diving

Aliwal Shoal

Aliwal Shoal has to be the most popular dive destination on the KZN South Coast. Divers flock to Aliwal from around the world to view the rich concentration of sea life at this fossilized sand dune site about 5km offshore from Umkomaas just south of Durban. For the experienced diver, there are also two wrecks worth exploring, the “Produce” and “Nebo”.

Protea Banks

Further down south, Protea Banks is another reef that is a must. Situated about 7km offshore from Shelly Beach and lying in deeper water at a depth between 25mtrs – 40mtrs is about 6km long, 800mtrs wide and generally has a strong current running.
In the summer months divers get the opportunity to dive with Bull [Zambesi] sharks, while hammerheads are often spotted overhead.
In the winter months, divers have the pleasure of diving with Ragged – Tooth sharks. Protea Banks also boasts a vast number of game fish, including Barracuda, Yellowtail, Kingfish and Potato bass.
Due to the nature of the dive Protea Banks is reserved for advanced divers only.

Shark Activity:
Hammerheads: Nov – May
Raggies: Jun – Oct
Zambezies: Oct – May
Tigers: April
Black Tips: Oct – May

Deep Sea Fishing

Individual or whole boat charters. Game or Bottom fishing. Keep your catch and all bait and tackle supplied, bring along a camera to snap that fish that you tagged and released
Different seasons bring in different game fish, amongst them the Yellow Fin Tuna, barracuda, King Fish, Dorado, Sail Fish and that elusive Marlin. Off the reef the experienced skippers will put you onto a variety of Bottom fish
Launch site is at Shelly beach.