Skydive Cape Town

Awesome experience, local and foreigners jumping together.

What and awesome DZ that has a cool relaxing vibe. Defo will be back for more jumps with these gyus!

I have visited Cape Town on two occasions in the last two years. As a skydiver, I wanted to do a couple of jumps, as the views are supposedly iconic. However, it didn't happen, even after three trips to the DZ and numerous phone calls. Here's why ...

This is a small, bush drop zone, with very basic facilities. It is essentially a mom 'n pop, one-horse DZ run on a shoestring budget to capture the passing tourist tandem trade. There is no club scene for fun jumpers. One of my visits was on a Saturday with near-perfect jumping conditions. On this day, twelve loads, all tandems, had gone up - with NO fun jumpers present! No prizes for guessing why.

It baffles me that a city the size of Cape Town seemingly cannot sustain a skydiving scene, as South Africa has other, very busy, skydiving clubs. But there you are. If you are a visiting skydiver, you may get a jump, but if you do, it will be because the owner has decided to grant you a favor. You might have more luck if you turned up as a group of jumpers as that will make it financially more viable for the DZO.

One more thing: wind blowing off the Atlantic Ocean frequently suspends operations - be warned.

Jumped here a a few times during a trip to S.Africa.
Fun friendly staff with lots of advice and help. 3 Cessnas so even thought they are mainly a tandem DZ we got loads in as there was 4 of us and they put up a 182 just for us.
Weather gets a bit hairy in the afternoons but the landing area is big and sandy so we could still jump.
Good cafe for food & drinks but no bunkhouse / showers etc.

I did a tandem here in October 2007, my first experience of skydiving.

The DZ had a very relaxed atmosphere which chilled me out no end.

Jerry was the primary TM, very professional bloke who made sure everything went well. Jean was my TM, caught a quick nap on the way up, slightly dis-concerting at the time but looking back it's pretty funny!

The jump was amazing, awesome views of the whole cape. Table mountain was just as spectacular as you'd expect.

My only gripe would be the aircraft that seemed a little old and couldn't do higher altitude drops. Think the main one was being serviced or to be replaced after their fire, not sure.

Best thing has to be the atmosphere, so relaxed and this is perfect for first time jumpers.

This DZ is about 45 miles North of Cape Town,near the nuclear power station. It is accessed from the R27 via a 2-mile unmade road that is likely to damage the chassis of a saloon car unless you're careful.

The DZ is sandy and large (but beware sudden changes to wind speeds). There is a small shop and cafe, which is adequate for jumpers' and families' needs. No idea about rig hire facilities, as I brought my own. There is no creeping area.

This DZ has a couple of aircraft that each lifts 5-6 jumpers. Most of the lifts are filled up with tandem pasengers and instructors, plus cameraman. This means that anyone else is only likely to get 2-3 jumps in any given day, and these are likely to be solos unless you're lucky. The upside of this is that there is a lot of tandem instructors around who can (and do) give helpful advice on techniques etc.

This DZ is excellent for first-time tandem pasengers, but not for experienced solo or team jumpers, despite the best efforts of the owner (Anton) to accommodate such jumpers.

This DZ will be superb when it acquires a larger aircraft.

Incredible views, great outfit. Unfortunately, small aircraft allowing for a shorter free-fall, but still worth the experience!

Nice bunch of guys, good 1-to-1 tuition. Thanks Hugo et al.

Bit of waiting around for a ride sometimes however. Ok, they're a business so it's fair enough, but I did get a feeling that there's more emphasis on Tandems and DVDs/pics as that's where the money's to be made. One guy who's not in often always creates an atmosphere of chaos whenever he's around (no names mentioned but he has a 'tache!).

I went there with a mate as part of a road trip round SA in Feb 2005 as we were both looking to add another country to our logbooks! Unfortunately they were only using a Cessna so every lift was tandem passenger, tandem master and videodude plus one of us - we couldn't jump together.

We did one each, 20min+ ride to only 9500 feet, before getting bored and bugging out - we'd hoped to do 3 each. Hire rigs were reasonable but the helmets for hire were very tatty, prices were a little steep too, especially for that altitude, hire cost for this, hire cost for that, (most DZ's I know lend you a helmet for free etc). Landing area is predominantly sand which was a nice experience.

It's a tourist DZ not a skydivers DZ but the weather was gorgeous, the views were excellent and I'd recommend this completely for a skydiver on holiday checking out Cape Town or a holidaymaker looking to do a tandem.

I wanted to say thanks to everyone there ! We just went there to pass our AFF and it was a very good experience, we passes everything as well as the conversion jumps and even managed to add a few solo jumps, all that in 2 weeks !
The view of the table mountain and the bay is beautiful from the sky, all is well organized and the staff was very professional and relax at the same time.
Thanks to Hugo and Jaco for their instuctions, to Pete and Mark from flying us to the top, to Dan and Ale for their smooth opening packing ! And to all the rest of the people there to have make us feel at home, could not get enough of it !

Keep it on ! Blue skies !

We'll be back !

Mathieu

i am a merchant seaman, i went to cape town on a ship and a group of us decided to do a tandem parachute jump. something i've always wanted to do.when we got to the place the main hangar had been destroyed in a fire by a burgular everything had been lost. i have never seen people with so much hope for the future, they were getting on with something they loved and it could be felt by one and all it was contagious.i was introduced to the jump master and photographer, they were a laugh,we all were made to feel as if we were old friends, i'm hooked and can not wait to do some more.

Great dropzone! I have never seen such a greeat view from altitude. Pete & Anton are a scream as well! Great atmosphere, well worth the visit. The boerwors rolls weren't too bad either!!!!!

A 20-minute drive north along the R27, or West Coast road as it's more commonly known, is all it takes for you to be whisked from the Cape Town city centre to a drop zone that boasts one of the best views in the world from altitude.

To the south, the Mother City lies sandwiched between towering Table Mountain and bustling Table Bay harbour. Further to the south and to the far side of the mountain from where you are, lies False Bay, Hout Bay and the splendour of the South Peninsula as far as Cape Point. Due west, you will spot Robben Island - Cape Town's own Alcatraz - and the beautiful Cape West Coast, as famous for its icy seawater as its mouthwatering crayfish. To the north, the Langebaan lagoon , a great windsurfing venue.