DO THIS Dive Africa's southernmost tropical reefs

It's a cloudy, rainy morning when I get my gear together for my first dive at Sodwana Bay, in the far north of KZN.

- RÁCHELLE-JEAN STEENBERG

The weather may be moody, but my spirits are high. I've heard good stories about this place.

We launch the boat through the surf and finally I roll backwards into the ocean. As I descend towards the reef, my eyes grow wider behind my mask - there's coral everywhere! Goldies - shimmering orange fish - flit around a huge green tree coral while other corals shelter an array of creatures, from psychedelic nudibranchs to a honeycomb eel peeking curiously from its crevice.

Sodwana is just south of the Mozambican border. It's renowned for its rich marine biodiversity and world-class scuba-diving. Sodwana Bay National Park is part of the UNESCO-listed iSimangaliso Wetland Park, which protects a 220 km section of coastline from Kosi Bay on the border to Maphelane in the south. Above the surface, dunes and coastal forest provide refuge for a wide variety of terrestrial animals, and the beaches are nesting sites for sea turtles. Beneath the waves, an entirely different world opens up.

During my week of diving to complete my Advanced Open Water course with Coral Divers, I saw schools of fish, turtles, rays, sharks and even a pod of dolphins.