About Animal Ocean

Steve Benjamin is the man behind Animal Ocean. His knowledge and experience place him in a unique position to guide inspiring expeditions in Cape Town's waters. Steve's intricate local knowledge of the sea is built on his education, work experience and his long love of surfing, fishing and diving.

It started at the age of ten, when Steve joined the junior volunteer program at the Two Oceans Aquarium, where he worked for four years. It was here that he cultivated his love of marine animals and met many others as passionate as himself. Steve grew up filling his weekends and early mornings with line fishing and surfing until he shot his first fish as a teenager in Mozambique. He has since been a spear fishing enthusiast, competing at local competitions as well as at national level.

His university career saw him completing a B.Sc at UCT, followed by an honors degree in Ichthyology at Rhodes University. During this period he volunteered at a fish hatchery in Hermanus.

After completing his post-graduate degree, Steve's supervisor from the Two Oceans Aquarium became his employer when he took a position at a marine fish farm called Espadon Marine. There, as part of the management team, his nautical knowledge base expanded further.

Steve added ecotourism to his experience at Blue Wilderness, where he spent his days and months guiding photographers and recreational divers on shark dives along South Africa's East Coast. His trips included free diving and scuba diving with Aliwal shoal's tiger sharks, guiding cinematographers on the Sardine run and diving with whoever dared on Great White adventure dives.

As a result of Steve's experience, personal love and education, he is uniquely placed to provide insider expertise on Cape Town's seas. Animal Ocean is Steve's latest exciting venture and sees him offering his services to showcase Cape Town's magnificent underwater world.



The Animal Ocean vessel is an 8m rubberduck with a capacity to hold 14 people. It is wide (3.1m), spacious and provides a very dry ride in normal sea conditions. The boat is powered by a pair of Yamaha 85hp engines. This boat has showed that it can handle rough seas and is a pleasure to operate.