Free diving in Kelp forestepa08311842 A free diver explores a Kelp forest in the Indian Ocean, False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa, 21 March 2020. Huge Kelp forests can extend up to three kilometers offshore of South Africa’s cape coastal waters. Kelp are the giants of the seaweed world being the fastest growing algae sometimes exceeding fifteen meters in length. The Kelp forests influence the waters around them by calming the waves, slowing the water and thus allowing it to be warmed by the sun. This creates a unique marine environment popular with free divers in which thousands of species thrive beneath these giant tree like structures. EPA/NIC BOTHMA