The official founding date of DUC is October 1951, however there are members (admittedly with increasingly fading memories) that claim an earlier founding date. At any rate DUC is a long standing club

DUC was originally founded by spear fishermen, who in the early days were not allowed to use boats to hunt from and had to “steam’ from shore out to the reefs. Not only is this an indication of how fit these early pioneers must have been, but also of how our conservation laws have changed over the years.
It is now also legal to catch fish specimens on SCUBA!

Within the club founders were a small group of divers who used all manner of available equipment that they either made themselves, bought as navy surplus or, if they had the money, imported from Europe, to enable them to experience breathing underwater – the birth of SCUBA in Durban.

From this small group of men (and very few women) has grown a club that now boasts over a thousand members, admittedly many of which are not divers and just here for the wonderful facilities the club now boasts, but nevertheless, who all have a passion for the ocean and the creatures within it.

We would like to encourage some of the earlier members to send us their memories, whether in words or in pictures (digital, please!) that we can add to the site to build a comprehensive history of DUC. We thank Peter Wilson and Ken De Villiers, both founding members of DUC and now Honorary Life members, for their contributions.

DUC was originally founded by spear fishermen, who in the early days were not allowed to use boats to hunt from and had to “steam’ from shore out to the reefs.