Malta 2003
Lanzarote 2004

I'll say this straight from the off, I love Lanzarote! I've been to the same resort (Costa Teguise) every January bar one since 1998 and used the same dive school every year. the apartments I use mean Calipso Diving are viewable from the room, so when they say "be here at 8.45" and no-one turns up til 9.05 (Hi Pete!) you don't hang around outside looking like a lemon! they are open 6 days a week (closed Sunday) for 2 dives per day. A night dive is also available once a week.

Needless to say I also love the diving. It's not taxing, most dives are from the beach or jetty at Playa Barrilla in Puerto del Carmen. As Lanzarote is volcanic it gets very deep quite quickly, 60m is easily attainable from a shore dive. The small sandy beach at Playa Barrilla slopes gently down to around 5m gradually and is used as an entry & exit point. It's used by a lot of the local dive outfits for open water training & the safety stop at the end of the dive as it is nicely sheltered on both sides by arms of natural lava, which once underwater make great places for the local fish population to hang out.

Dive 1  The main (only) benefit of being on the 0630 flight from Gatwick is you arrive before lunch, so was able to get myself sorted and over to the dive centre to book myself on the afternoon dive to PdC.

Dive 2 The friday morning trip to the Blue Hole is a nice way to get going, the lads at the dive centre were on time, so loaded the bus up & off we went. Martyn the guide was looking a bit peaky, and was apparently feeling a whole lot worse! Briefing was overlooking the dive site & was fairly straight forward, so we kitted up & off we went. After a short surface swim we dropped to around 4m, then down the slope until we reached the edge off the reef at around 16m. it was here I spotted a nudibranch (see Lanzarote pictures) and just after a largish trumpetfish (around 2'-3' long). We then dropped over the edge of the reef to 36m, about 15m above the bottom and made our way to the Blue Hole. this is basically a lava tunnel around 12m long. There is usually a shoal of barracuda hanging around but because I had my camera they weren't there! After that we headed to the top of the reef over an eel garden to the steps on the jetty at Playa Barrilla

Dive 3  was back down to PdC for the afternoon. We had Christian the German, sorry , Dane as the guide & 2 noviceish divers along, Daryl & Ray, so it was to be a nice bimble to the lobster pot & back with all the usual suspects in evidence, Damselfish, Pufferfish, Rainbow Wrasse & Sea Bream.

I'd decided to  rent a car for a couple of days to do a bit of sightseeing & shopping etc. The market in Teguise on a sunday is an experience and I wouldn't miss the Jameos del Agua either, so Dive 4 was on the monday, once more to PdC for a trip to the pink coral. It was just myself & Chris the guide this time, so we both loaded up with 15's & headed of from the steps on the jetty. We headed straight down the slope to around 40m and headed along the reef, found a huge crab, a bronze plaque written in german to a lost diver and the pink coral.(At this point I think Chris' navigation skills are worth a mention. He's been with Calipso for over a year, and this was the FIRST TIME he'd seen the coral!!!!???!) We then headed back up the slope to 5m and back to the jetty.

Dive 5 was the reverse blue hole dive, again it was just myself & Chris, so we headed to the lobster pot, down the blue hole & back along the reef. Reverse photographers curse struck here, I'd forgotten my camera so we saw a pair of cuttlefish playing, a shoal of barracuda, a torpedo ray, 2 big angel sharks & a baby angel shark in the bay , in around 1m of water. So as we took our fins etc. off the conversation  went something like this;

Me - "I didn't realise Sharks came in this close?"

Chris "Yeah, sometimes, but you don't usually see them that active"

Worried couple earwigging"What? sharks? here?, we were just going for a swim!!"

Me "Oh, it was only a baby one, about 2 feet long, and it was heading out"

Worried Couple Earwigging "Yes, but sharks? here? now?"

Chris "Oh yeah, lots, but they're harmless unless you tread on them"

We then headed back up the beach trying hard not laugh too loud!!

The tuesday dive is a boat dive to the wrecks at Los Erizos and is usually one of my favourites, Dive 6 was a bit of a let down, not much life to see although we managed a 50 minute dive time.

Post Dive in Puerto Del Carmen

Tuesday pm was due to be to my favourite dive site on Lanzarote at Mala in the north, but the wind & waves can make the entry & exit unusable, as it turned out today. The choice was a trip back to PdC so I decided to prop up a bar for the afternoon instead. So Dive 7 was to be my last dive and what a cracker. It was a dive I'd never done before & is an executive dive. Basically you have to be reasonably experienced & you go 1 on 1 with a guide. We eventually left the dive centre around 20minutes late after Chris had an slight altercation with an Italian, his Spanish girlfiend & 2 of the local guardia. In the end it was sorted out amicably and off we headed north. Entry was tricky over wet rocks & surging sea but once in and got below 5m it was fine. Dropping down to the prawn cave we were greeted by a Goatfish. at first glance I could see any prawns, but then I noticed the wall moving & bingo! After heading along at 40m looking in to various caves etc we started to ascend along the reef, where we saw an angelshark asleep on the rocks who kindly posed for a nice photo. It was shortly after this that Chris' navigation skills were on top form! He signalled me to wait whilst he headed to the surface for bearings. After a couple of minutes I was also beckoned to surface. He then asked if I could tell where we were!! We decided to swim up the coast & after a minute the bus came into view, so we made our way back to the exit point, dive done, diving over.

At this point I'd like to say thanks to Pete (bossman), Andy (welsh git),  Martyn (Oirish from Belfast), Christian (German, sorry Dane) and extra special thanks to Chris for the beers, diving & showing us the best night spots , Rats, oh, and I mustn't forget Johnny from Wexford in The Snug, funny as anything, a top singer, guitarist and all round good bloke!!

Copyright Nige 2004