Diving in Tenerife, October 2005
Trumpet Fish and Long Spined Urchins
I didn't really know what to expect with diving in Tenerife (I just knew I wanted to feed the Rays) so I went with an open mind but I was not disappointed at all.
We arrived at our accommodation on Saturday morning and after a quick shower and change we made our way to my chosen dive operator 'Ocean Blue Divers' to get the paperwork out of the way and arrange times for our first dive. Thoroughness is an understatement, I can honestly say that this was the first time I have ever showed my log books and diving insurance (its normally a flash of the qualification card), that said it was reassuring to know that I had selected a professional operator as opposed to a 'cowboy' outfit and I get the impression there were a lot of those on the Island!
Sunday afternoon was supposed to be our first dive of the holiday but when we arrived at the dive shop we were informed that the weather conditions were not ideal (the sky was overcast and there were occasional showers but the sea looked flat to me…….holiday divers!, instead we jumped on a local bus to Las Americas to see what all the fuss was about down there - I am certainly glad that I'm not staying anywhere near the place, must be getting old before my time!
We arrived at our accommodation on Saturday morning and after a quick shower and change we made our way to my chosen dive operator 'Ocean Blue Divers' to get the paperwork out of the way and arrange times for our first dive. Thoroughness is an understatement, I can honestly say that this was the first time I have ever showed my log books and diving insurance (its normally a flash of the qualification card), that said it was reassuring to know that I had selected a professional operator as opposed to a 'cowboy' outfit and I get the impression there were a lot of those on the Island!
Sunday afternoon was supposed to be our first dive of the holiday but when we arrived at the dive shop we were informed that the weather conditions were not ideal (the sky was overcast and there were occasional showers but the sea looked flat to me…….holiday divers!, instead we jumped on a local bus to Las Americas to see what all the fuss was about down there - I am certainly glad that I'm not staying anywhere near the place, must be getting old before my time!
Cleaner Shrimp
Monday morning we finally got wet at a site called 'Atlantis', we decided to wear 3mm shortie's as the water temperature was 23c and fellow diver said he had been wearing a shortie all week - he said nothing about it being a 5mm!.
All the diving was done off a Rib but the sites were no more than 15 minutes away. We never actually felt the cold on our first dive as we were both over-weighted (I had 6kg instead of 6lbs on my belt) but there was still plenty to distract our attention from our constant finning; a friendly Eagle Ray, Parrot Fish and a shoal of escapees from the local fish farm (I believe they were Sea Bass).
The seabed in Tenerife is primarily large boulders but depending on the dive site you can find yourself drifting over black sandy bottoms. For the photographer, I would recommend using a filter of some description as most of my day-time underwater photographs are quite bright.Before our afternoon dive we returned to the dive shop to change cylinders, reshuffle weights, put more neoprene on and also get a bite to eat.
The second dive was at 'Echo Bay' where we spotted much more sea life including lizardfish, cuttlefish, sea spiders oh and plenty of urchins.
The general underwater scenery at this site was a cliff on one side (with a cave at the bottom) and an assortment of boulders scattered on the sandy bottom.
All the diving was done off a Rib but the sites were no more than 15 minutes away. We never actually felt the cold on our first dive as we were both over-weighted (I had 6kg instead of 6lbs on my belt) but there was still plenty to distract our attention from our constant finning; a friendly Eagle Ray, Parrot Fish and a shoal of escapees from the local fish farm (I believe they were Sea Bass).
The seabed in Tenerife is primarily large boulders but depending on the dive site you can find yourself drifting over black sandy bottoms. For the photographer, I would recommend using a filter of some description as most of my day-time underwater photographs are quite bright.Before our afternoon dive we returned to the dive shop to change cylinders, reshuffle weights, put more neoprene on and also get a bite to eat.
The second dive was at 'Echo Bay' where we spotted much more sea life including lizardfish, cuttlefish, sea spiders oh and plenty of urchins.
The general underwater scenery at this site was a cliff on one side (with a cave at the bottom) and an assortment of boulders scattered on the sandy bottom.
Club Tipped Anemone
For me Tuesday's diving was the highlight of the week. In the morning we dived 'White Point', basically we descended onto a plateau at about 16m then descended over the ridge, out of the noticeable current, onto a rocky bottom.
At the bottom there were plenty of overhangs/caves to swim through. In the overhangs/caves was some of the most colourful sea life I have ever seen including some beautiful anemones and colourful shrimps.
To get back to the shot line we were required to test out our rock climbing abilities (i.e. pulling ourselves up the plateau) but this was not too difficult and I actually enjoyed this (from a girl that hates currents)!
Our second dive was feeding the 'Rays'. I had a carrier bag of fresh sardines attached to my BC and was prepared to get mugged on the way down….. thankfully everyone was well behaved and waited in line, at least they did until I heard a scream underwater and saw a massive Ray grazing on my friend's leg!
When I say massive it must have easily have been 1.5m in width, thankfully our pre-dive briefing covered what to do in such an event……..raise yourself of the bottom! After a while we finally dared one another to rest on the bottom again and just when we were getting our nerves back to get another Sardine out an even bigger Ray appeared! Carrier bags empty, we spent the next few minutes stroking the Rays before venturing away from the sand and around the dive site.
At the bottom there were plenty of overhangs/caves to swim through. In the overhangs/caves was some of the most colourful sea life I have ever seen including some beautiful anemones and colourful shrimps.
To get back to the shot line we were required to test out our rock climbing abilities (i.e. pulling ourselves up the plateau) but this was not too difficult and I actually enjoyed this (from a girl that hates currents)!
Our second dive was feeding the 'Rays'. I had a carrier bag of fresh sardines attached to my BC and was prepared to get mugged on the way down….. thankfully everyone was well behaved and waited in line, at least they did until I heard a scream underwater and saw a massive Ray grazing on my friend's leg!
When I say massive it must have easily have been 1.5m in width, thankfully our pre-dive briefing covered what to do in such an event……..raise yourself of the bottom! After a while we finally dared one another to rest on the bottom again and just when we were getting our nerves back to get another Sardine out an even bigger Ray appeared! Carrier bags empty, we spent the next few minutes stroking the Rays before venturing away from the sand and around the dive site.
Preparing for a night dive
On our final day we dived the following sites;
'Barranco Seco - Deep' - here we descended to 32m where the sandy bottom was covered in Garden Eels, then we ascended to approx 20m through a tunnel - on exiting you could still see our air bubbles rising through the porous rock, before our final ascent I spotted an octopus.
'Barranco Azul' - a shallow dive over boulders, sea life included crabs, barracuda and fire worms.'Echo Bay - Night Dive' - light sticks attached to the rear of our tanks and torches distributed we finally made our decent. I was surprised at how different the site appeared at night, urchins for one were attractive, sea cucumbers and fire worms also made their grand entrance.
Overall, a fantastic week away. Our accommodation couldn't have been in a more ideal location, Ocean Blue Divers were a very professional outfit who went out of their way to be as accommodating as possible (they even arranged our day trip - Masca Walk). I managed to get a tan in the winter sun (27c min) and I came back having not broken the bank! I will certainly consider going back again.
Additional Information:
Diving:
We used 'Ocean Blue Divers', Puerto de Santiago, Tenerife.
Web Site - http://www.oceanbluedivers.com
Contact Details - [email protected]
(+34) 922862402 (Tel/Fax)
Article by Jo Brooks
'Barranco Seco - Deep' - here we descended to 32m where the sandy bottom was covered in Garden Eels, then we ascended to approx 20m through a tunnel - on exiting you could still see our air bubbles rising through the porous rock, before our final ascent I spotted an octopus.
'Barranco Azul' - a shallow dive over boulders, sea life included crabs, barracuda and fire worms.'Echo Bay - Night Dive' - light sticks attached to the rear of our tanks and torches distributed we finally made our decent. I was surprised at how different the site appeared at night, urchins for one were attractive, sea cucumbers and fire worms also made their grand entrance.
Overall, a fantastic week away. Our accommodation couldn't have been in a more ideal location, Ocean Blue Divers were a very professional outfit who went out of their way to be as accommodating as possible (they even arranged our day trip - Masca Walk). I managed to get a tan in the winter sun (27c min) and I came back having not broken the bank! I will certainly consider going back again.
Additional Information:
Diving:
We used 'Ocean Blue Divers', Puerto de Santiago, Tenerife.
Web Site - http://www.oceanbluedivers.com
Contact Details - [email protected]
(+34) 922862402 (Tel/Fax)
Article by Jo Brooks