Diving in Ibiza

by Richard Whitcombe

I travelled to Ibiza at the end of September 2003 for 2 weeks staying at an apartment on the east of the island in a small resort called S'Argamassa. This location was approximately 15 minutes walk from the more lively Es Cana and 30 mins walk (or 5 mins drive) to Sta. Eulalia.

Although there were many small dive outfits nearby due to the time of year a lot of them weren't operating regularly nor had enough divers to go out at all some days. Most of these operated off RIBs. After travelling around and discovering the prices everywhere were near identical I eventually opted to dive with Ibiza Diving Website who were located in the marina of Sta Eulalia. Ibiza Diving are owned by French PADI and CMAS instructors and operate a hard boat - Los Amigos III (12.5m aluminium hardboat with 2 decks rated to 34 divers) and a RIB "Pina Colada" both of which are located within 20ft of the building parked in the marina.

The hardboat had numbered slots where your cylinders were placed by the staff prior to you boarding the boat and there was plenty of under bench and overhead space for bags and other personal belongings. There was a sun deck, fresh water showers at the rear and in the middle a hanging rack for wetsuits and BCs should you choose to use it. The toilet was adequate although for some reason it had a solid 6" aluminium base below the door which meant I whacked my shins exiting the thing every time for the 2 week I was there. At the rear are 3 ladders for exiting the water and a platform long and wide enough to stand on with fins to de-kit.
 
When signing up for a series of dives standard practice is to telephone or put your name down for a dive the day before in case the boat is full. Although I didn't have much of a problem this late in the season, earlier on I can see it being essential. The dive shop operates normally on a 2 trip per day basis with the first leaving at 10am (returning about 12pm) and the afternoon trip departing about 4pm returning around 6pm. They request you check in 30 minutes before departure to get the kit set up and ready.

On Thursdays they run a full day trip to further afield dive sites, mainly the island of Formentera although trips to Tagomago and the Es Vedra marine park are also run. Lunch costs extra for these trips but certainly on Formentera was worth it.

After registering with the centre and if needed arranging kit hire (I needed a wet suit) you are allocated a locker for the duration of the stay where you can leave your kit locked up if required instead of carrying it back to the hotel every day. Any kit you rented was also yours for the duration. Although I didn't rent any other kit the 5mm full wet suit I rented was in good condition and i'm guessing new for the start of the season. The centre also provides large mesh bags and trolleys with which to carry your kit from the centre to the boat and vice versa. Cylinders are ready filled and loaded before your arrival so you don't have to carry those. Fills were generally good being a minimum of 215bar for the time I was there. They mainly use 12l steel tanks although 15s are available for heavy breathers if you ask for one. The boat carries DIN inserts to use with A-clamp regulators if needed and a lot of tanks had dual valves if you need it. They also offer Nitrox fills for qualified divers.

When boarding the boat a whiteboard had the pre-decided pairs and dive guide groups along with a dive site brief giving maximum depth, time limits and so on. IN addition to that large A2 size sheets were available for most sites showing a 3D diagram of the dive along with computer profile prints so it was possible to familiarise yourself with the dive en-route to the site.

For all dives the boat suspended a decompression trapeze along with several spare full air cylinders should it be required by any diver.

I travelled for the last few days of September and into October and most days the air temperature was in the region of 20c to 30c and sunny although a few cloudy days and one or two rain showers did happen. Water temperature was between 22c and 24c and visibility on average about 20m although Formentera was easily in excess of 30m. Most diving was in the range of about 30m and a good mix of reef, wall, arches and some wrecks.

The wildlife around there was fairly good on most sites with Morays, Congers, Barracuda and others in abundance. Compared to diving in Greece the previous month there seemed an awful lot more to see here.

On to the actual dives....
 
Dive 1:- Llado Norte

* Max. Depth:- 28.3m
* Average Depth:- 17m
* Duration:- 54 minutes
* Visibility:- 25m
* Water Temp:- 24c
* Water speed:- slack
* Weather:- Air Temp 25c, overcast, Easterly wind, 2ft swell

This dive site is a small rocky outcrop a few hundred yards offshore near the Ibiza Town area of the island. It has a sister rock - Llado Sur. The boat arrived with a slight swell which made some people look slightly off colour during kitting up although nobody seemed that bad. As this was my first dive I ended up diving with a group of 4 including the dive guide. We dropped into 10m of water close to the rock and went straight to the rocky bottom. The dive was conducted in an anti-clockwise direction around this rock starting at 10m then working down to 16m where a shelf dropped off sharply to 28m. After dropping over this shelf there was plenty to see in the rocky wall whilst working around the rock. A green sea-grass covered rocky bottom eventually gave way to sand as the dive progressed.

Along the way many rocky gullies, crevices and small caves with overheads were evident which with the aid of a small torch yielded plenty of wildlife to look at and photograph.

A large shoal of Barracuda were circling slightly out to the blue water whilst the holes themselves contained large Morays and Scorpion fish near the bottom. After 44 mins the computer clicked into deco although this obligation cleared at around 10m while working the way back up the reef towards the anchor line having completed a full circle.  As I had air remaining I opted to do a 3 minute stop at about 6m near the anchor line which was mainly over rock with green growth. Surfacing to bright sunshine after a good first dive there was a slight wait for the ladder to clear before climbing back onboard the boat. A good first dive.
 
Dive 2:- Illa Llarge Norte
* Max. Depth:- 24.4m
* Average Depth:- 16.5m
* Duration:- 50 minutes
* Visibility:- 20m
* Water Temp:- 25c surface, 24c max depth
* Water speed:- slack
* Weather:- Air temp 26c, cloudy, SE wind, 2ft swell
 
For the second dive of the day the boat headed the opposite direction to the morning's sites to the Illa Llarga Norte. This is an island about 1/2 mile offshore near the Es Cana area. Straight off the boat and descending vertically to the bottom at about 18m then quickly ending up at 24m on the green growth covered rocky bottom which became more and more sandy as the dive progressed. Again like the first dive there were many swim-throughs, some crevices, arches along with small caves to investigate. The usual wildlife was present in and around the rocks including circling Barracuda and a large octopus wedged into a hole.

The best part of this dive was probably the arch swim-through leading to a narrow crevice maybe 20m long which is wide enough for maybe 2 divers side by side. Due to the darkness in these swim-throughs, a torch was very useful. Even my small SL6 did the job well enough. Just after this point in the dive a large grouper appeared.

For some reason I felt a little cold after 35 mins and developed a slight headache. No idea of the cause and it vanished by the following day. On this dive the computer was nowhere near the NDL but a 3 minute safety stop was performed anyway.
 
Dives 3 and 4 - Day trip to Formentera

This was the first full day trip and the destination was the island of Formentera off the southern tip of Ibiza. The island is generally regarded as having the clearest water of anywhere around Ibiza and it seems this claim is true. Travel time was around an hour from Sta Eulalia but on a warm, clear, calm day nobody seemed to mind.
 
  Dive 3:- Espardell
* Max Depth:- 33m
* Average Depth:- 18.6m
* Duration:- 55 minutes
* Visibility:- 25m
* Water Temp:- 25c (surface), 24c (depth)
* Water speed:- slack
* Weather:- Air Temp, 30c, clear skies, calm seas
 
  Firstly, this was by far the best dive site of the entire trip ! The Espardell is a wreck dive with a difference - it's an abandoned fish farm that was sunk a few years ago when it became uneconomical. The method of sinking appears to have been to blow some of the supporting legs from under it and the wreck itself is near intact as a result and covers a large area. The top part of the platform starts at around 10m while the main wreck continues down to the sandy sea bed at 35m. For this dive I was buddied with a non English speaking Spaniard which as I speak no Spanish made the pre dive brief amusing for anyone watching.

  Dropping into the water the platform legs and top were clearly visible below the boat and we descended down these legs slowly taking in the view until hitting the main piece of wreck at roughly 20m. It's difficult to describe the layout of the wreck but it's a mix of pipes, tubes, crumpled areas, fences and supports - all in all it sounds a mess. There are a very large number of swim throughs and areas to explore and the crumbled metal at the bottom provides small gaps and habitats for a large variety of life including enormous congers, the odd Moray, Octopus and more. The ubiquitous Barracuda again circle off the wreck.
 
  At one point in the dive I passed an odd object which I quickly realised were solar panels still gleaming in the torch light. The dive was spent examining all these metal openings at various levels although due to its size there was no chance seeing all of the wreck in one dive. In total we spent 23 minutes at near the maximum depth which meant some deco was needed. The vyper was indicating 15 minutes as ascent time when we left the bottom and due to the profile meant most of that was spent hanging on the trapeze at 5m. It got fairly crowded there as divers completed their dive but was fairly relaxing looking down at other divers as they explored the wreck 20m below.

After exiting the water after near an hour I was ready to go back and do it again - one of the best dives i've ever done. A huge wreck with no real hazards, entanglement hazards or sharp objects with crystal clear warm waters. Again, a torch is very handy for lighting up the holes and without one you're likely to miss a lot of the life. My little SL6 was OK although my buddy's expensive looking Kowalski put it to shame. I decided to save my batteries :).

Following this dive it was lunch time. The boat anchored off a beach a few hundred meters offshore and people had a choice of either swim to shore or be ferried to it with a combination of the dive boats inflatable or another one the restaurant provided.

  After a leisurely few hours on shore and a large paella meal, wine and the usual it was time to be ferried back for the second dive of the day.
 
Dive 4:- Punta Prima
* Max Depth:- 23.5m
* Average Depth:- 15.0m
* Duration:- 47 minutes
* Visibility:- 15m
* Water Temp:- 25c
* Water speed:- slight current near surface
* Weather:- Air Temp, 27c, clear skies, calm seas
 
Punta Prima is a point off the cliffs on Formentera and is essentially a wall dive along a 24m bottom with a boulder field and rock outcrops. After entering the water a fair surge and slight current was noticeable near the surface although this was nothing to cause problems. On descending next to the anchor line we hit a rock with green growth bottom at roughly 7-10m which turned out to be a ridge. Following this ridge we eventually dropped off it down a near vertical wall which bottomed out at around 24m. The sea bed here was flat, sandy but had large numbers of rock outcrops with small crevices, holes and swim-throughs to explore again. Octopus, Eels and the usual Barracuda were all noted again on this dive.

Near the bottom silt was evident in the water although this didn't really affect visibility. As the dive continued we turned and made our way back to the boat higher up the wall before hitting the ridge then led to the anchor line.
 
I have this dive logged as "a very green dive". The reason for this is all the rocks in the shallows were covered in green growth which made it look almost like a lawn. Spiny urchins were abundant on the 7m ridge where the anchor lay so anyone on safety stops had to be careful with their buoyancy to avoid being stabbed by one. The slight surge meant a back and forth motion over these urchins and rocks so it paid to keep 1m or so above them. We got nowhere near deco on this dive with the last 10 mins spent around 7m on that ridge looking into holes. A nice easy second dive complete it was time to board the boat and head back to Ibiza.

Dive 5:- Seca Sta Eularia Chimenea
* Max Depth:- 29.3m
* Average Depth:- 19.2m
* Duration:- 32 minutes
* Visibility:- 15m
* Water Temp:- 24c
* Water speed:- Strong current
* Weather:- Air temp 24c, clear skies, strong wind
 
This dive was hard work.

The dive site is a combination of rocky ledges leading down to a flat bottom at around 30m. We entered the water and immediately descended to the bottom at 28m where we made ourselves as negative as possible before clawing our way against the current towards a rocky ledge. On that ledge and around the sea bed were 2 "Chimneys" and a large piece of chain - I assume off a since disappeared wreck. The guide then tried to have us work gently up the ledges while examining the holes although working against the current this was exhausting and everyone was sucking up air quickly. We ascended to a ledge at 17m (with a slow warning off the vyper on the way) where the dive guide 3 times attempted to deploy a DSMB. Having no reel or spool he just let the rope flap in the current and a small weight on one end made the system resemble a birds nest. He inflated the open-ended DSMB and it went up.......
 ..........
10 seconds later it came back down to join us. He tried a further twice to deploy the buoy with no success before shrugging his shoulders and stuffing it back in his pocket along with the wire. I wasn't carrying my DSMB/Reel with me on that dive but decided from now on I would.

After failing to deploy the marker buoy we continued this time with the rapid current and by more luck than judgement spotted the anchor line. The boat had lowered several weighted ropes to a depth of 5m and the guide indicated everyone should grab onto one and hold it. This produced more slow warnings from the computer although nothing serious. Holding onto the rope made me feel like a flag in a gale before it was my time to get back onboard the boat.

  Despite all the above the dive had some good wildlife including lobster to look at so was still enjoyable. It was very hard work fighting or even moving with that current in the way the guide was doing. My own view is that in conditions like that it would have been a very enjoyable drift dive.
 
Dive 6:- Pecia Cala Mastella
* Max Depth:- 21.3m
* Average Depth:- 14.3m
* Duration:- 53 minutes
* Visibility:- 15m
* Water Temp:- 24c
* Water speed:- slack
* Weather:- Air temp 27c, Windy, partly cloudy
 
  This was a nice wreck dive of a small boat, possibly a fishing trawler that lies on a sandy bottom against a series of rock ledges leading to the cliffs on the shore. We dropped in close to the cliffs into 7m of water and could see bits of metal and broken pipes among the rocks. Working our way south down the slope and series of ledges more and more wreckage became visible before running into more intact pieces at 22m including the boilers and bow.
 
  Although this is a small wreck there are some areas you can swim inside to have a look with the aid of a torch and there's no chance of getting stuck. There are a fair number of swim throughs and plenty of life around the outside of the wreck. The surrounding rocky reef had a lot of boulders and outcrops providing small caves and holes to explore, a large number of them home to Morays.

This was a nice "rummage and prod" dive over a fairly large area. The sandy bottom meant that some silt could be kicked up temporarily reducing visibility and this was more noticeable in the shallows. However, this reduced it to maybe 5m for a few seconds - nowhere near enough to be a hazard but just enough to make photography difficult. One other thing of note during the dive was the noise of engines overhead. I rolled and looked up to see what looked like a boat but wasn't quite right. After a while I realised I was looking up at a glass bottom boat which had gone over the wreck to show its passengers. Its the first time in my life i've looked through the wrong end of a glass bottom boat and felt a bit like a fish in an aquarium with an audience. The boat vanished 2 minutes later and after a short safety stop we surfaced.

A nice easy enjoyable dive which required no effort, unlike the mornings high current, high energy affair.
 
Dive 7:- Roca Llisa
* Max Depth:- 27.1m * Average Depth:- 16.8m
* Duration:- 46mins
* Visibility:- 30m+
* Water Temp:- 24c
* Water speed:- slack
* Weather:- Air Temp 26c, clear, calm
 
  It's hard to put a visibility figure for this dive as the view went on and on until the light ran out - well in excess of 30m. The boat today was full of French divers who appeared to have more camera equipment than a film production company and as a result it took longer than normal for people to enter the water. The dive began by dropping into the water onto an 8m ledge before descending down a wall to the bottom at 22m. After swimming through one arch and ascending slightly to 18m we came across 2 more large impressive arches positioned one on top of the other. Swimming through these arches led to a fairly wide crevice maybe 5m wide and 10m long where the walls were covered in coloured growth and fish life. The bottom here was a very coarse sand and as a result didn't get kicked up at all leading to excellent visibility. Turning right after exiting the canyon and beginning to work shallower the bottom turned more and more rocky and more and more overhangs to explore. Inside the one small cave was a hole no more than 1m in diameter that led all the way to the surface some 15m above.
 
After working back to the ledge at about 8m where the boat was anchored a jellyfish was seen - apparently a "fried egg jellyfish" and was the only one I saw all trip. At this 8m ledge looking towards shore was an impressive sight - the white villas on the cliff top were perfectly clear through the water as was the sun bouncing off them. At this 8m ledge looking towards shore was an impressive sight - the white villas on the cliff top were perfectly clear through the water as was the sun bouncing off them.

  This was a nice dive and worth it for the arches and view of the villas from underwater alone.

Dive 8:- Llado Norte
* Max Depth:- 26.5m
* Average Depth:- 16.2m
* Duration:- 48 mins
* Visibility:- 8m
* Water Temp:- 23c
* Water Speed:- slack
* Weather:- Air temp 24c, cloudy, Swell of a few feet
 
  The second dive on Llado Norte and followed a storm the previous day. As a result the sea was still fairly churned up both on the surface and underwater reducing visibility to a "mere" 8m.

A strong surge was noticeable above 10m depth which resulted in dives being moved forward and backwards maybe 3 meters in synch with the wave period. This did make the safety stop somewhat nauseating. Below 15m it was fairly dark and a torch was definitely needed to make the most of this dive. The route was near identical to that detailed for Dive 1 so wont be repeated here. The boat ladder bouncing about made getting onboard harder than normal and a few people did fall off the ladder a couple of times.
 
It was still an enjoyable dive and the conditions combined with visibility had me logging this as "Britain on a good day after global warming".
 






Dive 9:- Llado Sur
* Max Depth:- 21.0m
* Average Depth:- 13.1m
* Duration:- 56 minutes
* Visibility:- 10m
* Water Temp:- 24c
* Water speed:- slack
* Weather:- Air Temp 24c, clear skies, slight swell
 
The sister rock to Llado Norte. I was buddied with a German called "Wolfgang" for this dive who although seemed friendly enough didn't speak much/any English. That combined with my German which I haven't used for 6 or 7 years made the pre-dive a bit hard going. The dive information chart stated this was a 35m dive working your way anticlockwise around the rock before hitting the anchor line after 1 orbit. It also promised a small cave at 25m.

My actual dive differed from this brief somewhat mainly due to my buddy. First a brief description of him. He was roughly 5ft 9" tall and had apparently completed his 100th dive. He owned a pair of XL size fins (to be mentioned later) and a very large Kowalski torch. Oddly, this expensive torch was not secured to him by a lanyard or clip but rather by a 2m long blue piece of nylon rope clipped to his BC. As he'd dived this site before we agreed he would lead the dive.

We dropped in and immediately descended to around 18m. During the descent I noticed his mask filling with water. For reasons only known to himself he opted not to bother clearing it. The Kowalski torch dangled from its rope below his feet and hit the rocky bottom fairly hard when we reached it. He did a quick look around and proceeded in a direction that was totally opposite to the pre-briefed one off the plan - we were going to do this dive backwards it seems which would mean we start off shallow and work our way deeper as opposed to the intended opposite.

As it turned out that wasn't an issue, the drop off at 20m down to the 35m sea bed was dark and the bottom couldn't be seen due to the reduced visibility. He seemed reluctant to swim over into the darkness so we continued at the 20m line along the reef. We paused numerous times to peer into holes and such. My little torch was dwarfed by his beam but for some odd reason he kept it turned on and dangling at the end of the rope for most of the dive meaning it got smashed off just about every rock nearby. At one point I was attempting to photograph a moray when I was nearly blinded by the light. It seems he'd seen an interesting starfish and to grab my attention decided the best course of action was to shine the light brightly directly into my eyes. He repeated this trick several times effectively blinding me for large periods of the dive. Every now and again he'd bang it against some more rocks and drag it through the sand to another hole to look in.

After 25 mins or so he decided to stick closer and signalled he's swim in front and for me to follow. As this had been agreed I did. The problem was due to his sudden course changes, stops and depth changes I was kicked repeatedly by his XL fins and spent several minutes close enough to read the manufacture date stamped on the heel.

After a somewhat up/down saw tooth profile he decided to begin to shallow out the dive and we started to ascend face to face up a vertical wall. Above 10m there was a fairly large surge and for some reason he elected to play in this for some 10 minutes. It was like being stuck in a washing machine which he seemed to enjoy. The torch was now regularly being smacked into rocks as a result of this but he didn't seem to notice or care. Eventually bored of the washing machine ride he signalled we should surface. Again we ascended face to face and for some inexplicable reason he picked up his torch, put the lens some 10cm from his mask and turned it on staring into the light. Quite why he did this I don't know - maybe he was checking it was still working. The net result was him blinking wildly and dropping the torch back down to its maximum length of rope. When we reached the 5m trapeze and spare air tanks they were bucking wildly as the boat was moved by the wave action - heavy steel cylinders were flying back and forth travelling several meters in each direction before whipping around on their rope. Again for some reason instead of holding a safety stop away from this he elected to play "dodge the tank", swim to the trapeze and hold onto it like he was on a fairground ride. At that stage I decided I really didn't want to get smacked by a moving tank so kept my distance before surfacing.

All in all the dive was "ok" but made odd by a buddy with a light obsession and a love of being thrown about by the surge. It had potential to be much better especially as apparently the cave and deeper wall is very nice.

Maybe next time I can do it without Mr Kowalski and his amazing XL fins.
 
Dive 10:- Sta. Eularia Rocks
* Max Depth:- 21.0m
* Average Depth:- 15.5m
* Duration:- 45 minutes
* Visibility:- 20m
* Water Temp:- 23c
* Water speed:- slight current
* Weather:- Air Temp 27c, clear skies, calm
 
The centre was quiet today with everyone holding off for the day trip tomorrow and as a result I was the only certified diver registered for the dive. As a result I found myself on "Pina Colada" - a 5.5m RIB. As far as RIBs go it was comfortable - seating, tank racks and dry which is a luxury compared to what i'm used to. The only other passengers were a family of 3 doing a try dive. Those 3, their instructor, the boat handler and my dive guide/buddy meant there was still plenty of room onboard the boat. To save them charging an air cylinder the centre offered me the use of a Nitrox ( EAN30 ) cylinder that was unused from the mornings dive which I agreed to. The dive guide was using a cylinder of EAN32 and with a maximum depth of 21m for the intended site posed no problem.

As an experiment for this dive I opted to try less weight, reducing to 2kg as a test.
 
This dive was a combination of a sandy bottom leading onto a rocky reef as it neared the cliffs. Apparently the flat sandy bottom has been home to Rays. After rolling off the RIB and descending onto a sea grass type bottom at 8m we then headed off deeper along a flat course sandy bottom in a south westerly direction at a depth of around 20m. Visibility here was extremely good and the surrounding bright due to the sun and white reflective sand. A slight current was tugging us in a southerly direction but this was not a problem for the dive. Eventually after some 10 minutes of swimming we came across the rocky reef. During the swim no rays had been seen and only a few large fish noticeable in the distance. Once on the roof it provided the usual holes and areas to prod around in and yielded the usual wildlife including octopus and scorpion fish. The second half of the dive was done across the same sandy bottom but nearer to the rocks where some odd burrowing worm things provided some amusement. Back near the RIB anchor line there was another small rocky reef to explore until air ran low and it was time to exit. Not the most spectacular dive but enjoyable none the less.
 
Dive 11:- Espardell
* Max Depth:- 33.2m
* Average Depth:- 19.8m
* Duration:- 36 minutes
* Visibility:- 15m
* Water Temp:- 23c
* Water Speed:- slack
* Weather:- 24c, clear, calm
 
The second full day trip and the second dive in the sunken fish farm platform of Espardell. For this dive I was paired with a guide (Angel) and a girl who was described as having "not done too many dives". It was agreed the guide and girl would operate as a pair and id just tag along as an extra person. As we were arriving at the dive site several dolphins appeared and started following the boat in its wake and leaping out of the water alongside and in front of us. This continued for 10 minutes and they finally vanished just before we dropped anchor. I attempted to photograph them however due to the delay with digital camera I ended up with 5 pictures of splashes in the water - I missed them all.

After jumping in the water and waiting 2 minutes for the others to enter we descended slowly down the line to about 3m. It was obvious at this point the girl had problems getting down despite carrying what looked like a lot of weight. The dive guide ended up dumping some air for her. When they reached me at the 3m mark her mask was half full of water and she struggled to clear it. I was signalled to wait while the guide surfaced with her and some 4 mins later they came down to me and signalled to descend slowly. We paused briefly on the platform legs at 14m before descending right the way down the pillars to the sea bed at 33m. On reaching the wreck the description is pretty much as before, plenty of collapsed metal and overhangs to explore. Several of the pipes contained very larger congers while a few scorpion fish lurked on the bottom. The bottom was stirred up and occasionally silty in places. As usual now, Barracuda were sighted off the wreck.

I did notice that throughout the entire dive the girl was "following" the dive guide by remaining nearly exactly 2m directly above him throughout. This caused him problems turning to check on her. This dive I only had my small torch so explored some of the narrow pipes and holes the opposite side to the previous time. The area I found had a lot of thick wire and vertical pipes leading off the metal base and what I can only assume were connecting 2 small rooms when the platform was intact. Again, there were no sharp objects or real entanglement hazards on the wreck and visibility was excellent. After 22 minutes with my computer showing 7 minutes of stops we decided to begin our ascent which we did up a pipe and pillar before pausing briefly at the horizontal platform near 14m. During this time the guide maintained a tight grip on the girls BC. Moving then to the stop depth it was crowded with many other divers on the ropes, trapeze and area so my stop depth varied between 3.5 and 5.5m as I swum around. Angel showed me his computer and it was telling him he had another 16 minutes of stops to do. Through a series of hand signals it was decided that once my computer had cleared, I was to surface with the girl and leave him to clear his computer stops.

After the dive he said the reason for the stops is that he'd done 2 dives the previous day, using nitrox but had the computer set to air. He'd also done a brief dive that morning before leaving hence the difference in stop time between our computers (both were vypers). Another very good dive and after 2 dives on the wreck I still haven't seen all of it. Yet another one to add to my "must do again" list.

The dive completed it was time to head ashore for a lunch break.
 
Dive 12:- Punta Prima
* Max Depth:- 25.3m
* Average Depth:- 15.5m
* Duration:- 42 minutes
* Visibility:- 15m
* Water Temp:- 24c
* Water Speed:- slack
* Weather:- 24c, partly cloudy, calm
 
This was my final dive of the trip before returning home to the cold, wet UK. Weather and sea conditions were near enough perfect for this dive.I was asked before the dive if I minded buddying with Inma (the girl from the previous dive) as a pair as the guide had course students to take on a dive.

Again there was a language issue as I speak no Spanish and she spoke no English but with the help of the dive guides to translate we agreed a dive plan where I would lead the dive, we'd turn at 100 bar and be back on the surface with 50bar of air remaining. I was given a brief about which direction to head, what landmarks to turn at and roughly how long between them which was needed as id only dived the area once before and this was a slightly different location. We kitted up and jumped in, descended to 2m where my buddy signalled she had a problem so we stopped. Again it seemed she had problems descending but after about a minute at this depth she managed to start descending and indicated she was happy to proceed.

Visibility was excellent with the large boulder field visible immediately from the surface. Dropped straight down to this at 22m and came across better ground than the previous dive here - the boulder fields and outcrops were larger with far more in the way of gaps to look in. The first hole yielded an octopus, a bit further along a Moray was sticking out of a dark hole and a scorpion fish on the sand nearby. The growth on the rocks was very colourful especially when illuminated with a torch.
Annoyingly my buddy decided that like the previous dive she would follow 2-3 directly above me meaning to check or signal meant have to roll 180 degrees. Several times I signalled OK and got "OK" in return so eventually realised she wasn't unhappy with the dive. At once point I attempted to signal a "side by side" which worked for 30 seconds before she returned to hovering above me.

Another reaction that confused me was the air check - I signalled to ask what her air was and was taken by surprise when instead of signalling as agreed she dumped all her air, hit the bottom in a cloud of sand, thrust the gauge in my face, waited for the signal then went back up to above my head quickly. Again though she indicated she was happy.

We worked our way South West along the boulder field before a small swim through leading to the main vertical cliff wall. We zig zagged along this wall, stopping occasionally to look closer at some of the life before I got the 100 bar signal off my buddy so it was time to turn the dive.

Having been given the brief I knew the direction the boat should be in but must admit at this point I was slightly lost - I was expecting to see the anchor chain by now. We followed the wall at 10-15 meters in the direction I thought was correct but still didn't see the boat. Eventually however I recognised the 8m ridge from the previous dive and knew the boat would be here somewhere.

Just like the previous dive, everything at this 8m depth was green due to growth and spiny urchins littered the rock. Looking around I noticed the now familiar anchor chain and was quite pleased my random navigation had managed to blunder across the boat without suffering the indignity of surfacing to have a look around. As we were both above the 50 bar cut-off I signalled I wanted to do a 3 minute safety stop at around 5m before surfacing. We managed to do about 1 minute of this before my buddy lost control of her buoyancy and started to rise. I grabbed and held onto her to arrest the descent until reaching 3m and then had to let go and she popped up. The was no harm done and no risk - we were nowhere near deco and the ascent to that 5m depth had been very slow, nowhere near the rate limits.

As it was I surfaced from my last dive that despite some buddy problems was another enjoyable scenic dive
 
  Summary:-

For a late season trip Ibiza was both nearby, not too expensive and provided good weather and diving. The dives themselves were fairly varied and good for wildlife especially when compared to my previous diving in Greece. I liked the method of being allocated a kit locker for the duration and from Sta Eulalia the distance to dive sites was usually in the region of 30-60 minutes. I didn't get a chance to dive the Isla Vedra nature park or the Tagomago areas which apparently also offer good diving but there wasn't really time.

I flew out with Air2000 who offered a free 10kg allowance for diving equipment provided the qualification book was provided at check in. There were no problems at either airport with this.

The photographs were taking using a Canon Powershot A40 camera with the Canon waterproof housing which is rated to a depth of 30m.
 
For more pictures, included the ones not listed in this write up please see This address
 
Richard Whitcombe (Web@whitcombe.org.uk). BSAC Sport diver