Newman Sport Diving Club, Coventry trip to Safari Diving, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote


By Dave Barratt

We are a family club, with some non-diving partners, kids and so forth. When we arrange a club trip any suggestion of two weeks on a Red Sea liveaboard tends to get fairly short shrift. So we go to places that are more user-friendly to "normal" people. Recently we've been to places like Malta and Tenerife.

However, September 2001 saw a group of us in Lanzarote for two weeks. Lanzarote is a year- round resort. The weather is warm and sunny for most of the time. We chose to go then, as it was less expensive and quieter outside of school holidays. It was a memorable trip, and not only because the World Trade Center fell down while were there - although that did give us some fun getting heavy dive bags containing knives back through airport security.

The group comprised two Open Water Instructors, two Assistant Club Instructors, two Sports divers, and one Club Diver, plus various hangers-on of the "is it time to go for a drink yet?" variety.

The trip was suggested by a couple of our members who had been out there before on family holidays, and had dived while they were there. I'd never been before, and most people I spoke to suggested that Puerto del Carmen wasn't the place to go to - all kiss-me-quick hats and fake English pubs - a bit like Blackpool with sunshine (sorry Blackpool). To some extent they were correct. Parts of the town are exactly like that, but that's not where we were.

Puerto del Carmen is Lanzarote's main tourist destination. It follows the coastal strip southwest from the airport. Between the airport and the Old Town is where the majority of hotels and apartments are that package tour operators use. The strip is one long line of pubs, restaurants, amusement arcades and the like - and lots of people. The Old Town surrounds the harbour, which would once have been a small fishing port, but has now been smartened up and developed. The other side of the harbour consists of small houses, flats and apartments, many of which house local people. We stayed in one of the apartment developments overlooking the harbour.

We flew out with Monarch Airlines from Birmingham and were met at Arrecife airport by staff from Safari Diving and their associated company, Island Diving, through whom the diving, accommodation and car hire arrangements had been made. All of the bags were loaded into the Safari Diving minibus, while we followed behind in the hire cars - a very useful service if you've ever tried to fit four adults and dive bags into a Renault Clio. They did the same thing for us at the end of the holiday to get the bags back to the airport. The hire cars proved to have been a wise investment. In addition to getting to and from the dive centre, there's a lot to see on the island.

The apartments we stayed at are called Bella Vista II, and they certainly have a lovely view, even though it's a bit of a climb to get up to them. All of the apartments are built into the rock face that climbs up from the harbour, and so there are flights of steps between the various levels. Each apartment is privately owned, so they are all fitted out differently. The ones that we had were all clean and comfortable, with two twin bedrooms, a bathroom, and lounge/kitchen. They were equipped with satellite television, so the girls could even watch East Enders. There is a swimming pool and sun deck with lounger chairs. An English couple, who live on site, look after the complex.

We dived with Safari Diving who are based right on the beach near the harbour. We pre-booked a 10-dive package, which entitled us to 1 free dive each, i.e. 11 in total. On the first morning we all turned up with our kit, and completed the paperwork formalities. This involved a questionnaire regarding personal details, qualifications and experience. Each diver had to leave his/her qualification record book or card. It was then simply a matter of providing details of who was diving on any particular day, and the appropriate number of 12 litre dumpy steel tanks were issued.
The dive "shop" comprises a window from the beach into the office, from where you get your full tanks, and return empty ones. Next to that is a changing area, where you can leave your clothes while you're diving, and your gear when you're not. Suits are hung on rails, and the rest of your kit goes into boxes on shelves. There are no secure lockers, and one of our group arrived one morning to find a large German lady novice trying to squeeze herself into his wetsuit. Other than that we had no problems, and nothing went missing, although most of us removed regs and other valuable/attractive items.

The changing room has a cold water wash tank for gear. As the shop is right on the beach, it's as important to get the sand out of your kit as it is the salt water. For this reason most people kitted up in the changing room, rather than outside on the beach. This had the added advantage of keeping kitted up divers out of the sun for as long as possible. The knack was not to arrive when the morning or afternoon escorted dives and classes were getting changed - it could get pretty crowded in there.

Information was available for all the dive sites and we were allowed to dive them without a guide, although Safari would have been happy to provide one if needed. This seemed to be their whole approach to diving - free and easy. The pricing structure was similarly simple. We'd paid for our dive package. How and when we did those dives was very much up to us. With seven divers we were able to book a boat (either hardboat or RIB - see photos) just for us. The boat came with a boat handler, who stayed in the boat, and helped us in and out of the water. There was no extra charge for the boat. Similarly, they ran night dives a couple of times a week, when one member of staff would be allocated to be on duty to support night divers - again, for no extra charge.

The diving is a mixture of wrecks and reefs. You can dive straight off the beach into the sheltered bay in front of the shop - excellent for novices and checkout dives. Outside of the bay the seabed drops away fairly quickly down a sandy slope to the reefs. It's a long swim back up this slope at the end of your dive. Alternatively take the boat out to the main wreck site, outside the harbour entrance, or to the reefs along the coast. Away from the shore the depth is a minimum of 25 metres, and in the clear, warm water it's very easy to get to 40 metres and more without realising it. You have to watch your depth closely - something to bear in mind if you have less experienced divers in your group. The sea was a comfortable temperature. I used a 5mm wetsuit, but others used shorties without problem. The underwater viz was always about 20 metres, and there was plenty of life. In the shallows there were squadrons of damsel fish, while in deeper water we saw huge grouper, rays, angel sharks, moray eels and octopus.

Of course, there are other sites around the island. You're not necessarily restricted to staying in Puerto del Carmen. Safari Divers were happy to provide us with details of those sites or a guide. All in all it was a very enjoyable trip. We will go back.

Dave Barratt
Newman Sport Diving Club, Coventry
Dave@bubbler.co.uk
www.bubbler.co.uk
September 2001

Contact
Safari Diving: (diving) www.safaridiving.com
Island Diving: (accommodation, car hire) island@infolanz.es


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