Lanzarote With Sea Horses

By Derek Dear

Dive 1
Dive 1: New Wrecks.
Buddy: Nick
Dive guide: Chris.

I was buddied with Nick, who is a trainee cameraman for television. He was doing his first dive with Nitrox. Remember that Nitrox doesn't alter the amount of air you have. Computer gauges, the time you can dive, the depths you can dive, may be different, but the air gauges remain the same. He's been diving for a couple of years, and seemed confident. I dived with 8 kgs of weight. I'd have preferred 7 kgs, but there wasn't a 1 kg weight available. Chris, the dive guide was a big bloke, but very nice.

This was a dive from a RHIB, about 7 minutes along the coast from Puerto Del Carmen. Three fishing boats were sunk about 18 months ago in order to create a new dive site. We descended down the line from the RHIB. Nick had a slight problem in that one of the clips holding his octopus in place snapped off.

Chris made a circling motion to us to indicate that we should swim round the first wreck, so we did. We swam about half way round, then went over the wreck. I had my torch and camera with me, and took a few photos. We spent about ten minutes round this wreck. Chris was banging to attract our attention. He saw me look towards him and pointed downwards. Below me, two divers were going in the opposite direction, and he wanted us all together to move on to the next wreck. I swam down, tapped them on the shoulder, and indicated that Chris wanted us.

We swam on to the second wreck. Nick showed me his gauge, and he was down to 100 bar. I had 160 bar left. Chris saw two large amberjacks, about a metre long, circling around a big ray on the seabed. It looked as though they were going to have a go at it. Normally, the amberjacks move off if they see divers, but these two were more interested in this ray - a big Atlantic ray, about 3.3 metres across. I took some photos and we swam on.

At this point, we were in 11 or 12 metres. Suddenly, Nick came dashing towards me and thrust his gauge under my nose. He was down to 50 bar. I thought, "Crumbs, that's gone down fast!" I made the sign that Nick should ascend a bit - the less deep you are, the less air you need. He went up further than he needed. I looked at him, and thought, "You shouldn't be up there!" Chris looked at him, thinking, "What are you doing up there?" and signalled for Nick to come back to me.

Instead of coming slowly back to me, he headed for Chris, who was a little way off, swimming fast. So instead of conserving his air, he was using a lot more! He showed his gauge to Chris, and he was down to 20 bar. He had to share air with Chris, and they aborted the dive.

The dive was planned to take about 35 minutes, and by the time we'd done the necessary stop, we'd done that.

On the surface, I said to Chris that I had no idea why Nick had gone to him. He replied that Nick had to make a decision. The decision was the wrong one, but it was up to him. I probably could have been a bit quicker about offering my octopus. I surfaced with 70 bar.

DIVE 2
Dive 2: Pink Coral: 06.09.04.
Buddy: BSAC Nick
Dive guide: Chris

I arrived at the dive centre at 8.30, 15 minutes ahead of time, as requested, but the staff turned up at 8.45.

Today, I was buddied with Nick from Wolverhampton, a BSAC diver who knew what he was doing.

Normally for this dive, you go off the beach at Puerto Del Carmen, but as we were early, and there were no boats around, we went off the jetty, which was much easier. Within two minutes of going into the water, one of the divers had to abort his dive. He'd cancelled a dive on Saturday, as he had ear trouble, and today, he couldn't clear his ears . That left four divers and Chris, the guide.

I've done this dive before, so thought I knew what to expect, but what was unexpected was the considerable strength of the current as we crossed the sand towards the drop-off. Putting it another way, I was finning hard. Beneath me was a rock. I didn't pass the rock - I was going nowhere! As we went over the drop-off, we were out of the current, and it was much better.

Another small fishing boat has been sunk here to make a new dive site (marine life gathers around these wrecks). While everyone else sorted themselves out, I sat on the seabed, arms crossed, waiting and doing nothing-in-particular. A big grouper, about 1.3 metres long, swam along out of nowhere, came up to me, and looked at me looking at it looking at me… I thought, "If I move to get my camera, will I frighten it away?" We think that the fish was expecting to be fed. It moved away, then came back and circled a few times, and I took some photographs. I'd have been quite happy to finish the dive then!!! We swam along the reef till we reached the plaque to a drowned diver (put there a few years ago by a German group) which is almost where the pink coral is. I didn't see the octopus that Chris spotted, or pink coral. I've seen it before. It's a small patch about a metre across, and really, it just makes a purpose to the dive. I did see the eagle ray, but didn't get a photo as I didn't have the camera handy.

Then it was a long, long, long pull in the strong current, back across the sand, to the harbour. Chris said that anyone who had plenty of air could stay down. He took two divers back, while Nick and I circled round and came up by the beach. One the way, we saw some rather nice arrow crabs. They are like daddy-long-legs in the water, but they have luminescent feelers - bright blue eyes on top of golden legs. They are very pretty creatures. I took a few photographs. Nick hadn't seen them before, so when we'd finished the dive, I explained what they were.

That was the end of the dive. The best thing I saw on this dive was the young lady just about to begin hers, but I suppose that's beside the point???

DIVE 3
Dive 3: Night dive 07.09.04.
Buddy:
Dive guide: Chris.

I was told to turn up at 7.45 for this dive, so I was there on time. I found the van was there, with the doors open, the kit loaded and Chris sitting at the table with two girls. I said, "The boss told me to turn up at 7.45 for 8 o'clock."

Chris replied that as he was leading the dive, he had arranged for 7.30 for 7.45. "We knew you are always early, so we weren't worried. We've put in a 10 litre tank for you."

I collected my things. It was the first time either of the girls (Moira and Valda) had done a night dive. I'd spoken to Valda few days ago, to encourage her to do the night dive, as it is always a good one.

We were on the road by 7.55. In Puerto Del Carmen, there were cars everywhere. We went down onto the quay and Chris did the dive brief. Chris called me over and said, "This is what I'm planning to do … You can either take one of the girls, or I will take both and leave you to follow on and do your own thing." I decided that as I had the camera, and it was the girls' first night dive, I would 'do my own thing', but I joined them for the dive briefing.

We were to drop into the water, swim around the bay, and back again to finish the dive. I told Chris before we went in that I wanted to see at least four octopuses, and he said that last week, they only saw one. It wasn't a very good dive that week. His girlfriend was on that dive, and said they saw very little.

Down three metres, I look around and saw an octopus sitting in a corner. I made a circle with my torch to show them where it was. The next 35 minutes was a fantastic nine out of ten dive. We saw six octopuses! Everywhere we looked, we saw an octopus! We saw a hairy crab. I need to look this up, as I haven't seen anything like it before. It was about the size of a football, and looked like a moving bundle of hair. When I got closer, I could see huge claws coming out of it. I'm not kidding you - it was huge! And I saw another one later on.

I was taking some photos, and when I looked up, for a moment, I lost my group. I saw some lights and began to head towards them, then realised it was the wrong set of lights - there were four, and I was looking for three. It was a different set of divers! They had spooked the cuttle fish and it came straight towards me. I found the others and we headed back. Chris told the girls to sit on the seabed, and turn off their torches. I knew what was about to happen and turned mine off, too, so the girls could see the phosphorescence.

I don't think the girls saw a lot, as it was their first night dive, though Chris kept pointing things out to them. I saw a green, brown and black nudibranch, about 5 cms long - that's large for a nudibranch. I also saw a cuttle fish and a sea hare. I have never seen a sea hare before in real life, though I've seen pictures of them.

Imagine the inside of a football bladder, with protrusions - really ugly. It was about 30 cms long. It was marvellous. I also saw a blue moray, which is quite a rarity, stone fish, scorpion fish, sleeping parrot fish, big, stinging brittle worms. The list goes on and on. Quite simply, it was an amazing dive.

DIVE 4
Dive 4: Harbour wrecks: 08.09.04.
Buddy:
Dive guide: Andy.

There were four of us on today's dive - the guide, Tony and Tom, and myself. Andy asked me what my qualification was. He explained that although the dive this afternoon was technically 20 - 22 metres, as Tony and Tom hadn't dived this morning, and were qualified to do so, they could go deeper to explore the lowest wreck, which lies at about 40 metres. My BSAC qualification means that I can dive to 70 metres. In fact, the other two didn't want to go deeper, and I wanted to do the shallower dive.
Andy explained that he needed to take some photographs during the dive for the Calipso stand at the NEC Dive Show later this year, and wanted us as models>.
I asked, "Does this mean we get a free dive?"
No answer!

We took the RHIB from the harbour at Puerto Del Carmen, and went about seven minutes southwards along the coast. We could see the top wreck from the surface. We explored this one, which is at about 20 metres, quite thoroughly. We went on to the middle wreck, which is at about 30 metres, spending a short time there, but we didn't get as far as the third and lower wreck.
There was another group doing this dive at the same time, and they were feeding the fish, so I took a photograph of the frenzied shoal as they swirled around one of the divers. There was quite a lot of marine life around the wrecks.
The dive went on a little longer than expected, as Andy tried to get the photographs. Tony and Tom were a little peeved, but it didn't bother me as I had a camera, too. I took a photo of Andy taking a photo of me taking a photo of Andy …..
My camera worked well. I changed the settings so I had a higher resolution - which meant I couldn't take so many photographs. At the end of the dive, it flashed that I need to change the memory card, but the pictures are better quality. I've looked through them and there are four that I think are good. One is an arrow head crab hiding between two plates of the wreck. It thought it was quite safe there. It was, but it meant that I could take the photographs by putting the camera up against the wreck.

      DIVE 5
Dive 5: Mala 09.09.04.
Buddy: Matt
Dive guide: Chris.
Today's dive was a democratic choice, as the divers could choose where they wanted to go. The consensus was to go north to Mala. I haven't dived there yet on this holiday, so it suited me. There were six of us in the group - the dive guide and his girlfriend, Tony and Tom, myself and Matt, who is just learning to dive, but he was doing well.

As we stood above the entry point, the water below was swirling around quite a bit. This isn't a problem when we jump in, but I was more concerned about getting out again. Chris said it would be all right, so we went in.

It was a rather 'swirly' swim out across the rocks at first, then we reached the lava runs. This is where the molten lava met the sea and formed 'rivulets' of rock. In between are stretches of sand, so we swam along, across the sand, then up and over the next 'rivulet' . The marine life is usually found around these rivulets of rock. There's little to be seen in the sand. We did swim out into the blue, just to see if anything was passing, a ray, or sea hare… but there was nothing. We came back to the rivulets, where Chris tried to tempt a moray eel out of its hole, but it wouldn't play. Other fish came, but the eel wouldn't come out.
Chris swam off, and Tom and Tony followed him. Matt, meanwhile, kept looking, caught my attention, and showed me that the moray eel - quite a big one - had come out. It took a swim around, then went back into the hole.
We swam back over the rocks, turning them over to try and find something, but there was nothing to see!
We were out there about 45 minutes, and saw nothing else! It wasn't energetic, but we did get a little buffeted on the way back. Chris' idea was to go through a lava tube that had holes worn in it. He waved me over and suggested we go through it. He and his girlfriend went into the hole, and I signalled to Matt to go too. He shook his head, and replied that he'd wait where he was. I had to respect that decision, but it is better to say that before the guide disappears. I went through and came out the other end, and found we were on the surface. I told Chris that I had to go back and collect Matt. We all had to go back, as we came up in a sort of lake, and the only way out was back through the tunnel. Matt was fine when we came back to him.
At the ladder, Chris told us each to hold on while he undid the fins, passed them to the diver, and then the diver could go up. That worked well, as last time I did it, I had to take them off myself, pass them up, then climb up myself. Worse still is when you have to take off your own fins and carry them up. The problem is because it is difficult to take off you own fins while hanging on to the ladder and being buffeted by the surge of the sea.
Even though there was nothing much to see, I enjoyed the dive.

DIVE 6
Dive 6: Blue Hole: 10.09.04.
Buddy: BSAC Nick
Dive guide: Ingrid

We collected a third diver and his kit on our way to Puerto Del Carmen. He arrived at 11 pm last night! He was diving on twin ten litre cylinders. He told us that at home, he dives with two 15 litre cylinders. The biggest problem with this set-up is actually carrying them. At least we knew he would not run out of air. I didn't realise that I had done this dive before until the briefing. When I remembered it, I didn't want to go. I remembered it as a long swim out to a pinnacle of rock, swim round it and swim back again. I began to tease Ingrid. "If the current is as bad as last time, are you going to tow us out? Are you going to carry our equipment for us? Are you going to bring the Blue Hole closer, so we don't need to swim so far?"
Ingrid somehow received the impression that I wasn't keen on this dive. She suggested that we could go along the cliff a little way and approach the Blue Hole from a different direction. However, this was not helpful as the current was running the wrong way. It might mean a shorter swim, but it would be much harder. In the end, the swim out was not so bad - a steady swim. Ingrid suggested that we should do a stride entry from the jetty. I looked down and said I would go in via the ladder. Nick (from Wolverhampton BSAC) agreed with me. The third man decided that after all, he would use the ladder, too. A 2 metre jump from a jetty with twin cylinders? I wouldn't have liked to do it.

I was buddied with Nick. My Air 2 was leaking air till my cylinder reached 180 bar. We both had cameras. He was a bit concerned when he saw bubbles coming from his camera housing, but we hoped that it was just some air trapped in the seal. He has a Benito camera, and you pump air into the housing by a pump, providing a cushion of air for the camera to ease the squeeze at depth. As we went over the reef, we saw a big pipefish. Rounding the corner, we saw a large Atlantic ray, about a metre across, which was hiding under an overhang. We swam on around the reef till we could see the Blue Hole, which I recognised as soon as I saw it. Ingrid swam past it, then came through it. We swam through it (it is about 5 metres long), then began the swim back. It is not very exciting.
Across the sands, there are mooring lines for the boats. One boat started its engine as we swam back. It is very noisy, and if you don't know what it is, it can be quite scary. Ingrid suddenly began to wave to Nick and me, to join her. All we could see was a bit of string tied off to a mooring line. We thought at first that she had found a seahorse. She kept pointing, then she made the sign for a 'trigger', followed by a sign for 'very small' - a very small file fish. I expected to see a fish about 1.5 centimetres long. I swam round the ends of the rope, and couldn't see the fish, as it kept pace with me, and kept out of my line of vision. Eventually, Nick came one way and I came the other, and I saw the fish. This fish was less than half a centimetre - and bear in mind that things look about 25% bigger under water. It was a beautiful little pygmy file fish. We've seen the big fish, we've seen sharks, we've seen Napolean wrasse the size of a car, but this was beautiful. Ingrid said later that it was the first time she had seen one of these pygmy file fish - they are very rare.
We finished the dive by pottering around the harbour wall. By now I was low on air, as I'd lost some earlier. However, I could see people swimming above me, so I knew I was within swimming distance of the beach. Ingrid signalled to me that she had found an octopus, but I pointed to my air gauge, and to the beach. We all came up together. This dive lasted 51 minutes, and I came out with 40 bar.

DIVE 7
Dive 7: Temple Hall wreck, Arrecife: 11.09.04.
Buddy: John
Dive guide: Ingrid

This dive was scheduled originally as the Rabat Wreck, a massive transport ship that lost its way when close to port. It's a boat dive, about ten minutes out to sea, and starting at approximately 32 metres, so I didn't want to do it. However, we were told yesterday that the boat that usually does the Rabat wreck dive wasn't available as the owner is on holiday. There were three of us who wanted to dive, so we were asked where we would like to go. We hadn't any idea, so Ingrid suggested this dive to us. The Temple Hall came aground on a small beach between Arrecife and Costa Tequise and its back was broken. It stands out of the water and part of it is clearly visible from the coast road between Arrecife and Costa Teguise.

There were four of us on this dive: Ingrid, Twin-tank John, Matt and myself. This was Matt's first dive of the holiday, but he is BSAC trained and has been coming out to Lanzarote twice a year for the last five years. Ingrid told us that this is a good dive, and so long as we were careful, we could go inside the wreck, but we were warned not to pick anything up, or touch anything, as it might be sharp. She went on, "It is a fairly shallow dive. Shall we say, no longer than one hour to be back on the beach." Ingrid went in with Matt and I went with John. We went in by the beach, and that was the beginning of what is probably the best dive I have had here. It was wonderful. We went over a few rocks to begin with, but once into about 3 metres of water, it becomes sandy. We swam out 25 - 30 metres, and Ingrid and Matt were a little way ahead.
I saw something in the sand and clanged against my cylinder to attract John, who was about 5 metres away. He looked at me, and I pointed. He promptly pointed at whatever it was he was looking at. It was the same thing! There were two large nudibranchs, about 15 cms long, fully visible on the sand. We could see all their green and yellow markings, and the tuft, like a crown, on the back.
As far as I was concerned, the dive could have finished there! It didn't. We spent the next 72 minutes exploring the wreck. What is visible above water is less than what is submerged. It is possible to swim inside the part that is visible from the shore, but by going further out, you come to the second part. This is completely submerged.

We saw octopus. One was lying in a porthole lying in the sand. John called me over and as I came up, he tried to be helpful by turning the porthole round. The octopus didn't like this and sped away. We saw so many things, I can't list them all. There was a hole where a porthole had fallen out. I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if a diver swam past here, so I could get a photo? But there are only four of us…" Then a fish came and circled around the porthole, and I took the photo.

Ingrid told us later that after an hour, she looked at her watch and thought, "I told them to be back in an hour, and we are still at the other side of the wreck!" I was the only one in a shortie wet suit, and about 5 minutes before we came out if I was cold. Yes, I was beginning to be cold. She was in a semi-dry, and when she came out she was obviously very cold. Her fingers were white and she was shivering. Matt asked, "Did it run aground, or did it sink?" The answer? Yes, it ran aground, then it sank!
I have at least three photos that are good enough to be printed out and put on the wall.
This was a brilliant dive.

We asked why this dive, which is Ingrid's favourite, isn't listed in the brochure, and Peter explained. It is not always possible to do this dive, as there are times when there is a lot of surge. One group insisted on doing it, and when they came out, they were badly battered where they had been knocked against the ship. So, because he can't guarantee the dive, it is only offered when conditions are right, or someone asks to do it.

DIVE 8
Dive 8: 13.09.04. Puerto Del Carmen: The drop off.
Buddy: George
Dive guide: Andy

This is a good dive as it gives you the chance to dive different depths, according to the skill level or preferences of the divers. There were only four of us today. I was buddied with George, who is a BSAC sports diver, who has done 50 dives. Samantha has only dived in New Zealand, so this was her first dive here.

The plan was to swim along the harbour wall, across the rocks to the drop off, along the drop off and back to the harbour, taking about 45 minutes, as this was a shallow dive. George and I were given the choice to stay with Andy and Samantha, or to do our own thing. We went with them.
That was the plan. 'Plan the dive and dive the plan'…
We went to 6 metres, swam along the harbour, then we went slightly deeper for the drop off. At this point, Samantha discovered that her sinuses were causing her problems. She couldn't go deeper as she was in pain. I saw her ascending, turned to George, and signalled that we would sit on the bottom and wait while Andy sorted it out. He came back about 2 minutes later. Writing on his slate, he explained Samantha's problem, told us we could do our own thing, but to be back in 45 - 50 minutes.
We were just turning away when he shouted, "Oi, Oi, Oi!" (you can shout under water, but it isn't a great idea, as it uses a lot of air). I thought I'd done something wrong, or he'd forgotten to tell me something. He drew a picture of two ropes and rocks under them, then wrote underneath, 'seahorse'. I thought, "Right. We'll go and look for a seahorse." Samantha and Andy went one way, we went the other. As I came up to the place, I actually saw the seahorse. That was quite good. I took some photos, then we swam on a bit, and saw two divers. I made signs for seahorse - riding a horse underwater! - and signs for a rope.
We followed the drop off back to the harbour, and I thought to myself, "I hope I know the way back!" As we swam along, the tide had risen. I saw a boat overhead that I recognised from the way out. Then I saw a long white stripe in the water. I wondered what it was, then realised it was the shiny new handrail of the ladder, which was now under water. That was very reassuring! We wandered along the harbour breakwater to use our time, and saw Samantha and Andy!
We spent the last ten minutes around the harbour jetty, came back over the beach and as we popped up, we saw another crowd of divers. One said to me that he liked my description of the seahorse, but they hadn't found it.

There was only one downer of the whole dive. I didn't look at my computer till I was getting out. I'd only done 59 minutes. Another minute would have made the hour.

DIVE 9
Dive 9: 15.09.04. Grouper Alley
Buddy: Matthew
Dive guide: Ingrid.

Ingrid, Geoff and Matthew were on this dive. It was Matt's first dive this time, but he has dived on Tenerife and Lanzarote before, and he was in Malta last week. He was diving with Nitrox and 4kg of weight. I thought 4kgs seemd a bit light, but given that the tank for Nitrox is heavier, I thought he was probably alright. (Calipso put the Nitrox into heavier tanks - this isn't necessary, but just how they do it.) The dive should have been from Mala, but when we arrived, the waves were pretty rough. It was diveable, but I expressed concern about getting out. Geoff has a bad back, and he decided that he wouldn't do the dive, which was sensible. Ingrid looked at me, and I asked what was plan B. Ingrid replied that she didn't have a 'Plan B'.

We went back to Puerto Del Carmen. Ingrid rang Peter to fill him in and say that we would be late. On the way, we discussed what to do when we arrived. I suggested that we should go off the beach into deep water, see which way the current was going, go against it to begin with and flow back with it,. If there was no noticeable current, we should go to the left, as I'd done a lot of dives to the right. The other two weren't bothered, so that's what we did. I was buddied with Matthew, which surprised me as I thought I was going with Geoff, as we have dived together before, but that was what Ingrid wanted… Matthew's a Sports' Diver. Not for the first time this holiday, I lost a lot of air through my air2, and it needs to come off. I hardly ever use it, and most people dive with an octopus rig these days. I've been compensating for this by not turning on my air till I'm in the water. Technically, this is wrong, but I explained why to the dive guides, as I was losing up to 30 bar of air. I don't use a lot of air anyway, but at the same time, 30 bar is a lot. They accepted what I said. The air escape made a lot of noise, but would stop as soon as the tank reached 180 bar, or I was at about 10 metres.

We went into the water, crossed the sand back and found that there was not much current. By Calipso standards we were late, and there were quite a few other divers around. Matt seemed to have some trouble descending. We swam gently along and I photographed some jellyfish type things and some anemones. The dive was nothing special, but pleasant.

We'd turned round and were about to cross the sand when I saw my buddy going up. I thought, "Where are you going?" I swam to his side, ready to grab him if he was having problems, and to help him back down. I told him to dump some air from his jacket, but he said that it wouldn't dump. What he hadn't realised was that in his efforts to come down again, he was almost upside down and all the air had gone to the bottom of his jacket. Ingrid saw what was happening, came along and dumped the air using the valve on the bottom of his jacket. It is possible to dump air regardless of your position in the water. This is basic training. Ingrid did her job and took over, while Geoff and I sat on the bottom and watched and waited.
Matt looked at his gauge and suddenly reached for Ingrid's octopus. He was low on air. As I watched, I felt a sense of déjà vu. This is exactly what Nick did the other day - instead of coming to his buddy, he went to the dive guide. I can understand why - Ingrid (as are all the guides here) was on Nitrox, and where there is a choice, you go to the person using the same gaseous mix. Ingrid took Matt back while Geoff and I had a pleasant tootle around the rocks before finishing the dive. Our maximum depth was 30 metres, the dive lasting 41 minutes.

It was a pleasant dive to end the holiday.

Lincoln Sub Aqua Club

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