Diving with Los Gigantes, Tenerife

by Derek Dear

I'd checked out the dive centre reports on the Internet before we came. There were several good reports, but one man was not so happy, listing problems, like the staff were unfriendly and the kitting up area was slippery. However, I decided to dive with this centre, as Daniel, at Harlequin had dived with them and found them efficient enough to recommend them.

We found the dive centre when we went to Los Gigantes yesterday. The notice at the front said that the centre opened at 9.30. I took a taxi from the hotel at 9 o'clock, and arriving there at 9.20, expected the place to be closed. However, it was open. Apparently the opening time depends who has the keys. Sometimes it's a little earlier, sometimes, at 9.30. The people at the dive centre were friendly, but checked my dive book carefully. When asked what I wanted, I suggested that I'd like to do a six-dive package.
"When do you want to go?"
"What are you doing this morning?"
The man pointed to another client and said, "It is his choice, as it's his last dive this morning."
The plan was that they were going to Punta Blanco, where the dive was a descent to a plateau at 12 metres, then down to the sea bed at about 30 metres, with most of the dive at about 20 - 22 metres. Yesterday there was quite a strong current over the shallow part of the dive, and I was warned that there might be today, though at other times, there is none at all. The alternative was a 'bumble around' at 15 metres that afternoon at 2 o'clock. I chose to go with the morning dive.
The dive included the couple for whom this was their last dive, a couple who were halfway through their holiday, while the other guide was taking responsibility for some trainees.
I was on the watch to try and discover why the centre had that one bad report. With regard to friendliness, they seemed friendly to me. I'm not sure why the man said the kitting up area was slippery, though this was by the moored boat, and on the wooden planks of the harbour, which, obviously, would be slippery when wet. They had a full choice of cylinders, from 10 litre to 15 litres, and asked me which I would prefer. I chose a 10 litre, but when I was told that the others were on 12s and 15s, took a 12, to be sure not to curtail anyone's dive by running out of air.

Monday 24th June 2002
Dive no 1 (162): Punta Blanco
Buddied with Mike and Chris

The boat was comfortable enough with six divers on board. It would maybe have taken ten. The trip brought us back past this hotel to the dive site. The plan was to descend to the plateau at 12 metres, then 'fall off' and descend the wall to the bottom, at about 30 metres. After my experience in Bonaire, I was concerned about my ear, and had been chewing gum for the previous week. I made the descent slowly, and it was fine.
Within a minute of dropping over the wall, we found a basking angel shark, about 1.3 metres (4'). The dive guide showed it to me, and then I moved out of the way. The others came to see, the shark was 'spooked' and swam straight towards me. This was marvellous. There were lots of fish, too. At one point, I looked left and right and could see nothing but this shoal of bright yellow fish, thousands of them, all about 10 cms across. I was sad that I didn't have my camera (because this was a check-out dive, I'd left it behind). Afterwards, when I mentioned this, the dive guide said that there are always lots of fish at that place, but not at every site.
Further on there were lots of spiny urchins, and some blue surgeonfish. Then my buddy, a German, called me across to see a huge lobster or crayfish, about 45 - 60 cms long. I'm not sure which, as its legs were curled up, and it looked a bit like an armadillo! Then I saw a scorpion fish, about 5 cms in length among the rocks. A minute or so later, I saw the nicest birch nudibranch, 6 - 7 cms long, jet black with bright yellow stripes, crawling along a rock. I really wanted the camera - I'd have used the whole film on this!
As we came back up and onto the plateau, the current was noticeable, and we had to fin into it. We'd been down about 40 minutes and the dive guide came to check my air. I had plenty, but he asked if I wanted to go up, so we did. My maximum depth on this dive was 27.4 metres. I began the dive with 206 bar of air, and finished with 42 bar. The water temperature was 21°C. This was a pleasant, easy dive to start the holiday, and I marked it at six out of ten. When we came back from the dive, I noticed that some people had dumpies, so tomorrow I will ask for a 12 litre dumpy, which is what I'm used to using at home.

Tuesday 25th June:
Dive no 2 (163): Branco Seco II
Buddied with dive guide.

Today, I chose to use a 12 litre dumpy cylinder, which feels more comfortable for me. The people I was diving with seemed a nice crowd, and one had a video camera. This time, I had my camera, too. At 9.45, we (two ladies, a man who was on the dive with me yesterday, two dive guides and the boatman) were in the boat and ready to go. I looked up and saw a man jumping out of his car, struggling with cylinder and weight belt, as he ran to catch us before we left.
I called out, "Calm down - we don't mind waiting!" After all, we hadn't exactly hurried about getting ready!
The dive guide called, "It's all right, Mike, we won't go without you."
He put his kit in the boat, saying, "I do apologise - most unprofessional, but I've been with the bank manager."
He was the owner of the fish farm which is just outside the marina and close to the cliffs. He does quite a lot of diving in connection with the fish farm, but occasionally takes days out to dive for leisure. It was unfortunate that our choice of site this morning was close by his fish farm! He came here nine years ago, and, knowing very little about it, set up the fish farm, buying his equipment from Norway. He has hake and bream, and hopes to get the permit to farm turbot, too. Turbot needs a different type of cage. The seabed there is a large, sandy area with nothing on it, so his farm has taken nothing away from the environment.
One of the ladies was probably in her late fifties, the other, late thirties. Their husbands don't dive. They had a new video camera - one which is switched on at the beginning of the dive, and which keeps running till the end. I didn't have a buddy, so one of the dive guides suggested that I could go with him at the back, or with Andy, at the front. I chose to go at the back. I think he was being assessed for dive master status, as he did all the talking. He said we would descend to a plateau at 14 metres, then over the wall to a maximum of 30 metres. There is a sandy bottom and in the middle of this is a pinnacle of rock.
"It was there yesterday. If we don't find it, then someone's pinched it!"
The short boat trip to the site took less than 5 minutes. We entered the water and he gave the signal to descend, so I went down. Looking up, I saw that he was still on the surface. I decided to go down the rope with the others - I could see him on the surface, and he could see me.
I thought at first that the two ladies were not very experienced, but I think I was wrong, though the one with the camera was obviously more comfortable than the other. We swam along and over the wall, descending to about 29 metres, where I saw another of the black nudibranches with bright yellow stripes. I think they must be common around here. There were a lot of fireworms, too. We found the pinnacle, where I saw an arrow crab. I showed this to the others, who were pleased to have seen it. Close by was another nudibranch on a black anemone, with a fireworm (there were lots of these). I was trying to frame all three in one shot when I felt a tug on my fins. When I turned, the lady with the video camera was there. I thought I was in her way, so I moved away. Later, she said that she had been trying to film me taking the photograph!
We explored a cave and swam up through a tunnel. The ladies wouldn't do that. It was not a particularly long tunnel, but I wished I'd had my big torch. I did have my small torch, which is very good, but I didn't use it as I was carrying the camera. The other guys had yellow fins - when I could see them - it was a bit black!
After that, I sat waiting to take a photograph of a pipefish, when suddenly I realised that I was very cold. "Odd." I thought. "I wasn't cold yesterday." Then I realised that yesterday, I didn't have the camera, and kept moving all the time. The water temperature was 21°.
The dive guide came to check my air. I said that was ok, but I was a bit cold. We were close to the boat at this point, so he pointed up. I agreed, and surfaced after a 49 minute dive, which included a 3 minute decompression stop at 6 metres. I surfaced with 45 bar, having begun the dive with 226. My maximum depth was 29.4 metres.
One of the divers had found the shell of a sea hare. This is rather like a tortoise shell. The dive guide explained that only empty shells are found, as the live sea hares spend all their time under the sand.
I told the dive guide that I'd been cold, and when he looked at my 3mm suit, said he wouldn't even have gone out in it. Tomorrow I will hire a thicker suit. This dive was probably better than yesterday - I've marked it at 6.5 out of 10.

Wednesday 26th June 2002
Dive no 3 (164): Branco Seco I
Buddied with Paul

The ladies who had the video camera came with a sad tale today. They had the camera on the wrong settings, so there was no film to see. Paul has just done his Rescue Diver with PADI. His wife worried about him, and he is doing two dives today, and that's his total for the holiday. He is hoping to be able to dive in the Red Sea next year. He is a competent diver, but tends to use a lot of air, so after 25 minutes, he surfaced, leaving me to continue the dive with the two girls.
A lady joined us today who could have been 70, but looked 80 years old - a 'little old lady', all wrinkly. The dive centre people knew her, and she is quite a character as well as an experienced diver. However old she is, she was still in the water when everyone else was back on the boat. They said they'd start the engine in the hope that she'd hear it and surface.
The dive held no great excitement, and I saw nothing new. There was a big ray, about 3/4 metre across. The two girls spooked it as they rounded the rock, so I went round the other way and it came straight at me.
I went into the water with 228 bar and came out after 50 minutes with 44 bar. The maximum depth was 29.8 metres, and I did a 3 minute decompression stop at 6 metres. The visibility was good - more than 25 metres and the water temperature was 21°C. I appreciated the thicker wet suit, which was slightly too big for me. I didn't feel cold.

Wednesday 26th June 2002
Dive no 4 (165): Stingray City.
Buddied with Paul.

This afternoon, I began to kit up when Mike came to me with another suit in his hands. "Derek, do you mind?" Someone needed the slightly larger suit that I was using.
I asked, "Who's too big to get into the suit?"
A girl close by went bright red! She wasn't a very big girl, but where girls have to be big, she was enormous. The suit was ok, but the attached hood was too small for me.
Paul asked if I minded being buddied with him again. I didn't, as he was sensible this morning, surfacing when his air was low, leaving me to go on with the others.
We went to Stingray City. I had been reluctant to do this dive, as I don't like the idea that the sea creatures are fed by humans, but Daniel, at Harlequin, had told us that I'd be missing out if I didn't do it. We took two boats, and the load included a large dustbin full of fishheads and other rejected part of the fish. It wasn't something you wanted to investigate too closely, but at least the rays were being fed the right sort of food.
We were told to go to the bottom of the line at 18 metres. Once there, we were to hold the fishy bits close to the seabed, where the rays would pass over our hands and take the food. In spite of all I'd been told, I expected maybe two or three rays of about dinner plate size to come. Some very big rays, about 3 - 31/2 metres across, came! One came to me and made it quite plain that it wanted the fishhead. If we were slow giving the food, they came and knocked our hands. They brushed gently against us on their way to the food. I don't know quite how to describe how it felt as the rays touched my hands. A bit like stroking thick, soft, leather. Smaller rays struggled to take away fish heads that were as big, or bigger than themselves. Lots of fish came and joined the feast, then some dabs came, too.
By this time, the bottom was being stirred up, so I moved away from the group for a while. I looked back, and found that this was better, with the rays circling around. Daniel hadn't exaggerated. There were dozens of rays of all sizes as well as the fish. I surfaced after 48 minutes, with 36 bar of air, having gone in with 224 bar. I did a three minute decompression stop at 6 metres. It was quite an experience.

Thursday 27th June 2002
Dive no 5 (166): Atlantis
Buddied with Win

The dive today was with three ladies, two of whom were Irish, and Win. I asked for my wet suit and Dave handed me my own 3mm suit. I explained that I had asked for a 5mm suit, so he picked up the slightly larger suit. "May I have the smaller suit, please?" He looked rather shamefaced as he confessed, "You may have it, but I washed it last night and didn't hang it up to dry. It's somewhere in that pile there, and I bet it's right at the bottom!"
He picked up the suit, and, as predicted, it was dripping wet, at which point, I told him about standing in the bathroom with a hairdryer, trying to dry off my swimmers, which were still damp. Then I had to put on this very cold, soggy, wet suit. It was a bit 'Oooh', but once it was on, it was all right.
We dived at a place called Atlantis. It was a fairly deep dive, dropping down to 18 metres to begin with, then over the ledge and down the wall to about 30 metres. Knowing all the ladies were light on their use of air, I knew the dive wouldn't be cut short, but at this depth, it wouldn't be a long dive, anyway. My cylinder was reading 210 bar when I went in. The thing to see was the stone pavement similar to the Giant's Causeway, in Ireland, and all the small creatures who live among the cracks in the stone - arrow crabs, nudibranches, star fish.
We came round a corner, and found an immense stingray, lying in a 'cove'. The ladies swam over it, then I took a photo, which disturbed it. It swam away, and I took another photo. I know that I said last night I had enough photos of stingrays now, but this was huge.
Andy, who was leading the dive, was ahead of us. As I came round a corner, I saw the two Irish girls kneeling on the seabed, looking at each other. It didn't look 'right', and alarm bells began to ring, so Win and I moved to one side of them and waited. The two girls continued to look at each other and the impression was that the more experienced of the two was trying to calm the other. I wasn't happy, and, raising my arm, called Andy back. He was some distance away, but was back with us quickly.
We waited, and later were told that it was the more experienced diver who was unhappy. She had 'a sort of premonition'. Apparently, this had also happened about a year ago. The two girls just waited till she had calmed down, then we continued the dive, slowly ascending the wall, which was very pretty. Win came to me and tapped her computer, which was saying she had one minute to decompression time. I checked mine, and it said I had four minutes before I need to do a stop. We continued our ascent to the line, where we stopped. The two girls indicated that they were going straight up. Win was happy to do her stop, and Andy was at the bottom of the line. I had 75 bar left, so I moved away to take a few photos.
Win came across to me, looked at my analogue gauge, which read 50 bar, then pointed to the line and 'up'. Later, she told me that when she trained, 50 bar meant you should be on the surface, not on the line.
We came back to the line, and we did a good stop at 6 metres. I timed it at about four minutes. Back on board, having surfaced after 46 minutes with 32 bar of air, we agreed that we had enjoyed the dive. The visibility was more than 20 metres, and the water, a pleasant 21°C.

Friday, 28th June 2002
Dive no 6 (167): Masca
Buddied with Win.

This was the last dive of the holiday, and after the fire at the hotel last night, resulting in quite a late night, I didn't want to do it, having no get-up-and-go! However, I went along to the centre and explained this to Mike, and he suggested that I could take the afternoon dive instead. However, I decided to go along and see how I felt. I suggested that Win should go with someone who would give her a better dive, but she said that she was happy enough that I might hit the water, then change my mind. The two Irish ladies were with us, and a German called Chris, who's been diving with us this week. It's good when the same group are together for the week, as you get to know each other. Our guide today was Neville, who actually owns the dive centre and Andy was the boatman.
We went in the RHIB today, instead of the hard boat, and I enjoyed the trip to the site. It was quite a long way, taking about 35 minutes, as we went to the automatic lighthouse which we could see flashing from our hotel room - about as far as we can see from the balcony. We saw a dolphin on the way. It ignored us, and wouldn't play
I began to think we were going to beach the RHIB and go in from the shore, but we anchored about 30 metres from shore. Once I hit the water, I was fine. We descended about 15 metres to the head of a gorge, which led down to about 25 metres. All we could see at first was what could be described as a crack in the road, about a metre wide. As it goes deeper, it opens up into the gorge.
It was a very scenic dive with cracks, caverns, caves and swim-throughs. As we went along, the others were ahead of me, looking at something. It was a large puffer fish in a cave. These are quite rare in these waters. We swam over a couple of areas of black coral, which looks like green Christmas trees growing under water. As this usually only grows at more than 50 metres around Tenerife, it is unusual to see this here, but one patch at this site is at 25 metres, and the other, at 14 metres.
On the way back, we found another puffer fish in the cave with the black coral. Later, Nigel said if he'd had his camera with him, he'd have taken a whole film of this, as it was a rare sight. We also saw nudibranches, arrow crabs, sea anemones, the rock formations - nothing big. Back at the line, Neville took the others up, but as I had some air left, signalled that I could stay if I wanted. I was in 14 metres and I saw a moray eel, the first one I've seen on this holiday. It wasn't very big - about 60 cms long, with white eyes. I had three photos left, so I finished the film with this eel.
I became slightly tangled with the line as I ascended. I sorted it out without any problems, then thought of the difference experience makes. A few years ago, I'd have panicked and got into a mess! After a dive lasting 43 minutes, with a maximum depth of 26.7 metres, I was back in the boat. I'd gone in with 218 bar and came out with 48 bar. There had been a slight current, but the visibility was good - again, more than 20 metres.
This was a pleasant dive to finish the holiday - nothing special, but enjoyable. I've marked it as 7 out of ten.


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