Two new dives in one day

When you run a busy diving centre, such as our in Gran Canaria, it often seems that you never get to do any new dives. Now don't get me wrong, we already have a number of great dives in the Marine Reserve at Arinaga, and they are never the same twice running, so we can always find something different. However there is a small list at the back of the mind where we want to go off the normal track, follow up a suggestion somebody else made, check out a possible entry or exit for different conditions etc. The normal work of the school restricts us, or we only have staff free when conditions are poor.


Today we had perfect conditions and a small enough number of divers to allow Ed and myself time to explore two new dives .. The Muelle Nuevo and the Island. The first dive was an easy one as it was only a short walk from the car, and then an easy dive down a gentle slope. We came across plenty of smaller fish such as bream, damselfish, wrasse and mullet, as well as a large female Angel Shark, lying very still near to some rocks, several friendly cuttlefish, and most strangely, coral sand.

The coral sand was rather unexpected, as most of the sand in the Canaries is volcanic (ie quartz based sand), yet we came across areas of a very different sand colour (much more orange/yellow) with a very different texture from the normal, which included small broken corals. There were also some rocks which looked as if they had ancient worm casts on their upper surface. This is a mystery that we will need to investigate further!.



The second dive was to look into another mystery ... the rumours of our only bit of wreck diving in the El Cabron Marine Reserve. In contrast to the first dive the was the opposite end of the scale .. A hard walk in full kit, followed by a dive in strong current to an area with fewer exit options than normal, followed by a hard swim against the current. I had been told about this over six years ago, but on every past occaision I have either not had a (willing) buddy, or a suitably qualified buddy, or the weather has been wrong. I am also glad I waited as it is so well encrusted that it is very difficult to see. Yet there it was, a cannon of about 2m in length jammed in a crevice in only 8m of water, yet in a strong current.
And nothing else visible. Was this lost overboard? was it actually located on the Island at one point? Or did a wooden ship founder on the Island and smash to pieces, with all the wooden spars and parts swept away by the current to leave only the heavy cannon. Rumour has it there was a second which was removed about 8 years ago.


One of the problems in declaring that we have found this is that some of you reading this will want to see it.... Sorry but we will not be adding it to the regular dive schedule, as we need excellent conditions of low wind and ground swell, and divers who are 1. Very fit, 2. very experienced, 3. good in currents, 4. well known to us for their diving skills. This is not a dive for anyone with less than 100 dives!


Still, despite two long dives, Ed and I had plenty to smile about, with two new areas understood and documented for divers to try. Now where will we go on our next free day...