New species for the Canaries - SURGEONFISH!

We got a real surprise last week when we came across a Monrovian Surgeonfish in the Arinaga Marine Reserve! This fish is normally only found on the West African Coast, and further south in the Cape Verde Islands. With its bright yellow spot it looks a bit like a Parrotfish, but the head and dorsal fins are very different. According to our friends in the University with warmer conditions here more of these migrants are turning up in the Canaries.

Major Archeological dig in Arinaga around ship's timbers.

Earlier this year we reported how some timbers from a wooden sailing ship of the 18th Century had been exposed by the regular movement of the sand following a winter storm. Now the site has been declared of major historical importance by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, responsible for protecting the island's history, and a major underwater archeological excavation has been started.
We can still dive the site, which is also revealing slowly several more secrets, and observe the state of the excavation. From the way that the copper covers both sides of the exposed wood we have deduced that this is the rear-most part of the keel of the boat. This must be one of the few underwater archeological excavations in Europe that is easy to access and visit. If you want to find out more about the status of the dig then talk to Eduardo or Brian.

Wow! a second PADI Certificate of Excellence!

It felt almost like an early Birthday Present, when we were given our second PADI Certificate of Excellence yesterday by Christian Marret, the PADI Regional Manager for the Canaries! The Certificate recognises our innovative work on customer service and on our web pages, as well as the continuous positive feedback to PADI about our customer service and the great experiences we provide. This award was for the Dive Centre, so it is important to recognise that it come from a team effort, with Eduardo, Graham, and during part of last year Uwe all leading and contributing to the high levels of service that have gained us this award - My thanks go out to them all.

Celebrating World Oceans Day - 8th June 2012

Today was World Ocean Day so it seemed like a good idea .. to go Diving. Our group today was truely international, with divers from Australia, America, Switzerland, and Germany who live in Austria, Germany and Spain.

Nudibrachs proliferate in Marine Reserve

May and June have always been the best time for divers to see nudibrachs here in the Marine Reserve, but this year we seem to have an abundance of these beautiful little creatures. A few days ago we thought it unusual to find 3 together, untill the afternoon dive where we found a group of ten all clustered together, and not just the green/black <i>Hypselodoris picta</i>, but also Leopard seaslugs and the Golden Sponge Snails (<i>Tylodina perversa</i>).

We hit the million mark!

This week, we have passed the Million mark in terms of pageloads on the DavyJonesDiving.com website! We have been tracking our pageloads since about 2004, when we installed the StatCounter software on our website, and this confirms the steady progress we have made to this point. Since 2004 we have changed a lot, and now have pages in German, Dutch, Spanish, Norwegian and Swedish, and have recently optimised all the pages for viewing from a smartphone. I am sure it will take less time to reach the 2 million mark!

New Shark Conservation Course Available

We have a new Course! - The PADI Shark Conservation Awareness Speciality explains about the threats to Sharks and how we can protect them, and includes 2 dives looking for Sharks and assessing threats in their habitat.

Winter Storm uncovers exciting discovery

A couple of weeks ago there was a strong storm here in Arinaga, which prevented us from diving for a couple of days. When we got back into the water we made an amazing discovery, as in one part of the Marine Reserve,the storm has moved away the sand and exposed what appear to be the remains of an old wooden sailing ship. The timbers that have been exposed are over 6m in length and very heavy, consistent with the external planking used on sailing ships of the 18th aand 19th century. This is hardly a 'wreck' dive, but should be regarded as an archeological site of potential future importance. We will be organising regular dives in the area to determine the extent of the find and to assess, measure and record in more detail. We will be talking to the Island's expert on marine archeology to get more information on likely ships that have been lost in the area.