Birthday treat in Gran Canaria

Uwe thought he was coming to Gran Canaria for a quiet holiday for his 50th, but his family had other ideas. So after breakfast they took him outside, and waited. When I came at 9.00 and said .. are you ready to go diving he was amazed!
So his birthday treat was a discover scuba dive in El Cabrón on a day with great conditions, and he saw a stargazer, a shame-faced crab and cuttlefish as well as all the normal stuff. We could see the beds from several butterfly rays and one from a baby angelshark, but only the beads. He said this is one birthday he will never forget!

Meet Eduardo in Arucas Museum on Thursday Night.

This Thursday, the historical society SALSIPUEDES has invited Eduardo Vera to be the special guest at an open night at the museum in Arucas. The society has created a new exhibit in the exhibition which documents the ill-fated journey of the SS Valbanera. The ship sank carrying over 500 emigrants from Spain to Cuba in 1919, and Eduardo led a special expedition to dive and examine the wreck back in the 1990's. Since then he has regularly given talks on the ship and the survey they carried out.

Our licence extended for another five years!

We have just got the official notification that our Diving Centre Licence has
been extended for another five years! It is now seven years since we started to wade through the red tape and Spanish bureaucracy, dealing with several different government departments to obtain a range of different official papers following the introduction of Diving Centre Laws in the Canaries.

Having gained approval in 2008, we have now been reassessed, re-inspected and reviewed and have obtained the highest level of full licence which covers us on Gran Canaria, diver training and dive excursions through to 2018.

Can I thank everyone who has helped translate, interpret or produce documents, and of course the team of Eduardo,Graham, Marilyn and Brett along with assistants such as Gauthier, Hector and Jorge. It has been their commitment to safe diving, great excursions and outstanding customer service that has gained us the respect and approval of many different government bodies and local supporters.

Today is Endangered Species Day

I have just found out that today is ENDANGERED SPECIES DAY! Our vote clearly goes for endangered marine species, in particular SHARKS and RAYS. The recent decision to place hammerheads and Mantas on the CITES Appendix II was a step in the right direction, but much more work is required to educate people on the beauty and value of Sharks and Rays.
Angel Sharks (squatina squatina) are already on the 'RED LIST' of the IUCN, locally in the last ten years Striped Grunts have disappeared from the Arinaga area, and we can see that other populations are 'fragile' (Spiny pufferfish, rays, scrawled filefish, triggerfish) and only seen rarely.
So next time you come diving in Gran Canaria, cast your vote for more conservation, and help the fight to prevent the loss of some of the most thrilling creatures to dive with in the Canaries.

Secrets of the wreck in Risco Verde, Arinaga

This evening we found out more about the 'Archeological wreck' in Risco Verde. It was studied by underwater archeologists from the Canarian Government last year and is part of a small boat such as a clipper or cutter or coastal trader, probably about 20-25m long. The age of the boat was probably about 150 years old. However it was unusual for so little else to be found (only the keel) and it could be that somehow this struck a reef (say sideways) and got torn off the bottom, but the ship still managed to float and was hauled ashore and then repaired or rotted on the shore. Still the Government plan to preserve the remains insitu, so when you come diving in Gran Canaria we should still be able to show it to you, and tell you more about it.

New study plans six wrecks for Gran Canaria

Arucas Council plan new wreck diving sites in Gran Canaria

In a bold new plan announced today and reported in 'La Provincia', the council in Arucas on the north coast of Gran Canaria have unveiled plans to sink six major wrecks in the area just off the shore, and create honeypot for diving in the North of the Island.

 La Asociación de Ciudadanos para el Desarrollo de Arucas y Norte de Gran Canaria (Aciudesa) (Association of residents for the development of Arucas and the North of Gran Canaria) have been working for over a year on the project and want to sink the first wreck fairly soon.   This will have to undergo a complete environmental clean first.

The plan is certainly ambitious, with a figure of 90,000 divers per year being targetted, each spending '1000€' per person to come and dive on the wrecks, and presumably the good citizens of the North expect that amount to be invested into the Arucas area.

But some simple maths suggests that at best these are wildly optomistic... 90,000 divers would mean  1730 divers per week, or about 250 per day,  and that would need a fleet of around ten big or twenty small boats to deliver them to the dive sites.    We already have 3 big wrecks in the North near Las Palmas - the Arona, the Kalais and the Frigorifica, and in the last ten years the numbers of people diving these on a daily basis must average only about ten to twenty, so a key question is why six more wrecks, even further from the main tourist resorts will be any more attractive than the ones we already have.

Still the University is lending support to the study .. lets hope they actually come and talk to some of the people who understand the tourist diving market in Gran Canaria, so that if it goes ahead they have an end to end plan with the full infrastructure to ensure that it is a great success for the Island.

As with many of these grand schemes, there can be a lot of talk, but in the end a sad retreat.   But what is important is that many of the local authorities have started to recognise the potential of Diving as a tourist industry, rather than simply as a recreational activity.   A few more of these 'not quite right' schemes will need to be floated and rejected before the right plan actually gets aproval and the first artificial wreck is sunk in Gran Canaria.

Scuba Diving in the Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are one of those places that 'you learn to scuba dive' for.  The highlight of the area are the numbers of big pelagics that can be seen .. all the top names .. Whale sharks, Reef Sharks, Hammerhead sharks, Rays, Turtles, and Seals .. they have them all! 

Diving has become so popular over the last few years that it is now strictly controlled, and you must have a national park guide with you on the dives.  Up until now, it has been seen more as a 'diving' destination than a 'training' destination, but recently Tip Top Diving, led by one of South Americas leading divers, Jorge A Mahauad, has invested in new facilities for PADI training courses in the Galapagos Islands.  They can offer the basic courses such as the PADI Open Water Course, with the exciting option of taking your last dive in 'La lloberia' - the nursery of the seals!

But what makes Tip Top Diving really special are the options for Rebreather and technical diving training and the opportunities to use the equipment within the Galapagos.   Most people think of rebreathers as devices for deep diving, wreck diving or cave diving... yet in the Galapagos the advantage of silent operation means you can get so much closer to some of the more timid marine life such as Hammerhead sharks.

So if you are heading off to the Galapagos then check out their website and see if they can get you to that next level in diving with one of their more advanced courses, and enjoy swimming with the big pelagics while being taught by one of the most respected divers and educators in the region.