DiversInc

Had a great two weeks diving in Lanzarote. Once again with Squalo Diving situated in Puerto Calero. The majority of diving in Lanzarote is on the south around Puerto Del Carmen. There are about 40 dive centres on the island and it's not uncommon to see about 10-15 minibuses converge on Playa Chicca (Puerto Del Carmen), not to mention up to 5 ribs circulating the jetty. So at any given time there's upwards of 50 divers. But there are 6 sites which can be accessed from the shore and a further 4 by boat, so it generally doesn't get too crowded. Niamh and I, (my 11 y/o daughter and sometimes buddy) dived a number of the familiar sites in the area. Here are some of them:

The House Reef - Shore Dive

Playa Chicca is accessed from the beach or the jetty with a short surface swim then a free descent to approximately 12 metres at which point the dive runs along the end of the protected bay with overhangs on either side. The bottom contours can be followed to a depth of approximately 25 metres. There are a variety of fish including grouper, barracuda, angelsharks, and rays to be seen. Large shrimps, globular anemone, arrowhead crabs, octopus and sponges can also be seen. If you look among the coils of rope on the seabed from the buoy and mooring lines around the jetty, you'll often spot seahorses camouflaged in the folds and crevices.

As a shore dive, it provides a lot of variation. I've happily dived it several times now and always discovered something different on each dive.

The Cathedral  - Shore/Boat Dive

The site is accessed from the jetty at Playa Chicca. It is a short surface swim directly south of the jetty to a white plastic drum used as a buoy, then a descent down the buoy line to 14metres. You fin south along the reef to the left and over a drop-off which leads down to the Cathedral at approximately 30 metres. The Cathedral is a large underwater lava cave, which funnels down towards the rear. There are alcoves of finger coral and small shrimp and glass fish at the far end and there are many soft corals on the cave walls and roof. You'll see groupers here and stingrays. This is also a regular hang out for trumpet fish. Take a torch on this dive to explore the Cathedral cave. I didn't, so my pictures were lousy! Dardo (Squalo Diving) pointed out a Moray which resides on top of the Cathedral, on the outside of the cave.

Although, he didn't manage to coax it out, I still managed to get a great photograph of it accompanied by an arrowhead crab in the foreground.

Red Coral - Shore Boat Dive

The site is to the west of the jetty at Playa Chicca. It's a short surface swim to a buoy with a line descent to approx.16 metres. Keeping west, you follow the reef along a drop off which leads to a small lava alcove, which is where you will see the rare pink coral at the rear. Segura (Squalo Diving) also pointed out another formation on the top of the alcove. There is a great deal of fish activity here, especially in the mornings. I saw shoals of fusiliers, barracuda, tuna and sardines. There are some pretty big triggerfish too which pick away at morsels among the soft corals and seabed.

Richie's Reef - Boat Dive

The site is to the outer side of the buoyed area of the long beach at Puerto Del Carmen. Mooring on one of the large buoys, you descend to 18 metres. The area is an interesting flat-walled reef with outcrops of boulders and plenty of recesses for fish life. The contours take divers down to approx 35 metres. There is a good variety of fish to be seen, some very large groupers, morays, barracuda and octopus. The big groupers are so used to divers; they are pretty friendly and allow you in close to photograph them. Its here we encountered the Manta Ray. It approached us at 28 metres and made three turns towards us. It was definitely the highlight of my two weeks diving in Lanzarote and fortunately I was the only one with a camera! At the insistence of the rest of the group (divers from Gran Canaria and Madrid), I had to download the footage onto Squalo's PC so all could get copies.

The Blue Hole - Shore/Boat Dive

Access this site via the jetty and swim west towards a large white buoy followed by a descent to 12 - 14 metres to where the Blue Hole commences. The Hole is 2-3 metres wide and deep and leads from about 18 metres down, through the reef and out the other side at around 25 metres.

There is a very noticeable thermo-cline at the transition between the two depths as the reef drops to around 35 metres on the Atlantic side. In my 3mm wetsuit it felt like a day out at the spa, plunging from a comfortable hot bath into a frigidarium. The site is visited by barracuda, grouper and angelsharks. Although I was able to film angelsharks last year, this time I only managed to see the indentations in the sand where they'd previously been hiding.

Puerto Calero: Harbour Wall and Tenderete Wreck - Boat Dive

Adjacent to the outer harbour wall at Puerto Calero, a fishing boat, the Tenderete, has recently been scuttled. There's not much life on it yet, but I did see shoals of fusiliers and sardines. The wreck has been purposely sunk for diving and sits on the seabed at 25-26 metres. It is upright. It starboard runs parallel with the harbour wall with its bow nearest the harbour entrance and stern towards Puerto Del Carmen. The hatch covers and doors have been removed and you can penetrate the holds on the fore and aft quite easily. You can also descent into the engine room and ascend from there towards the wheelhouse. Personally I couldn't get into the wheelhouse, finding the corridor too narrow, but I'm sure an experienced wrecky would have no problem.

On your ascent, you can explore the harbour wall adjacent to the wreck. Although a featureless sandy bottom, there are many little creatures residing in the crevices to photograph. Scorpionfish, blennies, shrimps, spidercrabs, spiny urchins and gobies all making a home here.

There is one priority to consider though. Before diving here, you must check that the yellow submarine in Puerto Calero harbour will not be undertaking its undersea tour. Only then are you permitted to dive.

I would come back to Lanzarote. I find the diving diverse and the dive centre staff at Squalo friendly, helpful and extremely trusting. They even left me keys to lock-up one evening after I'd uploaded pictures to their PC, and for the second year running, I was trusted to compile my diving bill for the two weeks! When that level of friendship and trust is extended to you, it certainly puts Squalo at the top of my list of dive centres, so a big thank you to Nico, Dardo and Segura for making stay all the more enjoyable.

I put together a video, on the link below. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to pack my strobe, so the colours could have been richer. However...

Lanzarote - Manta Diablo