Under Pressure

We went away for a weeks holiday, get some sunshine, do some sunbathing, drink, relax and enjoy.

I done a little research before leaving and found the most recommended dive centres on the Island of Fuerteventura.

Armed with the information I needed and only taking my mask and computer with me I called and booked a couple of mornings diving with Dive Centre Corralejo.

Miguel answered the phone politely and informed me of the prices (€40 per dive including full equipment rental).

I was picked up by Marta in one of the canary yellow land rovers that the dive centre uses along with a Frenchman named Charles from outside the Rui Oliva Beach Hotel that I was staying at.

We made our way to the dive centre via another hotel pick-up.

At the dive centre I was asked to show my log book, dive insurance, qualification card and complete a registration form.

The Dive centre is in well organised, mostly tiled with well maintained equipment hanging up, a compressor with AIR at the back, a small shop/office, an indoor pool and seperate gents and Ladies changing areas with showers.

All clean, modern, well maintained and organised.

I was given a Cressi Full length 5mm suit with hood and advised water temp to be around 19oC, a Waterproof BCD, a set of Scubapro regs with a SPG and a Uwatec dive timer in the console, I was also given a 12 litre steel cylinder and asked how much weight I needed by Marta.

I met some of the other guys diving with us and Marta decided to call everybody David as out of the seven divers, three of us where all called David, Davie or Dave.

The atmosphere was good, everybody happy, I checked my equipment loaded it onto the trailer and set of with the other divers walking to the harbour to meet Marta and the dive boat.

The dive boat is a small hard boat however it had plenty room for the seven of us, Marta & the Skipper (Sorry I didn’t get his name!), There was O2 on board, VHF Radios and Miguel had informed me before we left the shop that all the diver records where kept in a folder ready to inform the coastguard should anything happen.

We left the harbour at Corralejo and only went out for around ten minutes till we got to the dive site.

DIVE 234: 28 /12/2007 09:35

The Dive site was called “EL CALAMAREO” I was buddied with Charles who is a CMAS 3* diver and had from what I now think is quite typical of CMAS Divers, a single cylinder with dual first stages.

As I wasn’t sure about the equipment, BCD or weighting I went for 8KG which I thought would be heavy but dive-able.

We kitted up and done a giant stride entry off the back of the boat, on the surface I didn’t feel that the medium BCD I had on was supporting very well as I was defiantly over weight, I just wanted to get under, we all swam along the lines from stern to bow and found the descent line.

Marta gave us all the OK and led the dive, I exhaled, let the air out of the jacket and submerged, the weight of the world gone. We followed Marta down the line, the visibility pretty good at 10-15 metres (maybe more) however there was sediment in the water.

We reached a plateau around ten metres, checked with our buddies everything was good and Marta pointed out a large stonefish, there was lots of schooling fish (two banded bream etc.) We then dropped over the side to around twenty metres and looked along the wall, a small moray, one very large Barracuda by its own, we went under an overhang and just looked around, a general relaxed holiday dive. Marta doing regular air check son the divers. I was slightly over weight however my air consumption was OK and my buoyancy was fine although I hate weight belts and bcd’s I did feel that my trim was out.

Another moray, some more stone fish, lots of fish but no plant life, a pretty barren landscape.

After 30 minutes or so we all headed back to the ten metre plateau and Marta signal for those low on air to to a safety stop and surface. Charles and I where told we go could exploring which we did.

We found another Stone fish and another small moray however as the landscape was so barren I signalled to Charles we should return to the line and surface.

I ascended without the use of the of line and held my stop without the line, Charles also did the same.

We surfaced and everybody headed back on the boat.

All divers where left to clean own equipment and hangup in allocated slots, I was given a box and a number as I would be returning the following day.

I liked the nice touch of being given a sticker / map to put in my log book of the dive site from today.

I didnt like the fact that they had the boat going out again almost straight away and although I had asked if I would be picked up and dropped off as part of the price, I was told they couldn’t get my a lift back and I should use the bus or get a taxi.

Charles & I agreed to share a taxi back.

Dive Time: 45 Minutes
Max Depth: 19.6 Metres

DIVE 235: 29/12/2007 09:22

Once again Buddied with Charles, with Marta leading the dive, however today there where only four of us (apart from Marta) diving and this mornings dive site was to be “LAS ANCLAS”.

I took off two kilo’s today so was diving with 6KG, I noticed the difference from the very start, on the surface I had more support, I needed less air in my jacket and I used less air in general.

Once again the boat ride wasn’t far from the harbour, today was a similar aquascape to yesterdays dive, barren, no plant life, a wall with a plateau, a couple of old rusty anchors and lots of schooling fish, the most interesting was a couple of groupers and I think a jack or tuna, not actually sure but at least it was something different to see.

The strange thing on this dive is that after we had been down and had ascended up to the ten metre shallows, Marta got her knife out and started stabbing the sea urchins, those black prickly ones. The schooling fish enjoyed this but to be honest I am just not sure that its the right thing to do, why does Marta decide that the defences these creatures have should be, thwarted by a divers knife. It wasn’t just one or two of them either it was nearly every one should could get to.

Again Marta signalled that Charles and I could stay down whilst she took the low on air dive buddies to the boat, we spent another few minutes and then just went back to the line.

Once again I ascended without the use of the line and held my safety stop.

Dive Time: 45 Minutes
Max Depth: 22.5 Metres

Once back at the centre I paid my bill, collected my sticker from today’s dive and once again was told that there was no lift available to get us back. Charles and I shared a taxi once again.

OVERALL:

The diving was easy going, holiday diving, not the place I would go a dive holiday but certainly worth a visit if on a holiday and you fancy a dive. The dive centre was well ran, friendly and good value for money. I am just not sure about killing urchins…

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 11:32 am and is filed under Dive Reports, Scuba Diving. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.