Isn’t it funny how you often don’t see the great dives coming? I suppose that’s because they’re often spur of the moment dives, that aren’t too heavily planned. I had one yesterday. There wasn’t anything spectacular to see, we didn’t break any depth or time records, it was simply a great combination of superb conditions, a buddy I trust totally and everything working exactly as it should. So here’s the story:
We had decided to dive at Charco del Palo in Lanzarote, the weather was perfect – cloudless, stunning blue skies and almost no wind. As it has been like this for few weeks, we knew the visibility would be excellent and the sea temperature a pleasant 21 degrees, even at more than 30 meters. We had been concerned that there may be a current, but in the event it was gentle and we swam into it on our way out and drifted back with it.
It was a relief to drop into the water – the air temperature was around 30 degrees, so the walk down to the rocks was a warm one. We swam out a little way on the surface, then dropped down to 8 meters to check the current. We’d agreed to follow the long finger of lava to the left at Charco at around 8-10 meters to conserve air – we were on 12 liter cylinders and we normally use 15’s.
We were soon surrounded by fish – sardines, small grunts and the usual assortment of Canarian fish. Then we were joined by a lone Tuna, which swam much closer to us than they normally do. It really was a big fish, and the sunshine glanced off it’s silver side. Eventually we reached the end of the finger and dropped slowly. As we neared the bottom we could see 5 grouper, two particularly large and of several different colors. They soon dispersed into a cave and we followed them down to 40 meters. An electric ray and a butterfly ray took off as we approached and we watched them flying into the blue. My buddy checked out the caves with his lamp, while I watched a nudibranch make it’s slow way across some rocks.
As we turned and began our ascent, two other divers appeared and entered the cave below us – it’s always fun to hang around and watch their bubbles come up through the rocks and sand. We had a gentle fin back to our starting point, en route stopping to check out another cave. I’m sure I saw the tail of a very large Moray Eel in one, but as my buddy missed it, I can’t confirm I was right.
As we reached our starting point, we veered left over some rocks to another cave we often visit. There are usually some interesting cat fish and sometimes Angel Sharks in there, but this time the cave was vacant. As we turned back though, we spotted a very large Stingray, with an extremely fat body lying in the sand. I did wonder if it was pregnant – this is a breeding area.
We carried out a safety stop near to our exit, and watched two surface swimming spear fisherman trailing their capture of Octopus above us. Then it was time for our own exit and a well earned beer. As I said at the start – nothing amazing to report, but another great dive!
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