Lanzarote 2012

We had been to Lanzarote a couple of times before and had enjoyed the island and the diving, it was time to return. Technically it is the same piece of water as at our home in Cornwall - UK, just a bit further south. The sea temperature would be around 22 at this time of year, nine degrees warmer than home, we still took our dry suits. I had my 18 month old Typhoon tea bag, I wouldn't be too warm because it would keep me cool by slowly letting on water from every square millimetre.
Almost as soon as we arrived we made our way to Marina Rubicon Diving Center, the company we had dived with last time. Most dive centres in Lanzarote take you shore diving, Rubicon do it all from ribs so no long mini bus trips. As we were travelling with non diving friends we only booked alternate dive days. I say days, it's actually two dives per morning with free nitrox, we'd be back for lunchtime. So six dives booked. Time for a rest, we'd been travelling and missed a lot of sleep. After a quick siesta we had a swim in the hotel pool, unheated but warm enough, just. There was a heated indoor pool which we also tried, it felt really hot by comparison. We had booked the hotel even though the food had been criticised by so many on Tripadviser. We could always eat out if it was as bad as the reviews. That evening we met at the restaurant at 7pm, opening time. The food looked ok and tasted ok and there was plenty of it, where was the problem?

The following morning we were collected at 8:30am, just enough time to catch breakfast beforehand. Our hotel was so close we didn't need collecting but it was handy for moving our kit over. We set our gear up at the shop and loaded the boat literarily a few metres away. Our first dive was going to be Flamingo wall, we had dived this on a previous trip and it was covered in life that time. Today was no different, there were many shoals of fish and an angel shark, the visibility was not the best due to recent weather conditions but was still around 15m. After the dive it was back to the dive centre for tea and cakes, then change the cylinder and off out for dive two. We were originally told it would be twin pipes, when we dived there were no pipes. The site had change to the Tongue, called because of the shape or the old lava flow. I think I was talking and missed the brief. We swam around watching the fish, vis was a little better than the earlier dive getting closer to 20m. We saw a large spotted ray and a Morey eel, as well as the normal species such as wrasse and shoals of smaller fish. Back to the shop and back at the hotel for 1pm. What to do now? The hotel pool was quite large and inviting, so we went for a swim again.

Our second day was a non diving day, so we hired mountain bikes and went sightseeing. Ten miles on paths and roads the another ten miles off road. A stop at a beach for a cooling swim part way helped a lot in the heat.

Another dive day, today's dives would be 'Atlantis' and Punta Berrugo. Atlantis was certainly different, straight fingers of lava flow which looked more like ruined walls of buildings. Most were straight some were slightly curved, some were a mere few inches across some were a couple of feet. We saw a small Spotted Ray swimming and a Butterfly Ray nestled in the sand. A dive site that was definitely different. Punta Berrugo wasn't much different from the Tongue, nothing much to shout about apart from the large octopus at the end but pleasant enough. We requested Los Corallados and the wrecks for our last day of diving in two days time. Back to the hotel and then a snorkel at Playa Dorada in the afternoon.

Another non diving day so we hired a car drove around seeing some of the sights, like Mirador del Rio. Then a spot on the beach for another swim.

Out last dive day, the wrecks and Los Corallados. The wrecks changed to a cave and a wreck, no problem. As we anchored up we noticed a but of current running, expected to be at the surface only, we jumped in. Ruth struggled to swim into the current so I jumped in and we just descended. Making our way back to the anchor line underwater, where there was little current, we hung around for a while waiting for the guide. We didn't realise that he was looking for us, after being told we jumped in and drifted off! We then headed towards the cave, a small cave that had some interest, especially if you had a torch and macro lenses on you camera, I didn't but got some ambient looking out shots. Onto the wreck. The small wooden wreck on the edge of the reef wasn't big but I liked it. The wrecks propshaft and its propellor was in place, most of the wooden hull was broken and a little scattered. It was cool. Our last dive was Los Corallados, a long finger of lava that had eroded away in places. There is one area you can swim underneath, near to that is a small hole in the top where you could drop down inside and exit through the north side. A bit of fun. There are some very large anemones on Los Corallados, like dahlia anemones but huge. Plenty of fish and a couple of octopus to play with, we also spotted the only nudibranch of the week. Another interesting site that I could do again and not get bored. The end of the week.

Only six dives but six easy fun dives in clear water, my computer registered 22C for most of the diving. Marina Rubicon Diving Center has a great setup and is in a great location. Most diving is done off of one of their two RIBS and includes free nitrox for nitrox qualified divers. Their local dives sites are all around 18-20m in depth with some deeper stuff a little longer ride on the boat. Our hotel was very convenient for the dive centre and was perfectly adequate. We would be quite happy to return again next year or even next week to visit both again.

Castle Beach, Falmouth, Underwater Litter Pick

On Sunday October 7^th we organised another underwater litter pick, six divers took on the task of collecting rubbish from underwater at Castle Beach in Falmouth. The winds were against us and the entry conditions were a little testing. The six divers entered the water in three buddy pairs, they returned with just over 16kg's of rubbish, our heaviest so far. The debris included six plastic carrier bags, some fishing net, broken bottles, perspex and some rope. The rubbish was categorised and the data was sent to Project Aware and also to the Marine Conservation Society through the British Sub Aqua Club. We are now nicknamed the “Falmouth Scuba Wombles”, ourr next underwater litter pick is planned for November 11^th at Pendennis, known locally by divers as the Silver Steps. Contact Mark Milburn @ Atlantic Scuba for details or join the Facebook Group - http://www.facebook.com/groups/falmouthscubawombles/

Scuba Divers have released over 300 juvenile lobsters onto the Manacles Reef.

Wednesday October 3^rd

Scuba Divers have released over 300 juvenile lobsters onto the Manacles Reef.

A volunteer team of scuba divers, organised by Atlantic Scuba, collected juvenile lobsters from the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow. They then transported them by boat from Mylor Yacht Harbour to the Manacles Reef, where they were to be released into the wild. The lobsters were taken underwater to the sea bed by the volunteer divers, then carefully released into areas where they are known to thrive. Mark Milburn of Atlantic Scuba said he thought the Manacles was an ideal place for the juvenile lobsters to be released, eventually benefiting both the fishing and diving community.

Helford Parachute Mine

To cut a long story short, I found and Unexploded WWII German Parachute Mine Tyoe GC whilst diving. There was no GPS fix so I had to return to find it, which I did. I then went back to photograph and film it, which I did. As soon as I got the photos home I contacted the EODU (Bomb Squad), the came the following day and set everything up. The following day they detonated the mine.

Full story to follow shortly.

Falmouth divers find camera during seabed rubbish clean

If you haven't seen this story, where have you been?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-19633143
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-19660338
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4546785/Scuba-diver-hunting-for-under-water-camera-owner.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2205460/Camera-underwater-800-pictures-discovered-divers-Falmouth.html
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/memory-card-miracle-family-florida-holiday-snaps-found-30ft-underwater-off-coast-of-cornwall-by-scuba-diver.html
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/scuba-diver-lost-camera-at-the-bottom-1332159
http://travel.aol.co.uk/2012/09/19/diver-finds-family-camera-underwater/
http://www.divemagazine.co.uk/news/latest-news/5929-haul-of-family-photos
http://www.divemagazine.co.uk/news/latest-news/5930-family-reunited-with-photos
http://home.topnewstoday.org/home/article/3371086/
http://www.gapyear.com/news/183762/do-you-own-this-camera
http://www.inooz.co.uk/article/view/1480871/scuba-snaps-diver-finds-family-s-lost-camera-at-the-bottom-of-the-sea-two-days-after-it-fell-overboard-and-it-still-works
http://www.britishbusinessfinder.com/news/article/Scuba+snaps%3A+Diver+finds+family%27s+lost+camera+at+the+bottom+of+the+sea+two+days+after+it+fell+overboard+-+and+it+still+works
http://topsy.com/www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/scuba-diver-lost-camera-at-the-bottom-1332159
http://scubadiving.toplisted.net/news.php
http://feedstory.net/news/scuba.snaps.diver.finds.familys.lost.camera.at.the.bottom.of.the.sea.two.days.after.it.fell.overboard.and.it.still.works
http://www.metro.co.uk/news/912544-scuba-diver-seeks-to-reunite-holiday-makers-with-camera-saved-from-sea
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Hundreds-lost-family-pictures-retrieved-sea/story-16962170-detail/story.html
http://noticias.terra.com.br/noticias/0,,OI6165358-EI188,00-Mergulhadores+acham+camera+com+fotos+no+fundo+do+mar.html
http://www.sportdiver.co.uk/News/Latest-News/Divers-find-camera-during-rubbish-clean
http://www.newsrt.co.uk/news/scuba-diver-seeks-to-reunite-holiday-makers-with-camera-saved-from-sea-804549.html
http://news168.co.uk/news/scuba-diver-seeks-to-reunite-holiday-makers-with-camera-saved-from-sea
http://swns.com/news/camera-found-in-the-sea-hunt-to-find-who-pictures-belong-to/
http://www.wtfnews.org/general/do-you-own-this-camera/
http://egloskerryoldstation.co.uk/news/2012/scuba-diver-seeks-to-reunite-holiday-makers-with-camera-saved-from-sea-metro/


The actual story, which is similar is on my website - http://www.atlanticscuba.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=309&Itemid=28

Gyllyngvase Beach Underwater Litter Pick

After the success of the Swanpool Beach underwater litter pick, we decided to do it again. Gyllyngvase Beach was the next chosen location. We put out a call for volunteers on Facebook and once again had a great response. BBC Radio Cornwall never interviewed us this time and we never bothered with the local newspapers either. We did speak to the Gylly Cafe owner and the RNLI lifeguards to let them know what was going on.

Fifteen divers turned up and entered the water, whilst Ruth stayed on the shore.

Each diver pair or group towed a surface marker buoy and carried a 'goody' bag. They covered the reef in search of anything that doesn't belong.

After just over an hour everyone was back on shore. 16.1kg's of debris was recovered, catagorised and recorded. The info is due to be sent to the MCS and Project Aware.

Heritage Open Days - National Maritime Museum

We managed to get ourselves onto a tour for a 'Behind the Scenes' look at the National Maritime Museum's stores. The tour was at the store, a mile from the museum where they keep anything that isn't on display. Exhibits change slowly over time. Father's Day, at the time the smallest boat to cross the Atlantic, is currently in store.

An Angolan boat made from a light hardwood was also in store, both father's Day and the Angolan boat have been exhibited before. Also in the store was 'Mirror Dinghy' number 1 and so many small boats, all waiting to be seen by the museum's future viewers.

In the workshop were a couple of boats undergoing some restoration, not something they usually undertake except in special cases.

Upstairs there are a variety of rooms containing various items relating to boats and boating. A model of Team Philips ill fated catamaran was hanging on the wall in the parts store.

Another room contained hundreds of boat building plans, being preserved in special cardboard boxes. In the adjacent room there were many pieces of art from the marine artists guild.

In some of the other rooms they had sail makers plan books and ships inventories. The top room was full of miscellaneous items, cannonballs, anchors, just a random collection of items that had been collected from various places.

Stingray - Our Boat

It took a little while to get our boat 'Stingray' re-fitted and the MCA coding renewed but now it is back on the water. The MCA Cat 4 coding does not give us any night passages but we will be upgrading it to a Cat 3 restricted, which will give us 3 miles from port, as soon as we can.

The re-fit included new tubes, new engines and new electronics.

Underwater rubbish collections around Falmouth

On the thirteenth of August we organised an underwater rubbish collection at Swanpool Beach in Falmouth. It was well received by the local press and radio and ended up with thirteen divers entering the water looking for litter. We recovered 12kg's of rubbish including several plastic bags, golf balls and loads of other bits and pieces.

Since then, whenever we have dived at any of the beaches, we have collected any rubbish we see.

 Our next organised litter pick is this Sunday, 9th September, at Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth.

Maldives Chapter 3

Day one's diving was over. It had rained on and off during the day and we were all glad we weren't land based. So far the food had been good, the boat was spacious and the diving superb. Looking forward to what tomorrow brings. One of the guides did say we would visit another wreck, which he thought was even better than the Kudagiri, nice.

We were woken at 6am again. We were going to move to the Ari Atoll later so the first dive needed to be early. We're to dive another channel, Kandooma Thila, still on the South Male Atoll. Before we entered a guide jumped in to check the current direction, apparently there was very little. We entered and the very little current was against us, so it was quite a hard swim to get to the entrance of the channel. We kept one eye on the reef and the other in the channel. 

Eventually we saw some sharks in the channel, still not quite sure if they were Silky or large Grey Reef Sharks as we couldn't get close enough. We also spotted a Nurse Shark resting on the sea bed at around 45m. We then returned to the boat for breakfast. The boat then made way to the South Ari Atoll, a three and a half hour trip. As soon as we arrived we made our first dive around Omadhoo South. A reef dive with quite a bit of life. We saw a couple of White Tip Reef Sharks, several Turtles and loads of fish. Oriental Sweetlips were quite prolific amongst the mass of fish, in the shallows fish life was very crowded and varied. The last dive of day two was at Vilamandhoo Thila. A very similar dive to dive two, a couple of Reef Sharks and a Turtle were spotted. I interrupted a giant Morey Eel having its teeth cleaned, it swam off and soon disappeared under a rock. Day two over.

Fitting out unit 2

In our endeavour to create more space we've been busy with some wood and sharp things in unit 2. It started out as a blank canvas, a rectangular room, with no studwork etc.

We've been very busy.