NEW! -We have added a News BLOG to the site to give you much more up-to-date information on whats happening in the dive centre and in the Marine Reserve. | ||
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| DAN Research supports El Cabrón as safe dive site |  |
The latest edition of the DAN magazine has published the results of the first quantified study of minimising the risk of Decompression Illness(DCI) by using a 'deep-stop' strategy. In short it recommends For dives to 25m the best strategy appears to be a Deep Stop at 15m for 2.5 to 5 min (note that 1 minute is too short), followed by a Shallow Stop at 3 to 5m for 3 to 5 min - ideally this should be longer than the deep stop. The preferred ascent rate is 10 meters per minute - neither slower nor faster rates appear more effective. Because of the topography of the 'Table Top' area where we dive regularly, we almost always carry out our dives following this strategy, coming up to the Table Top at 12-14m, taking 3-5 minutes to cross it before ascending to a stop at 6m. This 'virtuous profile' of the dive site is probably a contributory factor to the lack of reported incidences of DCI either among ourselves or other schools here. A growing body of research is now pointing to better safety margins even on dives 'within the tables' by adopting a 'deep safety stop' strategy (ie 2.5 to 5 mins at about half the maximum depth achieved) followed by a normal safety stop at shallow depth. We will be incorporating this advice into all of our dive profiles in the future. DAN, or Divers Alert Network provide insurance policies for divers and are carrying out research into many diving medical issues.
March 2007
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| PADI Certificate of Recognition for Excellence |
In September we were surprised but delighted when Brian Goldthorpe, Chief Instructor, received a 'PADI Certificate of Recognition for Excellence'. This has been awarded by PADI for 'outstanding customer service and professionalism in Scuba instruction' and follows on from the feedback received by PADI after a recent Digital Underwater Photography Course.
September 2006
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| Davy Jones introduce AFTERCARE package |
We are delighted to launch this month our AFTERCARE package for divers who take PADI and BSAC courses with us. We like to think of the people we train as 'our' students, and so it is important that we look after them. The AFTERCARE package includes several benefits including a dedicated e-mail support service, special discounts on materials and courses, and a long term commitment to looking after our customers. This package is free, and is one of the benefits of taking a dive course with Davy Jones Diving.
July 2006
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| Royal Navy explore Marine Reserve with Davy Jones |  |
We were delighted to host several days diving in the marine reserve for members of the crew of HMS Liverpool when it visited Gran Canaria in July. The type-42 destroyer stayed in Las Palmas for 3 days giving many of the crew opportunities to both undertake exploratory dives with us in the marine reserve and for some to undertake training excersises.
July 2006
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| World day of the Ocean celebrated in Arinaga |  |
We were delighted to once again work with the local environmental awareness group 'PatiNego' as part of the celebration of the 'Day of the Ocean' in Arinaga. We undertook a clean-up of the area close to the muelle in the centre of Arinaga, during which we collected glass, bottles, crockery, and nearly 40 kilo's of lead fishing weights. The environmentalists were amazed that we could collect so much lead rubbish in such a short space of time, and that it represented such a small percentage of the total amount on the site. More information on PatiNegro is at www.PatiNegro.org June 2006
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| Canadian Navy comes diving with Davy Jones |  |
When the HMCS Athabaskan docked recently in Las Palmas, a group of divers on board grabbed the opportunity to visit the marine reserve in Arinaga for a day's diving. After the day they sent us this email : "Just wanted to drop you a final note to say thanks for a great day of diving. The location was the best I have seen & I have dove 3 oceans & a lot of other more famous places! The shop was great, like a diver's cafe. The staff were all very friendly, the trip to and from "zero stress". June 2006
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| Canarian Laws clarify diving for under 16's |  |
The Canarian Government has clarified the position for diving by children under 16, by declaring formaly that children must have 'the express permission of their parents' in order to dive. This ends years of confusion where some areas were still implementing a 1979 law and others were not. Currently both Catalunya and the Canaries have passed laws to clarify this situation, and it is likely that other areas will follow using the Canaries decree as a 'template'. However the availability of very small sizes of equipment varies from dive centre to dive centre and particularly for any divers aged 12 or below we advise you to check in detail in advance.
May 2006
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| New PADI Digital Underwater Photography course a great success | 
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We were delighted to be one of the first schools in the Canaries to offer the new PADI Digital Underwater Photography course, and even more pleased when our first student came all the way from Japan specially to take the course with us, using the El Cabrón Marine Reserve to practice in. The other student was a long-term BSAC Advanced diver taking his 'first PADI course'. David Brooks first came to Gran Canaria last year and took his Open Water Course with us, since when he has dived in Japan and Hawaii. After the course he put the following in our comments book : "It is a great experience working with Brian and the dive staff at Davy Jones. They are highly professional, enthusiastic about quality learning and having great fun while diving on an exciting island. I started my Open Water experience here and expanded it with Brian's Digital Underwater Photography Course. I plan to be back for more excellent diving next year. 22nd March 2006
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| Davy Jones Diving become a PADI 5-Star Gold Palm Resort |  |
We are delighted to announce that Davy Jones Diving has now been recognised by PADI Europe for the consistently high quality of its diver training and customer services, with the award of the PADI 5-Star Gold Palm status. "This is further recognition of our reputation for high quality training, safe diving and great customer service" said Brian Goldthorpe, "and is a tribute to the hard work and professionalism of all the instructors in our team". January 25th 2006
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| Davy Jones Diving becomes a BSAC Premier Centre |  |
From January 2006, Davy Jones Diving has become a BSAC Premier Centre, and is able to provide training in the BSAC scheme right up to Advanced Diver level. "we are delighted that we have attained this highest level of school certification within the BSAC system", said Brian Goldthorpe, a BSAC Advanced Instrucor.
January 2006
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| BSAC Dive magazine article on Gran Canaria - December 2005 |
The December 2005 edition of BSAC DIVE magazine included a review of all the Canary Islands including Gran Canaria. For reasons which are not obvious the magazine printed a review which only looked at the diving on the West side of Gran Canaria, and totally ignored the diving in the marine reserve at Arinaga (universally agreed as the best diving on the island), the wonderful wreck diving in the north at Las Palmas, and the dive sites of the north west around Agaete. This led them to conclude that there was only three to four days diving on the island. All we can say is that we agree - if you stay on the west coast and only dive in that area you will only find about 3 days diving ... which is why we recommend serious divers to stay in the South which is closer to the diving in the El Cabrón Marine Reserve where we have enough different routes and options to fill at least five days diving. For a full list of all the dive sites around all sides of Gran Canaria have a look at the 'dive sites' list on Gran Canaria Diving.com and you will see that Gran Canaria has enough variety and quality sites to keep any serious diver happy here with many different dives.. December 29th 2005
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| Tropical storm DELTA misses marine reserve |
On Monday the Canaries were hit hard by Tropical Storm DELTA, which broke the 'Finger of God' in Agaete, and seriously disrupted power supplies on Tenerife. Fortunately Arinaga and the El Cabrón marine Reserve were towards the southernmost edge of this storm, and suffereed no more than an hours heavy rain and about 3 hours of high winds as it passed over. Diving has therefore been largely uneffected by this storm, and apart from some movement of sand there is little if any damage underwater. Within two days visibility has come back to 20m and the groundswell has dropped giving us a weekend of excellent diving.
December 1st 2005
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| Angelsharks return for winter |  |
Every year there are several patterns of life among the different species here in the El Cabrón Marine Reserve. One of the most marked is the annual summer 'holiday' taken by both Angelsharks and Filefish. Every year the Angelsharks disappear in summer, around the start of July, then at the end of August all the filefish disappear. We assume that it has to do with water temperatures as this is when temperatures move above 22C. Over the last few weeks we have seen a few filefish returning and then today - Angelsharks are back in force! Over two day dives and a night dive we saw five individuals in three different locations. Always a privilege to watch we hope that we will have many more sightings over the coming months!
November 25th 2005
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| Arinaga highlighted in DIVER Magazine |
Once again Arinaga has been highlighted as one of the top diving destinations in the Canaries, by being featured as one of the highlights on a seven islands in eleven days diving tour. "It's the sheer variety of fish that makes El Cabron worth repeating" said John Liddiard. We could not agree more!
September 2005
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| Arinaga Beach Clean a Success |
As part of the annual Fiesta in Arinaga, one of the final tasks is the 'limpieza de los playas', or the cleaning of the beaches. This year Davy Jones Diving coordinated the efforts of several dive schools with the local council to ensure that the area around Muelle Vieja (the old pier) was thoroughly cleaned. This is part of our ongoing environmental plan as part of which we regularly remove rubbish from the marine reserve, and following the success of this will be followed by a further cleaning day in one of the most important parts of the reserve (Playa del Cabrón) in October.
October 2005
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| Gran Canaria declared a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO |  |
The island of Gran Canaria has been declared a World Biosphere Reserve. With this Declaration, the island of Gran Canaria becomes part of a Network that now consists of 482 Reserves in 102 countries. This title classifies a representative area of valuable terrestrial and marine eco-systems, recognised by the International Man and the Biosphere (MaB) programme, created by UNESCO, with a view to conserving nature and driving the social and economic development of the local populations.
July 2005
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| Film crew choose Playa del Cabrón |
We were delighted to host a group of film makers engaged in the production of a short film called 'Submerged' about a young girl who gets lost while swimming on holiday. The crew choose to use the Playa del Cabrón for their filming because of the clear waters and abundant marine life, and Davy Jones Diving for logistical support because of our proximity, local knowledge and reputation for underwater photography.
April 2005
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| Nitrox fills and Courses now available |  |
We are now able to offer NITROX fills to divers with appropriate qualifications in Enriched Air (Nitrox) diving, and can also now offer the PADI Enriched Air (Nitrox) course to anyone who wants to learn about Nitrox diving in Gran Canaria. "The principle benefit of Nitrox is that it can reduce the risk of decompression sickness while also extending the non-stop dive times on our most popular dives" said Brian Goldthorpe, Nitrox Instructor for Davy Jones Diving. "Nitrox tastes no different from air, is easy to use and is ideally suited for the Marine Reserve in Gran Canaria where our sea-bed in the most popular areas is 24m". At present we provide Nitrox fills with the help of a local third party so it must be booked 24-48 hours in advance.
April 2005
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| NEW Freephone service and web improvements |  |
We are delighted to announce the introduction of a Freephone Number which can be used by any divers while here on Gran Canaria. The number to call is 900 46 01 47 and is available from any fixed line, payphone or hotel phone and should not incur a call charge. Brian Goldthorpe announcing this new service said " It is our intention to offer our clients the very best in customer service and we feel this new initiative will enable everybody to contact us easily to get any information about diving in Gran Canaria, book dives and courses,or to clarify arrangements and bookings." Davy Jones Diving is the first and only diving school to offer a freephone facility.
We have also updated our web server this week to give better response times to all our viewers, as part of our commitment to providing more information, faster on diving in Gran Canaria.
February 12th 200
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| New apartments opened in Arinaga. |  |
We are pleased to inform our clients that a brand new apartments for short term let have been opened in Arinaga. The Nautilus apartments are studio apartments for two people and are ideal for divers, being only five minutes walk from our dive centre, the beach, and the centre of town. Click here for more information on these high quality apartments.
February 7th 2005
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| Access to Marine Reserve Improved |  |
Anyone who has visited the El Cabrón Marine Reserve will tell you that although the diving is breathtaking, the 'off-road' safari from Arinaga into the dive site can at best be described as rustic and at worst bone shaking. Not any longer however! At the beginning of October the long slope down from the college to the Playa del Cabrón has been graded, filled, rolled and levelled! No longer do the dive busses gingerly thread their way through the potholes and flat stretches, and journey times are cut by a couple of minutes. Unfortunately this improvement only extends two thirds of the way to the most popular diving entry points, but makes a highly welcome change for any regular or first time visitor to the reserve.
October 2004
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| STOMP hit Marine Reserve! |  |
During the Las Palmas Festival of Music and Theatre more than half of the members of the company of the world famous percussion group, STOMP took time out to go diving with Davy Jones Diving in the El Cabrón Marine Reserve. Despite a busy schedule of packed late-night shows, and a couple of days of poor diving conditions, four of the stars of the show completed their PADI Open Water course, two took try-dives, one started his PADI Advanced course and four others enjoyed a variety of dives on different days. "Everybody has had a great time diving here" commented Luke Cresswell, founder and Director of STOMP. "We have seen the huge variety of marine life here and had great fun diving with the staff from Davy Jones Diving in Gran Canaria."
(We also went to see STOMP performing live - our recommendation ? - If it comes your way don't miss it - It's a fantastic entertainment and amazingly original and unusual.) Their website can be found at STOMP UK July 2004
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| Diver finds Pistol in Marine Reserve |  |
We always say that the El Cabrón Marine Reserve is full of surprises, but everybody was amazed to find an automatic pistol, just under some sea-grass, at the start of a dive in the 'Hole in the wall'. BSAC diver Glen Attenborough was just settling into his dive when he looked down and saw the gun under a clump of sea-grass. It was recovered by the divers who have now passed this back to the local Guardia Civil. "I was really surprised" said Glen, "We had just been watching a cuttlefish, when I looked straight down, in about 2m of water, and saw it lying there in front of me on the sea-bed!".
May 2004
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| Christmas Trees sighted in Marine Reserve! |
Once again, the tradition of placing a Christmas Tree in the deep water section of the Marine Reserve has been observed by local divers, and this year two trees have been planted in separate spots, both in 20m of water. 'The reserve is famous for the variety of fauna, but the addition of these trees to a Christmas dive can make the whole experience even more magical' said Brian Goldthorpe of Davy Jones Diving.
December 2003
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| Local Mayor imposes diving restrictions. |
The Mayor of Aguimes has imposed restrictions on scuba diving in certain parts of Arinaga, following what he described as 'irresponsible utilisation' by the largest diving school on the island.
These restrictions have not prevented Davy Jones Diving, and other professional diving schools on the island, from continuing to offer
a range of great diving experiences within the marine reserve. 'We are disappointed that these restrictions have been imposed' said Brian Goldthorpe of Davy Jones Diving,
'and are actively working with other professional dive schools to restore access to two dive entry points. All the other sites are unaffected and continue to offer great dives for all levels of divers.
August 2003
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| El Cabrón Photo-CD Launched |
A Photo-CD covering the most commonly found species in the El Cabrón Marine Reserve has been launched this week by Davy Jones Diving.
The CD uses browser technology to deliver over 400 digital pictures covering more than 60 different species found in the reserve.
Priced at just €19, the CD provides any diver of any level with lots of opportunities to remember their diving.
10th July 2003
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| 4m SHARK seen on Table Top |
A 4-5m long shark, thought to be a basking shark, was seen today by two experienced divers from Davy Jones Diving at about 10.30 in 20m of water near the Table Top.
The two divers watched the shark for about a minute as it swam northwards then over the edge of the Table Top. Eduardo Vera, who was leading the dive described it as
a lifetime event - Sharks are rarely seen in the reserve, while Paul ...., who had first learned to dive in Australia said "I am still full of Adrenalin - in 20 years of diving - nothing better!"
3rd June 2003
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| Gran Canaria listed among worlds top 100 dive sites. |
The fame of Gran Canaria as a top diving location is spreading, with it's inclusion in the list of the worlds top 100 dive sites on the web.
The El Cabrón marine reserve is also described in the latest edition of the AA guide to Gran Canaria 'the best place to dive' on the island. Worlds Top 100 Scuba Diving Sites May 2003
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| Delegates to European Cetacean Conference explore Marine Reserve. |
We were delighted to host a special event in March when marine zoologists who had been attending the European Cetacean Conference in Las Palmas
chose Davy Jones Diving to explore the El Cabrón Marine Reserve.
March 2003
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| Sea Horses found in Cabrón Bay |
Several lucky divers witnessed seahorses during their
dives in El Cabrón Bay during the month of November. These
creatures are always hard to spot because of their small
size and tendency to camouflage themselves in the sea weeds
and grasses that cover the top of the marine reserve. Eduardo Vera, who found these
elusive creatures was delighted - having spent 16 years searching for them!
November 2002
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Leaflet 'Playa del Cabrón' in English
Información "Playa del Cabrón" en Español