Date

Location

Species

September 2006

Summer highlights

The grey triggerfish have been here all summer now, delighting many of our customers with their antics, as has the Abade Capitan. In addition we have had at least two sightings of the Unicornfish (or scrawled filefish). We thought that the Angelsharks had dissapeared for summer, but we keep getting odd sightings, perhaps one a fortnight, mainly of small individuals. The numbers of octopus have increased during August, and we have seen several sightings of Eagle rays, common stingray, and one beautiful sighting of a butterfly ray in just 8m of water. We have had some good sightings of Hairy Blenny in their orange/pink colour schemes, and of course lots of all the favourites .. parrotfish, damselfish, bream, wrasse, pufferfish, cephlopods etc.

June 2006

Great diving all month!

We seem to have been blessed with good weather this month, giving good entry conditions and helping the visibility to become really clear. With these seem to have come big shoals of all our favourites - damselfish, sardines, wrasse, bream; and cephlopods (octopus and cuttlefish) are still about in large numbers. A family of Grey Triggerfish seem to have selected their spot, and are quite 'friendly' with the divers - although one diver did not appreciate the 'love-bite' on his cheek! The all yellow Abade Capitan is still about as are many rays. Angelsharks have disappeared during the daytime but can still be seen on night-dives. As usual we got a small bloom of jellyfish at the end of June, but it only lasted a few days and they have now gone again.

Spring 2006

Great conditions and abundant life.

During the early part of spring we had a really long period of calm conditions when diving was excellent, and many of the species took advantage to multiply in their thousands. We have had some big shoals of sardines, damselfish and many other species. Angelsharks have been present for most of the time and at the end of May are still being found regularly. Our Abade Capitan is still present in Punta de la Sal and we have seen Grey Triggerfish on several occasions, as well as the rare Canarian lobster. After a period when we saw very few, both octopus and cuttlefish have also returned in good numbers. There have also been reports from other dive centres of both Hammerhead shark (punta de la Sal) and Blue Shark (Table Top).

2005

General Summary

During 2005 we had some excellent dives and discovered several species which are less frequent in the reserve. In Spring (May, June) we had some enormous shoals of sardines and bogas, often with Tuna, Medregal or Barracuda harressing them. We have also been lucky this year with the rare Abade Capitan - the all yellow version of the unique canarian grouper - the Cernia Rossa. In the autumn one has been a regular sighting on the Punta de La Sal dive and at one stage another moved onto the Finger. We have seen a few more sand soles this year, frequently on Cal Steps, where at one stage there was an enormous shoal of about 300 barracudas. Grey Triggerfish, and an occaisional Unicornfish have also been seen, and we frequently meet a lone Jurel nearly 1m in length. Angelsharks dissapeared from July to November, but at the end of the year sightings have been almost daily and there seem to be more about, throughout the reserve. In Spring there were several rays sighted in shallow water to give birth to their young, and we have seen Butterfly rays more often this year. During Autumn we have seen a stingray up to 2m across on several dives. Other species that are unusual in these waters have included Canarian Lobster, Donacella (Rainbow Wrasse), Forkbeard, Maria Francesa. Unfortunately seahorses have been rare and nobody has reported any big sharks in the reserve, although several fishermen and windsurfers have reported hammerhead sharks about 1-2 km from the shore.

June 2004

Bay and Table Top

Sightings of Angelsharks carried on till the early part of June, with one posing brilliantly for our cameras at the end of the month. We have continued to see rays, including some pizza-sized juveniles in shallow water. Other unusual sightings have included Rainbow Wrasse, Butterfly Ray (free swimming in 20m), and a pair of Triggerfish. We have discovered a second location where we can regularly find a Seahorse, and can now show many more of our customers this shy and elusive creature.

April / May 2004

Bay and Table Top

Strange but towards the end of their normal season we are finding the Angelshark much more frequently, with at least six sightings in the last week in April / First week in May. Sleeping in 3m, swimming in 4m, settling into the sand just underneath the bouy lines .. (how many of the locals swimming from the beach realise how close they are to a shark!). Other recent highlights have included large Jurel (1m) larger than normal Barracuda, lots of Stargazers (about 9 on one night dive, three on one day dive. Atlantic Wrasse are building their nests and laying eggs and small fry and recent hatchlings can be found in many places.

February / March 2004

Bay and Table Top

Although still here, Angelsharks have been more elusive than last year - they are certainly not about when I take my camera in the water!. Two customers have got good photos with their digital cameras. This spring there are a lot of Pygmy Filefish about, and a large number of Learned Rockfish (or Painted Comber). Highlights include a Female Common Stingray with five young; a 2m wide Butterfly Ray in 2m of water, and a single Seahorse in the bay, in about 3m of water (25th March). Somebody wrote in the comments book this month 'Full of surprises' - we couldn't have put it better ourselves!

December 2003 / January 2004

Bay and Table Top

Anglesharks have started to return to the bay and be seen more frequently throughout the reserve as the waters cool and the spring spawnings start to take place. One came and joined a Rescue Diver course, three days later it was basking in 2m at the start of our dive.

November 2003

Bay and Table Top

Where have all the Cuttlefish gone? For about a month they entirely dissapeared from the reserve, then suddenly they were back again at the beginning of December. Filefish have however suddenly arrived in larger numbers than in previous years in the Bay, To the point where they are a 'common' species to be seen on every dive.

Summer 2003

Table Top

Throughout the summer we have continued to see larger predators such as Tuna, Barracuda and Ray throughout the Reserve. Angle-sharks have become less common as the water temperatures have increaded. There are always the three varieties of Moray (Tiger, Spotted and Brown), Roncadores, Bream, Trumpetfish, Barracuda, Wrasse, Parrotfish, Sama and Damselfish throughout the reserve. In special corners we know, we can regularly show our customers Cleaner Shrimps, Canarian Lobsterette, Striped Grunt, Stargazers, and some secretive Sea Horses.

3rd June 2003

Table Top

A 4-5m long shark, thought to be a Basking Shark, has been seen on the Table Top, in the deeper area of the reserve (see NEWS and COMMENTS). Sightings of Sharks (other than Angel Shark) in coastal waters are rare in Gran Canaria, and we can only assume that the shark was on a South to North migration and had strayed into the reserve.

May 2003

Cabrón Bay

Throughout the month we have continued to find Anglesharks in the shallow areas of the bay (under 10m) during the day. They are almost invariably hidden under the sand with only their eyes visible.

Water temperature and visibility have been improving throughout the month and the water is already up to 20C. Visibility has reached 25-30m on some dives towards the end of the month.

Juan Carlos is still in residence and can be seem most days.

April 2003

Cabrón Bay

From the middle of April, temperatures have slowly began to rise in the water, and after reaching a winter / spring low of about 18C.

During April the numbers of Atlantic Damselfish appear to have increased, and subtle changes are taking place to the quantities of other species, for example wide-eyed flounders (increasing) and corkwing wrasse (less frequent).

Unusual species seen on night dives have included Ling, Stargazer, Long-legged Octopus and Canarian Prawns.

March 2003

Punta de la Sal

A marbled electric ray has been seen by visitors to this area of the reserve.

February 2003

Cabrón Bay

With the spring spawnings, several predatory species are coming into the bay at night and feeding off the large shoals of sardines and other small fish in the area. On a night dive we saw four Anglesharks, three rays, weaver fish (stargazers) as well as the normal nocturnal species such as squid and octopus. During the day the Angel Sharks seem to rest on the bottom under the sand while the other species retreat to shallower waters.

January 2003

Cabrón Bay

A large Octopus has taken up resident under a large rock, having seen him daily for over a week, we have named him 'Juan Carlos'

January 2003

Table Top

A pair of Sea Horses have been regularly seen in a secluded corner of the Table Top.

December / January 2003

Cabrón Bay

Regular sightings of common stingray in depths of 3-8m