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PADI Training
Archive - Davy Jones Diving News Blog before 2009We use our informal News Blog to keep you updated on the day-to-day events at Davy Jones Diving Centre in Gran Canaria. This page hold entries from before 1st January 2009
One thing about diving in the Canaries is that you never know what will
happen from one day to the next. This week we have highs and lows... Monday
started with an unforgetable dive when I got bumped (again) by an Angel
Shark .. and this times Hans got it on Video. Tuesday and Wednesday were
marred by a storm but the conditions improved dramatically and yesterday
highligh of the week was to see our first ever Bull Ray on Punta de la Sal.
It was HUGE! It must be the biggest animal we have ever seen here in the
Marine Reserve. Then on the night dive last night we saw rays, angelsharks
and all sorts of creepie crawlies including a spotted bumblebee shrimp! Roll
on February and some more settled weather as there is lots of life about at
present.
Brian
The Photo Album is back! In December an unscrupulous hacker decided to use
an undocumented vulnerability in our photo system to attempt to send out
masses of spam with our return address. We were only able to stop them by
removing the photo gallery from the site. We have therefore now implemented
a completely new photo gallery (using Coppermine - a more secure package).
This has all the features of the old one, plus you can rate the photos as
well. We have even been able to put latin and spanish and german names for
the marine life against many of the pictures as well. Let us know what you
think of the new gallery - I think it is better but only you can tell
me!
Brian
Today I did the dive I have been waiting six years to complete .. to the
only 'wreck' in the marine reserve .. the Cannon. This is not an easy dive
so before you ask us to take you, check it out and understand the reasons
why it is not dived very much by reading my personaldiving blog
to find out more about it.
Brian
Congratulations to Ed! A Happy 50th Birthday! Yes Ed has joined the ranks of
the 'older people'. We were thinking of giving him a walking
stick.....
Apolpgies on the other hand to those of you who like to browse our photo-gallery. It was hacked by some spammers and we have had to take it off-line for the moment.
Brian
We have just completed an unusual day - organising a special snorkelling
expedition for 40 members of 'ClassAfloat', who sailed into Las Palmas this
week as part of their year-long trip on board a tall ship. We had agreat
morning discovering the wealth of marine life on Las Cantoneras Beach in Las
Palmas which was well protected from the strong swell of the last few days.
The Classafloat moves on to Africa in the next few days and we move back to
planning for a busy christmas period.
Brian 
Over the past few years, we know that some of you have had difficulty
finding our dive centre in Arinaga, as it is neither on the main street or
by the sea. Hopefully this will become a thing of the past as we have now
installed some signs on the main road coming into arinaga to make it obvious
where our centre is. And after several openings and closures we remain the
only professional and licenced diving centre in Arinaga, as La Galena Verde
(A Spanish diving shop) has now moved to Vecindario.
Brian
Wow, what a dive we have just had. The marine reserve in Arinaga always
gives you something special but today's dive was top drawer. Imagine going
for your first ever dive in the sea and coming across a mother stingray with
five baby stingrays buzzing around her. The youngsters were not as timid as
some older stingrays and flew around our group of beginners a couple of
times, and then back to the mother. Then we found an Angel Shark sleeping in
the sand as well! Yes, and all this was in water just 5m deep and well
within range for all the beginners today. Cracking dive!
Brian 
They're back! As usual Angelsharks have returned to the reserve in
mid-November. We normally encounter them towards the end of the month but
with slightly colder weather than normal this year they have arrived about
10 days earlier than last year. This is exactly what we predicted from the
survey we have been carring out with the University of Las Palmas (see our
Shark Survey Page). At the same time, the smaller pygmy filefish on which
our logo is based, have started to return to the bay for winter.
Brian
Spectacular September! This september we have had some excellent conditions
for diving. The winds dropped down in the second week and the conditions
have been calm with great visibility. Autumn is always the best time to dive
in the Marine Reserve and this autumn has started with a wonderful calm
period.
Brian 
BBC News in the UK have been reporting the return of
two turtles to Gran Canaria. They were among an unusual number of
loggerhead turtles that were washed up in the UK during the winter of 2008,
and were returned to the Canaries and released next to the statue of Triton
on the beach at Melenara recently.
Brian
When one of the world's top Shark photographers, Andy Murch, wanted to
photograph the critically endangered angel shark, where better to come than
to the El Cabron Marine Reserve in Gran Canaria and Davy Jones Diving. This
week we entertained him with some great dives, during which he got plenty of
photos of angel sharks, as well as a good selection of Marbled Electric
Rays, and a few other ray shots. We saw 4 types of ray during the week, but
the one that eluded us was the butterfly ray... so guess what we saw the day
after he left! Andy was delighted with the diving, and the clarity of the
water to allow him to get some great shots. You can visit his website and
browse through his collection of shark photographs.
Finally this week, we were just about to close the shop when the local police turned up. As part of the new regulations for dive centres they have now started a series of visits and inspections which aim to shut down any dive centre in Gran Canaria which does not comply with the new laws on diving centres in the Canaries. Fortunately all our paperwork was fine and we had a good chat with the officers, who said that all the un-licensed centres should be expecting a knock on their door in the next few weeks, and if they have not got their papers, the illegal centres will be shut down.
Brian 
We are celebrating again! This time it is the tenth birthday of Davy Jones
Diving being based in Arinaga! To celebrate we have a special Birthday offer
for pre-booked divers in June - Dive at 1998 prices! Use our contact
form to find out what that means to you, but remember.. it only applies to
June!
Brian 
As with previous years, the middle of May has proved to give some of the
best conditions of the year. This week has been really calm and we have been
rewarded with almost daily sightings of angel sharks, normally so docile and
afraid of us that we can get really close. Until yesterday when one was
unusually spooked, and became far more aggressive than normal, before
turning back and giving me a warning 'bump' on the leg! I think this is the
first actual 'contact' that we have had in the ten years that the diving
school has been open in Arinaga! I was a bit concerned for my student when
the angel shark gave up on me and circled him before swimming away, but he
loved it (not bad for a second open water dive he said!). We can't provide
this level of entertainment ever day but we do say that the marine reserve
is always full of surprises, which keeps it's reputation up as the best
diving site in Gran Canaria!
Brian
We are starting a long term process to update our web pages to a new,
cleaner, look, with better navigation and improved photos. While we do this
you may find a variety of page styles, and some minor errors in displays. We
have also tested most pages in Internet Explorer 7, but older versions, and
users of Firefox may get some minor errors with the loading of pages. Please
bear with us, let us know if you find any sentances that suddenly end, or
links that don't work, and we'll get all the little niggles sorted out as
soon as we can.
Brian
This week should have been one for celebration, as we finally recived our
written authorisation as an authorised diving centre from the Gobierno de
Canarias (Canarian Government). Sadly the loss of a close relative has meant
that our thoughts and activities have been directed elsewhere. However
looking forward our customers can expect to experience the high safety
standards required by this new law, and enjoy some of the best diving in
Gran Canaria whenever they choose to dive with us in Arinaga.
Brian
We have just spent a lovely long weekend in the UK to celebrate the wedding
of our daughter, Annette, to Chris.
The weather in England was terrible! we had gale force winds, hail and snow, and very cold weather; however the wedding was a great success, and I have changed the page on Annette and Chris to show some of the highlights. It was really nice to come back to Gran Canaria, to blue skies, air temperatures in the 20's and water temperature of 18C ( i think the warmest the air got was about 6C while we were there!). If you are planning some diver training for the summer, nows the time to jump on Jet2 and sail on down here for some nice relaxed, warm, spring diving.
Brian
Well, we finally had our dive centre inspection by the Canarian Authorities
this week to finally confirm our status as a legal dive centre. This process
has now taken nearly 2 years (we have been waiting for 14 months for the
inspector to come!) but now that they have inspected us (and about 10 other
professional dive centres in Gran Canaria) they are going to start closing
down some of the 'pirates' and un-registered dive centres across the whole
of the Canaries. If you find a dive centre offering really cheap prices now,
it means they are failing to invest in customer safety and security, or
operating without a proper legal dive centre as a base. Our tip is ask them
to confirm the status of their recent inspection - If it was not
'favourable' then forget them, or dive with them at your own risk.
Brian
Wow, Five Angelsharks today! This week we have seen them every day, and the
special bonus of a scrawled filefish hanging about. This February has been
the best for several years for diving: Water temperatures are slightly up on
the last two years, and the air temperatures have been a lot warmer, with
less wind, so you feel less chilled after your dive. Glad to see Dive
Magazine rating Gran Canaria as a great place for Winter Diving in their
latest edition.
Brian
We are now on SKYPE! If you have SKYPE then you can call us now free of
charge to discuss and plan your diving, completely free of charge! We have
set the system up to divert to home out of office hours as well, so don't
hesitate to call us (free) and discuss your diving options. Our User id is
'davyjonesdiving' and we will shortly add a link to all the contact blocks
and pages.
Brian
We had a great day today, first day of diving in 2008. Conditions here are
really great, and to start the year we found a Harlequin Crab! Eduardo has
been diving here for years and it was his first sighting in 5000 dives. Last
year we had two reported sightings (one with a picture) which we followed up
by finding two empty carapaces, but they are small, mainly nocturnal, and
highly camouflaged so easy to overlook. We have also seen an angelshark
again today and visibility is excellent.
Brian
Simon's article and photos have now been published in the January 2007
edition of BSAC Dive.. and they show the variety and scale of diving now
here in Gran Canaria. From the picture on the front of a shoal of grunts,
through the stunning shots of the Arona and Kalais, to the detailed shots in
El Cabrón and Sardina, Simon shows that Gran Canaria really does have
world class diving.
Brian
For the last ten days we have been hosting Simon Rogerson, the editor of
BSAC Dive magazine, and showing him just how good diving in Gran Canaria can
be. He has photographed and dived all the top sites including the marine
Reserve in Arinaga, the wrecks of Las Palmas, la Catedral, Sardina del Norte
and the South West of the Island. Look out for his review in the January
edition of BSAC Dive, and see some of the amazing photos he has
taken. When I get over my photo jealosy (well he did have a big Nikon D200
in a pro housing) I will create a new album in the photo gallery for you to
enjoy the shots.
Brian
This Autumn we are celebrating five years since we took over Davy Jones
Diving. We have made a lot of changes in that time, but the diving still
remains excellent. This autumn we have been rewarded with nearly six weeks
of excellent conditions. Sadly for us all however, Annette has decided that
she wants to take her career in a different direction, and so has moved back
to the UK.
Brian
September has so far been an excellent month for diving here .. the water is
up to 23C, the conditions have been nice and calm, and we have been seeing
lots of rays .. three today, and once again a small turtle was spotted,
although this time it immediately took flight. Last week at Sardina del
Norte we saw six manta rays, and are planning more excursions around the
island in the next few weeks.
Brian
It's Fiesta time in Arinaga, and tonight is the big parade along the
promenade. The town is already packed and everyone is wearing the
traditional dress - White shirt or top, blue jeans to the knee. They are
barbecueing fresh sardines all along the beach and by midnight when they
start the fireworks you won't be able to move on the prom! No night dives
tonight (well, you have to party when you can ...)
Brian
Our new daily feed has gone live! We now have a unique, daily report on
conditions for diving in the Arinaga Marine Reserve. On the left of the
English homepage you will find the report and thumbnail, with more details
on the weather
page.
Brian
We have just received our first copy of the new book,"Descubre Gran Canaria
bajo el Mar" (Discover Gran Canaria beneath the sea) and it is excellent.
You can see our review on the 'Books' page in the 'El Cabrón'
section.
Brian
We have waited two years to find them then two come along at once. Yes we
have discovered two Seahorses within the space of a week! We have now seen
both twice and hope to show suitably qualified divers these little gems over
the coming months on a regular basis. Latest photo will be added to the
recent photos file.
Brian
Our reputation as the most knowledgeable dive centre in the Arinaga area has
taken another step up. The Spanish diving magazine, Buceo XXI came to us
when they wanted to write an article on the El Cabrón marine reserve,
and ended up using our photos and our website material, translated into
Spanish, for their article. The resulting page can be seen in the July
edition of Buceo XXI.
Brian
Many of you will have seen the news footage about the terrible forest fires
raging in Gran Canaria and Tenerife at present. We wanted all our friends to
know that we are all perfectly safe here, about 40km from the fires, which
are in the mountains in the centre. A few 'rural' tourists have been
evacuated, but all of the big tourist resorts (Playa del Ingles, Maspalomas,
Puerto Rico and Arguineguin) are unaffected and there are no restrictions on
either our diving, or most other tourist activities. They are now getting
the fire under control so hopefully everything else will be back to normal
in the next week.
Brian
We found the turtle again! This time with a camera so we can see from the
photos it appears to be a fairly old Green Turtle. Look in the 'recent
photos' section of the photo gallery on the left!
Brian
We went to Sardina del Norte for a change today. It´s an hour by car
from here but we were rewarded by finding a Seahorse, and five Angelsharks!
At this time of year Sardina seems to become a mecca for Angelsharks, and
other divers have recently reported up to 40 on one dive! The Universtity is
carrying out research into this behaviour, and we continue to contribute our
sightings here in El Cabrón.
Brian
Wow -what a great day's diving. The weather forecast was not so good today
so we were almost alone diving here .. and we found our first ever Turtle on
the Table Top .. followed by the biggest Eagle Ray we have ever seen ..
while up at Punta de la Sal we saw Dusky Grouper, Tuna, another smaller
eagle ray, and came to one area with visibility of betwwen 20 and 30 metres.
In the afternoon we also saw Triggerfish, Barracuda, and a tiny baby ray in
the bay. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and had plenty to talk
about..
Brian
We have a new minibus! Yes, a brand new, air-conditioned, spacious mini-bus
to improve your comfort when we pick you up to come diving in the Arinaga
marine reserve. While we have never had any safety issues with our current
vehicles this is engineered to higher (current) safety standards and
includes three-point seat belts for all passengers among other improvements.
So now we not only offer you the best diving on Gran Canaria, but we also
have one of the best pick-up and transfer services to our dive centre as
well.
Brian
Conditions are spectacular this week! Visibility is above average, very low
currents, temperatures 20-21 and being spring, lots of life about. Huge
shoals of sprats, sardines and tiny spawn; Stingrays have been seen several
times and the odd angelshark can still be seen. We have also just discovered
that ScubaPortal, has included us in it's final selection for it's
competition to find the best dive centre website. Its quite rewarding for us
to be considered as one of the top 50 dive centre websites, but you can put
us on top!, You can vote for us here: http://www.scubaportal.net/diving/
or if your French is good, give us a vote at plongeur.com. Update Tuesday- It seems these sites are in Italian / French! Have fun!
Brian
Spring is definitely here. There are millions of sardines and bogas in the
reserve, flashing in the sunlight and attracting various predators. After a
month's absence angelsharks have reappeared in both deep and shallow water,
and we saw a Trachinus radiatus (Giant weeverfish) in shallow water
yesterday. It is also getting warmer .. 21ºC now!
Brian
It's Butterfly week! On Tuesday we saw two butterfly rays and yesterday
another one in a different area. We have also seen several angelsharks. The
weather is really hot (up to 38ºC on the land) as we have a Kalima
blowing in from Africa; so get in the water now, chill out and enjoy! Also
this week, our cumulative website pageloads crept over a quarter of a
million!
Brian
We have had some excellent dives over Easter! The weather has been really
calm, so the visibility is really good, and the Triggerfish have been
spotted several times. Unfortunately after a storm we have only seen one
angelshark. Water temperatures are climbing over 20C and the marine reserve
here is certainly the best place to dive on the island at present.
Brian
Ed showed his talents as a shark wrangler last week by rescuing no less than
three angelsharks and one ray from some illegal fishing nets in the reserve.
The net had been left in the bay in an area we do not normally dive, and had
ensnared a total of three sharks, and one anomalous ray, possibly a rare
deep water type. Fortunately Ed was able to release them all without serious
injury to either them or him.
Brian
We have just got back from a holiday in the Red Sea and Ed and Annette tell
us that while we were away they saw a really friendly Butterfly Ray, a manta
ray at Sardina del Norte and Dolphins frolicking in the Bay! We have a
Kalima here so temperatures in Gran Canaria are even 2C warmer then in
Egypt! Still we had a nice break and have returned refreshed.
Brian
Diving conditions have remained great this week, water temperature about
1-2C warmer than this time last year, and having found a Spiny Pufferfish
last week we have been surprised with a beautiful Harlequin Crab this
week.
Brian
We have had some really nice diving over Christmas, and conditions have
remained calm into January. Unfortunately a storm in early December took
away the Christmas tree, but there is a lot about at the moment -we have
seen Angelsharks every day since new year in several different areas; A cape
lobster last week and today a spiny pufferfish right in the middle of the
Reserve. It´s nice and quiet now, in winter we have small groups but
we also have some special
offers to fill up our quiet days a little.
Brian
Christmas is here .. The annual return of the Christmas Tree to the reserve
took place yesterday, so it's time for us to put on silly Santa hats when we
dive! We will put our own Nativity Scene in place over the next few days as
well.
Brian
November was a funny month here. Temperatures above and below the surface
have been above average .. air about 30C and water 22C... but early in the
month visibility was down after a big thunderstorm. Still conditions have
cleared again and with the clearer water both Angelshark and Pygmy filefish
have returned as normal for winter. We did one dive last week and saw 7
stingrays, so the prospects for Xmas are excellent.
Brian
Finally .. after months of delays .. our new compressor is online! The
3-phase was finally connected, and the new system is all plumbed in and
running. It may be the end of one season but come Christmas and Easter and
it will help us turn around tanks much faster and more effectively.
Brian
Our family of Triggerfish seem to have dispersed from Punta de la Sal and
over the last few weeks have been seen singly in various places. One seems
to have moved to the Bay where we have seen him several times at between 6
and 15m. He is a great new addition to our 'daycourse route' as he is
inquisitive enough to come and inspect all the divers in his area.
Brian
Wow, great diving conditions at present, calm seas, good viz, lots of life.
Last week other divers saw both a Manta Ray and a Frogfish in the reserve,
we had an excellent night dive and saw squid, stingray, forkbeard, octopus,
morays and lots more. In the dive centre we nearly got 3-phase last week,
but the man only had the papers to put the new supply in, not to remove the
old single-phase supply. More papers, another delay... good job our old
trusty Bauer keeps on running and compressing the air for us.
Brian
It must be Stingray week! Over the last few days we have seen lots .. two
eagle rays swimming together in Punta de la Sal, A rare sighting of a
rough-tailed ray, and on Sunday on a 'private' dive Ed and I saw an enormous
common ray .. very old and big, plus several 'normal' round rays and eagle
rays, and an Angelshark. We also found the mythical 'campo de Gorgonias'
which includes many more examples of Gerardia Savaglia than the single
specimen normally seen and photographed on Punta de la Sal. There is
unfortunately no easy way to get to this zone so it will remain an 'extreme
dive' and you'll just have to enjoy the pictures.
Brian
Phew! it's the start of October and the temperature has shot up! 40C in
Playa del Ingles today and about 33 here in Arinaga. It is due to last a few
days... jump in the water its real cool there.Nice to see several divers
from HMS Albion this weekend, here in Las Palmas for a few days for a
planned visit.
Brian
This week should have been when we got the 3-phase connected.. but we are
waiting still and our new compressors sits again idle on the floor... On
Tuesday we submitted our Emergency Plans to the local government as part of
our registration papers, only to test it in earnest on wednesday when a
diver slipped in the dive centre and dislocated his shoulder (ouch!). Our
new medical partner worked perfectly, and within 90 minutes he had been
taken to hospital by ambulance, examined by an english speaking doctor,
strapped up and released. Please.. no more bare feet on our slippy
floors!
Brian
Wow, diving conditions today are great! After a couple of days with strong
waves it has dropped flat calm. We swam all around the Table Top from the
Hole in the Wall, and it was wall to wall fish. We started with a cuttlefish
in 0.5m of water, and saw stingray, morays, barracuda, trumpetfish, octopus,
a stargazer, and thousands of smaller stuff. Loads of sardines/bogas about,
the shoal of grunts was huge and plenty of damselfish, wrassse and bream. A
lovely glide through the reserve for a Sunday morning dive.
Brian
We have just been for a nice dive in the bay and found a Unicornfish! We
have only seen two this year and there it was in 14m just outside the second
cave! To cap it a big barracuda and a couple of Medregel swam past as well.
Great second dive.
Brian |
