Tenerife

In article <44c5d6ab$1_1@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>,
paulus <on@request.com> wrote:
>
>"Gordon Henderson" <gordon@lion.drogon.net> wrote in message
>>
>> English channel. Red Sea. Maldives. Barrier reef, and, er., just about
>> anywhere but Tenerife ...
>>
>> OK. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but I found the diving to be a bit
>> "samey". See the same old volcanic rock, blue fishes, spiney urchins on
>> just about every dive.
>
>> dived with some 13 (ish) years ago...
>
>Thanks Gordon,
>
>I thought that might be the case. It will be made worse by the fact that
>it's only 8 weeks since I was on a Red Sea liveaboard.
>I'm just hoping that there is more to see than on the dives I've done in
>Turkey.

It's probably worth 1 or 2 dives - especially if you have other plans for
the holiday, and although I don't really agree with feeding the fishes,
etc. the stingray dive on the small wreck is fun, and you might see a
turtle or 2 too. (Just watch out for the Yellow submarine - not sure if
it's still operating, but it nearly landed on me on my very first trip
out there!)

It will probably be a degree or 2 cooler than the Red Sea too. (Which
is where I'm going next week - woo hoo

Gordon

"Gordon Henderson" <gordon@lion.drogon.net> wrote in message
news:ea3gqm$uap$1@lion.drogon.net...
> In article <44c53b7c_2@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>,
> paulus <on@request.com> wrote:
>>Hi,
>>
>>I'm off on a late availability to Tenerife on Friday staying at the lovely
>>peaceful Las Americas. Not a diving holiday but I would like to get a few
>>in
>>and will be taking the kit.
>>
>>I've been there a few times before but haven't dived there yet, though I
>>haved dived in the Canaries . Looking round on t'internet I see plenty of
>>operations to choose from but would like some recomendations if possible.
>>
>> From what I see there are quite a lot of "nice dives". But which are the
>>"not to be missed" dives (if any)?
>
> English channel. Red Sea. Maldives. Barrier reef, and, er., just about
> anywhere but Tenerife ...
>

*DING* exactly, at times there seemed more life on the moon.

> OK. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but I found the diving to be a bit
> "samey". See the same old volcanic rock, blue fishes, spiney urchins on
> just about every dive.

I'd agree, but perhaps the Red Sea has spoilt me <shrugs>

>
> There is a small "wreck" that was deliberately sunk in about 21m, where
> you can get to feed the stingrays.
>

Yep that's not too shabby a dive.

> I dived with Coral Sub when I was last there:
> http://www.canary-guide.com/tf/coral-sub/
>
> but theres (or was!) a good English run place in Los Gigantes who I
> dived with some 13 (ish) years ago...
>

I dived with Island Divers (after probs with another outfit), Graham (of
Island Divers) a genuinely good and helpful bloke.

--
Steve Parry
K100RS SE & F650
and a 520i SE Touring for comfort

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

"Gordon Henderson" <gordon@lion.drogon.net> wrote in message
news:ea4tf6$7v9$1@lion.drogon.net...
>
>
> It's probably worth 1 or 2 dives - especially if you have other plans for
> the holiday, and although I don't really agree with feeding the fishes,
> etc. the stingray dive on the small wreck is fun, and you might see a
> turtle or 2 too. (Just watch out for the Yellow submarine - not sure if
> it's still operating, but it nearly landed on me on my very first trip
> out there!)
>
> It will probably be a degree or 2 cooler than the Red Sea too. (Which
> is where I'm going next week - woo hoo
>
> Gordon

I'll be getting another few dives in at Capernwray tommorow (with my mates
at www.h2ho.co.uk ), which will help me overlook any shortfalls in the
diving in Tenerife.

Paulus

paulus wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm off on a late availability to Tenerife on Friday staying at the lovely
> peaceful Las Americas. Not a diving holiday but I would like to get a few in
> and will be taking the kit.
>
> I've been there a few times before but haven't dived there yet, though I
> haved dived in the Canaries . Looking round on t'internet I see plenty of
> operations to choose from but would like some recomendations if possible.
>
> From what I see there are quite a lot of "nice dives". But which are the
> "not to be missed" dives (if any)?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Paulus
>
>
I dived with Easy Blue World in Abades. As a dive outfit they weren't
brilliant but they weren't bad either; George (he's English if that
makes a difference to you) was our guide for most of the dives and was
very knowledgeable about the area and made for a superb dive companion.
Yes the dives did seem a bit samey around certain parts of the coast
but I wouldn't say that they were boring (except for the house reef
after the 3rd visit).

You're in a warmer part of the Atlantic to the UK and the viz is
generally better, we saw plenty of trumpetfish, cuttlefish, octopussies
and rays, all large; as Gordon says you will see plenty of the black
spiny sea urchins in addition. Our restrictions were down to the
various experience levels within the group not the diving which was on
offer - if we'd split our group (this wasn't an option) a couple of us
could have (apparently) explored some deeper/more challenging dive sites
which offered more variety and a greater chance to see more of the
pelagic life.

Just my two penneth worth

Stef
www.mostly-diving.co.uk

What else ...

I live in Tenerife, and I'm still not bored by the dives here �

I dive principally with two diving centres (when I’m not diving by
myself).

1°) Ocen Blue Divers in Los Gigantes … a nice English diving centre
for nice & friendly dive with rays … and WITHOUT FEEDING ! (Very
important for me too… be careful, plenty of DC used to do this).

2°) Easy Blue World in Abades (like Stef)… they dive from the
coast. They have a lot of knowledge from Tenerife submarine spots and
are very safe. It’s a pleasure to dive with them; on their website
http://www.easyblueworld.com/ you can find all the diving spots,
including fishes! Furthermore with them you can try different dives,
like the scooter one for example.

If you’ve got some more questions, just ask.

K

"KTNF" <krol55@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1153910375.601414.182480@m79g2000cwm.googlegr oups.com...
What else ...

I live in Tenerife, and I'm still not bored by the dives here ?

I dive principally with two diving centres (when I'm not diving by
myself).

1°) Ocen Blue Divers in Los Gigantes . a nice English diving centre
for nice & friendly dive with rays . and WITHOUT FEEDING ! (Very
important for me too. be careful, plenty of DC used to do this).

2°) Easy Blue World in Abades (like Stef). they dive from the
coast. They have a lot of knowledge from Tenerife submarine spots and
are very safe. It's a pleasure to dive with them; on their website
http://www.easyblueworld.com/ you can find all the diving spots,
including fishes! Furthermore with them you can try different dives,
like the scooter one for example.

If you've got some more questions, just ask.

K


Ok Thanks for the replys guys.

Paulus

>
> Ok Thanks for the replys guys.
>
> Paulus

You're welcome ... and if you like, when you'll back, you can tell us
your dives :)
See U

Another 2p worth -
Atlantic Divers, Las Galletas. Run by Geoff, from Lincoln.
See if you can get to Palm Mar blowhole - it's one hell of an exciting
entry!
Cita del Mar is a 40m wreck for the proficient. Don't know if the sails are
still wafting in the current.
Condesita - shallow wreck some 10/15mins out, lots of trumpet fish. Get it
whilst you can, it's disappearing fast.
Las Rosas - grunts by the bucketload.
al
"KTNF" <krol55@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1154077027.156353.204520@b28g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> >
>> Ok Thanks for the replys guys.
>>
>> Paulus
>
> You're welcome ... and if you like, when you'll back, you can tell us
> your dives :)
> See U
>

Just back from Tenerife so while my memory is fresh i'll give a quick
report.

On recommendation from a diver friend I dived with Aquamarina Diving:
http://www.aqua-marina.com/index.htm
They are based near the main Las Vistas beach at the Las Americas/Los
Christianos border.

The Dives:

"Roncadores Del Faro" 20 Mts for 45min. Classic Canarian "rock and urchin "
dive with some big shoals of Grunt (Roncadores) to swim through.

"El Condesito" 18Mts for 47min. The wreck of a boat carrying bags of
cement. The bow is completely collapsed and flat but with some nice small
critters hidden in the tangled metal. A friendly Cuttlefish was the
highlight of that area. The rest of the wreck was upright but very fragile.
Added to the fact that the whole thing was swaying and groaning in the surge
made this a no penetration dive. Some big Cornet type fish round the deeper
rudder area.

"El Meridian" 31Mts for 35 min. This wreck was sunk intentionaly. Looks
very impressive upright in very clear water. Plenty of swimthroughs. Would
liked to have stayed longer but ran out of bottom time.

"Roncadores Del Palm Mar" 24Mts for 50 mins. Another rock and urchin
dive. But on closer inspection found lots of crabs and shrims in crevices
etc.

"El Puertito" 9Mts for 55mins. A very shallow dive in not too great
visibillity. The attraction is a very inqusitive and friendly turtle. It
likes to eyeball divers closeup and slapped me in the face a couple of times
with its flippers. It comes looking for divers and inspects each one in
turn. I suspect that it is getting fed by some (naughty) divers. We were
trying to look at an octopus in a hole but the turtle had other ideas and
kept on pushing in on the action.

"Palm Mar Cave" 33Mts for 34 mins. Great dive. Colonies of moray eels on a
plateu at 14m. On down to the entrance to a cave where divers have lost
their lives. Strictly no penetration on this occasion. A cross sits at the
entrance in memory of the decesased. Near by stands a statue of the madonna
placed there by local fishermen for spiritual protection. Ran out of no stop
time just as a group of large Atlantic Rays came to look at us so had to
view them from above while I avoided manadtory stops (not my scene). But
with excellent visibillity I still got a good look.

"Las eras" 27Mts for 46min. This was a shore dive after a drive up the E.
coast. Scenery quite different from the far south. Lots of fish life some
big barracuda and just about as much other stuff to see as you could take
in. The urchins were in the minority.

Most of the dives were from the companys nice 7.5mtr RIB (they have a second
boat entering service any time now). My buddy and I ended most dives with
plenty of air left but we were never rushed or dragged out of the water by
the DM. But as the less experienced and the gas guzzelers were often sat up
on the rib waiting for us to return we were happy to end the dive when we
had seen our fair share of the attractions. Other than that most of the
dives could have been over the hour with a 12l tank.

I found the diving to be somewhat better than expected. I also found Aqua
Marina to be a great bunch. Having experienced the (variable) pleasures of
escorted diving in many places I was pleased that there was no rush and the
staff wanted us to get the most from every dive. Very friendly and good
company too. The owner even took us for a beer at the end of my last diving
day.

Even though this was not a diving holiday my planned 2 or 3 dives became 7 -
much to chagrin of she who waits on the surface! I will certainly dive in
Tenerife again. Maybe even make it a diving holiday.

Hope this was of interest

Paulus

Thanks a lot Paulus for this great report, and very happy that you
enjoy diving in Tenerife :)
Now, you need to discover :
- diving with the rays at the bottom of Los Gigantes
- all the dives of the south-east coast (except las eras for sure ...
by the way, did you went to the tunnel in Las Eras ?)
- and the north of the island
Thanks again ... and see U
K