Lanzarote January 2014
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A wet and cold January in England, the perfect time to go looking for some winter sun and some warmer water diving. A 5mm semi dry suit was sufficient for most of us and on shore, during the day, shorts and t-shirts were all that was needed, what bliss!
Our hotel was just a few minutes walk from the beach and Safari Divers was on the beach with just a few short steps into the sea or a few more if we wanted to use the boat which left from the pier.
For a relaxing shore dive it was easy to stroll into the water, explore the rocky cove and say hallo to the very large grouper that patrolled the area and was quite happy to pose for divers. Further from the shore the ocean bed dropped away and we explored the reef wall and a cavern called the "Cathedral" covered in anemones and corals. From the boat we had a greater choice of sites, from wrecks and reefs to a lava tunnel.
Whilst there were shoals of fish to swim amongst the highlights of our trip had to be the sea horses and the angel shark, it was my first sighting of either of these and I would almost certainly have missed them if our guide had not pointed them out.
The seahorses (two of them) were beautifully camouflaged and being small, were easy to miss, but I wouldn't have believed that I could miss a 5 ft. angel shark! However when we were beckoned closer by our guide all I could see was a sandy space on a sea bed which was mainly covered in garden eels. Then he scooped his hand under its tale and a huge disgruntled fish swam off to find a more peaceful spot away from nosy divers.
The island of Lanzarote was formed by volcanic eruption and the evidence was all around us, from the rocks on the shore to the tunnel formed by lava flow that we swam through, but on the last day we took a coach trip to look at the interior of the island and discovered an incredible landscape of jagged lava fields and a still active volcano, well worth a look.
Many thanks to Steve for organising the trip; it was the perfect antidote to a wet and gloomy English winter.
