Derek’s Dive Domain

Day 3 of the diving dawns as all days seem to in Tenerife, warm and sunny.  Its going to be a special day today, as this afternoons dive will mark my 100th dive, and what better place to do it than out here.

After the traditional lazy start to the morning, we get in the bus and head off to the first dive site of the day, at the new dive site just down from Rad Azul, where a new wreck has been put into the ocean at 30 metres.  We arrive at Tabaiba (I think thats the name of the dive site) and kit up.  We get in for this dive, by going down some ladders into the edge of the water, a platform that has been put in for the divers, and swimmers to use.  We drop down by the rocky wall, and at about 10 meters, we pick up a long pipe which is a very handy method of locating the wreck.  We follow the pipeline down, and it slopes gently down to 18 metres, where the wreck suddenly looms up at us.  You can see for miles on this dive, the viz is really good in this area, and you can see the whole of the wreck and the sand banking down beyond it.  We skirt around at the bottom of the hull, doing the deepest part of the dive first.  The base of the hull lies in about 31 metres of water at the stern end, and the boat is lying at about a 30 degree angle, rising up towards the front, which is on about 20 metres.  We spend some time mooching around the hull, and then rise up to 22 metres, to have a good look at the deck level, and through some of the windows into the inside of the ship.  I decide not to go in on this occasion, as its the first time I’ve seen it, even though its completely clear, I save that for the second dive that we make on the ship later in the week.  Once we are finished on the wreck, we head back over and take the easy navigation back by the pipeline, where some wildlife has taken residence.  Once back up to 10 metres, we spend a few minutes looking at the rocky wall for critters, and then ascend back up to the 5 metre platform for safety stops, and more general mooching about, before exiting at the ladders.  This is a new dive site for me, and one that I really like.  It will be very interesting to come back here in a couple of years time and see how the wildlife is settling in on the wreck, as it had only been down there about 3 months when we visited.

We spend the surface interval driving up and down the TF1, as Gareth suddenly realises that he has left his computer on the side at the dive site, however on returning, he discovers it under his foot in the minibus.  Hardly any abuse followed for the rest of the week (oh OK, he wasn’t allowed to forget it!), then it was over to the days second dive site at Las Eras, which again is one of my favourite dives with the swimthrough.  We enter down the slipway as usual and head out around the headland, and descend gradually down to 22 metres, stopping to take photos of me being silly in a sunken rowing boat.  Its really hard work on the outward trip today as there is quite a current that we are fighting against, but eventually we make the turning point of the dive, and ascend up to 13 metres where the swimthrough is.  We pass through this, and I take more notice of the surrounding rocks and nooks and crannies this time, as I am more relaxed doing this sort of thing, and exit into the small bowl area, before heading back out into the open ocean for the return trip along by the cliff wall.  Coming back with the tide is great, as its really easy going, almost like a drift dive, and we exit back at the slipway.  Group photos are taken for both the holiday snaps, and my 100th dive “celebration” and then is it back to the dive centre.  Unfortunately my ears are still giving me some grief, and its beginning to really annoy me.

Dive 5 (99)  Max Depth 30.2m, dive time 48 mins

Dive 6 (100)  Max Depth 22m, dive time 50 mins