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Davy Jones Diving News BlogThis is an informal News Blog to keep you updated on the day-to-day events at Davy Jones Diving Centre in Gran Canaria. We post all our 'big news' on the News page but it takes more time to upload so we will put the gossip, the sightings, the high (and perhaps the lows!) here. We have just had a stunning week, weatherwise, with lovely air temperatures, low winds and great visibility. In one week we have had so many diving highlights as well! We saw the (very rare for us) Spiny Pufferfish on two days, saw a mother Stingray with six or seven babies around her, Angel shark swimming, stingrays, and lots more besides. When conditions are like this we can come across virtually anything, and to prove this on a recent night dive we discovered our first ever Small European Locust Lobster - so small we had to photograph it and then look it up in the book!
This Spring we seem to have seen a lot more nudibrachs than normal, and we have also come across more Sea Hares during the day then we normally do. Once again the Marine Reserve keeps it's reputation of being full of surprises. Brian 
Brian 
We had some great dives during the week, including the wrecks of both Las Palmas and the West Coast, and of course a real exploration of parts of the El Cabrón Marine Reserve. So keep your eyes on Diver and this summer we hope to see some exciting pictures which really showcase the diving in Gran Canaria.
Brian 
Brian
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
Our Christmas Advent
Calendar is now open!
Access if from the 'whiteboard' or from underneath the book-flip on our welcome page.
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 |
