Scuba Diving Gran Canaria

Puerto Rico has its own scuba diving schools, located by the beach. Should you have your licence already, this is where you go to book your dives which are conducted all around the island, not just locally. The one I would recommend is called "Aquanauts". If you go down to the beach, the very left you can see toboggan/water slides and it's located just under there. Lots of people have taken time out to get back to me after their holidays to say how fantastic they are. If you don't have a licence, this is where you go to train for one on their 5 day course or alternatively, they hold day courses for you to be able to dive with an instructor.

There's 2 short courses - if you just want to dive for the experience of diving, there's a 1 day "discovery" course which includes practice and then a sea dive, with an instructor. The second course lasts 2 days, a bit more intensive with the training and 2 dives out to sea. After the 2 days, if you wish you'd done the 5 day course instead and got a license, don't worry! You can upgrade the 2 day course - pay the difference and do 3 more days to get the license. The one day course costs €50.00 and the 2 day course €80.00.

If you're a bit more serious about scuba diving and have 5 days spare to train, 3 in theory and the pool with 2 more with your instructor in the ocean, you get an international (PADI) diving licence. The allows you to dive anywhere in the world without needing an instructor with you or obtaining any further training the next time/place you want to dive. Cost is €350.00.

Water temperatures are around 19C/67F in winter and 26C/80F in summer. Here around Puerto Rico there's a reef dive and night dive, also Mogán reef which offers diving into a maze of volcanic rocks amidst large sandy areas housing many species of fish including garden eels. Just a little further afield round to the west coast are beaches inaccessible by land where it's possible to wall dive, see caves, as well as various reefs. Cabron National Park is a government-protected area here, again inaccessible by land. Interesting volcanic rock formations include caves, canyons and chimneys. The soft corals here provide ideal hiding places for octopus, squid, moray eels, trumpet fish, turtles, large schools of barracuda and the colourful reef fish. The more sandy areas are where you will see rays, cuttle fish and angel sharks.

For divers interested in wrecks, the best are found of the north east coast near Las Palmas. Recommended for experienced divers only, these wrecks are still in good condition. Prices for wreck diving are €51.00 including all equipment.

For the more confident and experienced divers, trips can be arranged heading towards Fuerteventura. In these waters you will find a huge, volcanic crater, 2 miles in diameter, the top of the crater just 30 meters down. This is where you'll find whales, turtles, dolphins, also blue and hammerhead sharks.

 

The night dives are around €45.00 and the full day trips, which usually offer two dives with a break for lunch, are around €72.00 or €90.00 including equipment hire. Obviously, prices vary depending on what you chose and whom you go diving with. The one dive I highly recommend is the "El Cabron underwater national park" half way up the east coast. The coral, underwater cliffs and sea-life in general there is arguably the best in the Canaries. Other interesting options include going on an underwater photo-shoot (€51.00) or video shoot (€63.00)

If you'd like to go on the 5 days diving course to get your "PADI" certificate and want to book it in advance to ensure your place, let me know via email and I'll book it for you, pay nothing now, just reconfirm it (or cancel if you change your mind) the first morning you're here. The cost is €350.00. I'm also happy to secure you a place on a day course or any of the day dives. The school here I recommend also has it's own insurance for divers so no need to take out any extra.

Aquanauts also offer specialist courses for instructor developement, they can train you to be a certified instructor and do dive master courses also. Currently, they are the only company on the island able to do this.

A happy customer writes - "Firstly the Scuba diving - probably the most pleasurable experience of my life. I did the 5 day PADI course on my own during the first week and ended up doing 6 more dives during the next week. The centre was extremely friendly and as it turned out, diving is fun! The guys there fill you with confidence, you soon realise that although the first dive is probably one of the scariest things you will ever do, they are there if something does go wrong (which of course, it never does!!). The underwater environment around Gran Canaria is fantastic - we dived at El Cabron & Pasito Blanco. Shore dives and boat dives. There were Rays, Barracuda's, Moray eels, underwater caverns even a Tuna fish!! - the scenery was pretty as a picture. I can't recommend this enough to anyone! .... I can't wait to get back again."