El Puertito Marine Reserve - Tenerife October 31, 2007
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Dive Reports, Pictures, Scuba diving abroad , 2comments
This dive was within a marine reserve project set up by David of Tenerife Divers to encourage marine life growth around the bay of El Puertito. A consequence of encouraging marine growth on the rocks is it provides food to other marine species, including a pair of green turtles. (Although perhaps some divers feeding them has also contributed) Our second dive of the day was to be a gentle bimble along the rocks making up the reserve and hope that one of the turtles comes along to say hi. We were not disappointed. I was first in and down the anchor line to the seabed at 6m. I secured the anchor on the rocks, took a mental note of the surroundings so we could find our way back and waited for Lisa and Rachel to meet me. (more…)
A big thank you to Island Divers Tenerife October 25, 2007
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Scuba diving abroad , add a comment
When booking a diving trip whether in the UK or abroad, it is as much about the people you dive with as the dive sites you visit. This is easy to sort out when one is booking as part of a group on a liveaboard or major dive trip but is somewhat more daunting when travelling on your own and to a lesser extent as a buddy pair or couple. After taking advice from other divers who had visited the islands before and going particularly on the recommendation of friends with whom I have dived regularly, we booked a couple of days diving with Island Divers in Tenerife. We chose Tenerife as it seemed to fulfill our criteria for decent diving in the sun with some good beaches and close enough to do a long weekend away .
As I was (more…)
Finally Lisa dives with a Turtle October 25, 2007
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Dive Reports, Scuba diving abroad, video clips , 1 comment so farIt’s only taken 14 years but Lisa has finally had the opportunity to dive with turtles. She has been in the water before when they are around, 3 years ago when we were diving in Oman, her Dad who was on the neighbouring boat to us saw five on a dive whilst we dived with yet more lionfish. However last week in Tenerife she finally got her chance. Diving with Island Divers, we visited the El Puertito Marine Reserve, set up by a dive centre owner to encourage marine growth. The two resident green turtles had been previously rescued and after recuperation released into the area around the reserve. Finding themselves in save territory they have settled in and are regularly found on the reserve. After just a few minutes into our dive I spotted the smaller of the two off in the blue, eager to see, Lisa followed gently behind, slightly spooking the turtle with her exhaust bubbles when she took out her reg for a picture. Learning from that episode we carried on with the dive, a few minutes later I heard a squeal from behind me, as the larger of the two turtles appeared and nearly bowled Lisa over, this really was a close encounter.
Atlantic Rays in Tenerife October 25, 2007
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Dive Reports, Scuba diving abroad, video clips , add a comment
This video was taken on Saturday 20th October. We were diving with Island Divers, Tenerife. About 10 minutes into our dive we were joined by these two atlantic rays who circled us as though they were looking for something or someone in particular. When they found Graham, you can see what happened.
Absolutely amazing creatures. Truly one of my most memorable dives.
Diving in Washington State with Samish Divers. February 2, 2007
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Scuba diving abroad , add a commentThrough the joys of the internet, I have recently been in contact with Samish Divers in Washington State. They contacted me through my blog entries on Scapa Flow and the U90. They are based near Bellingham Washington State on the Northwestern coast of the US bordering Canada. See Multimap.
I had a quick sneek on Google Earth to have a look at the area 
and the first thing that struck me is the number of little islands and bays. Lots of exploration possible.
It seems there is a lot of decent diving up there very similar to the sort of stuff we do here To Quote Kelly from Samish Divers Dive Centre “There is awsome diving around Vancouver island and also closer to my home in the San Juan islands. The area has huge amount of diving opportunities in the San Juan islands as well as numerous excellent shore and wall dives in and around Puget Sound. The area includes some great wreck dives, The Saskatchewan in Naniamo for example, and great Canadian diving.
All cold water diving and really fun. ” (more…)
Pictures from the Crater June 5, 2006
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Pictures, Scuba diving abroad , 1 comment so farMany thanks to Ralph from the Homestead Resort Crater dive centre who not only lent me his camera but also emailed through this weekend the pictures that I took while we diving .
I was struck by the way the light streamed through the narrow opening at the top of the crater creating a pillar of light in the water column. Unfortunately my photographic skills don’t do it justice but here we go anyway.
We also got a small video clip to go with it.
Diving in the Rocky Mountains - The Crater June 2, 2006
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Dive Reports, Scuba diving abroad , 2commentsOur family holiday this year was a return to Utah to visit with family and friends some of whom we had not seen for 5 years and so didn’t know the children at all. We had figured this would be a no-dive holiday as hey we were going to the desert and the rocky mountains. So first tip for the scuba addict is always check the internet before you go. If I had then I would have found Utahdiving.com. which tells you there is diving to be done in Utah. Once over in Utah though we were told about The Crater, a hot spring crater formed over 10,000 years by the snow meltwater from the Wasatch Mountains which had seeped deep into the earth. Two miles below the surface, the earth’s interior heated the water and sent it skyward. As it percolated upward, it picked up minerals and they eventually formed the beehive shaped limestone deposit called the Homestead Crater. The result a 20m deep pool of 34deg C clear water which replenishes itself every 3 days.
After our trip to the water park on Friday was canned due to it not opening till Memorial day weekend we decided lets go diving. We packed ourselves in the car at Salt Lake City and headed up the Parley Canyon to Heber City and Midway to the Homestead Resort. (more…)
Seeing as though I am not diving at the moment February 11, 2006
Posted by Mark Gilmour in : Scuba diving abroad , add a commentI thought I would have a look back through some of my archives and I found some links to pictures that I don’t think I’ve posted on YD.
So here are the links for a couple of dive trips Lisa and I have taken together.
Cyprus 2004 - I had only just qualified.
Oman January 2005. Our first trip with our camera.
