This is the last series of images from my outing to Graciosa.
Essentially the images document my walk along the beach and I hope you like them. It was interesting how the beaches changed as I wandered along in the sun.
I also collected a really interesting array of shells as I walked.
On my trip last weekend to Graciosa we wandered around Caleta de Sebo and took some photos of the village. There is not a lot to say about what I shot other than have a look and see what you think. It reminded me of New Mexico. Not too many vehicles, only old Land Rovers.
No real roads to speak of though, so I suppose the vehicles of choice do make sense.
I thought I should share with you some of the images I took on the island during the day trip and in this case I will show you the people I saw on Sunday morning.
As we got off the ferry we were welcomed by this old dude with his traditional Canarian hat.
On the island there are only a few cars and so most imports are transported by wheelbarrow.
Child crying.
People talking.
Two people sit in silence sharing each others company.
Kid plays with a bottle which has been dropped by the baby in the buggy.
Old guy who I guess is Grandpa takes the two brothers for a walk.
Girl sits by her dog.
Man taking his barrow to the harbour for some goods.
Two women gossip outside the church.
On Sunday I went on an outing to Graciosa which is a small island, a couple of km North of Lanzarote. The ferry trip across the Rio strait was beautiful. The journey really offers some amazing Geology.
As the ferry takes you into the narrow water way, you can literally watch as the clouds form over the higher ground in the Northern part of Lanzaroteon top of the dorment volcano's.
Unfortunately on our journey we saw no large marine mammals.
A friend and his wife had explained that in September a few years ago, the watched as thousands of humpback whales squeezed and swam through the strait. Normally the whales pass around the little narrow stretch of water, but for whatever reason on this occasion enormous cows and bulls piloted their young, on their journey south. It must have been incredible.
We left the Lanzarote harbour of Orzola by ferry to the island, a trip which lasts approx 45 mins.
This is a photo of the return ticket.
This cat hulled ferry passed us as we left the harbour. Most of these boats boast of the glass bottomed feature, but my experience demonstrated how the glass was covered in seaweeds and so visability was rubbish.
A couple of kids fishing off the rocks on the side of the Rio strait.
My first view of Graciosa.
My first view of the village of Caleta del Sebo, the Capital of Graciosa (Pop. 700).
The harbour of Caleta del Sebo has two piers and a small marina in the bay.
Whilst we were still om the ferry we saw this small (35 foot-ish) customised sailing boat. It was like a mini galleon.
The other ferry with a greek-style fishes mouth and eye painted on its hull.
An old fishing boat.
Small fishing boat with throw net in the harbour, opimistically named Jesus!
Four little boats in the harbour.
An old fisherman undertakes maintenance on his boat wearing a traditional Canarian hat.
Best bit
of today was this morning when diving toward the pink coral at Puerto del
Carmen:
Refracted
beams of light shone down at strange angles through holes in the cloud high
above and then again through the water’s mirroring surface. The undulating
yellow sand below showed the surging effects of ebb and flow as the current
carried us through two shoals of small fish; which all at once parted, engulfed
and surrounded us, above and below. Everywhere we looked orange/brown
Atlantic Damsels to our left and silver Sardines to our right moved with
collective intelligence, thousands of fish moving as if one organism to the
slow rhythm of an aqua-blue sea.
Although
the fish shimmer at the best of times, with this small forest of fifty, or so, narrow
intense rays of sun, single fish were sometimes caught, lit brighter than the
rest, as they swam through the spot lights. Caught for a second, their
colours shone and glowed, before they quickly swam into the security of
obscurity amongst countless others that looked the same as them.
On Sunday I was having a coffee with Alec before he left for
the UK.
Alec is a Cornishman who, back in the day, surfed a 14ft
wooden long-board, when long-boards were the fashion and not because of the
retro calling for them. Alec loves
diving and has made great strides in his progression from being a non-diver to
being able to dive at 18 meters, controlling his buoyancy. He comes to Lanzarote and Calypso Diving in
particular whenever the urge to submerge overcomes his spirit.
and we watched the surfers for a while.
The wind was pretty strong and the sea was rough.
Alec noticed that one surfer was not doing too well. I did not see what the problem was.
Then I saw the lifeguards running towards and passed
us. I gave chase on my cycle following
them around the coast line past the lagoon with the breakwater and around to
the next beach.
I followed them onto some outlying rocks and could see the
same windsurfer sitting astride his board.
He looked exhausted.
The lifeguards and local police, who had arrived on the
scene, were remonstrating for the windsurfer to steer into an inlet to the
sandy beach between the rocks.
The guy could do nothing.
The lifeguards radioed for a helicopter. Moments later the helicopter came.
They dropped a rescuer into the water before winching both
the victim and rescuer up to safety.
A lifeboat was also scrambled from Arrecife, which
attended to retrieve the windsurf board and sail.
Back on dry land the man was offered an Ambulance but
refused. His details were taken by the
local police and ambulance service before he walked off with friends.
The helicopter flew back to base.
The lifeguard gave a statement to me saying the victim is a
local man with many years experience as a surfer, but he was not able to
confirm the reason for the accident.
I stopped in at the surf rental shop on the beach and
enquired there. I was told that the
reason the man could not steer was because his sail had lost tension. Windsurf sails are tensioned at two
points. One point is referred to as the
'outhaul' which attached to a grommet at the 'clew'(the rear corner to which
the boom is attached). In this guys
case, his outhaul had snapped and he was spilling wind, unable to steer.
The reason so many resources were thrown at the rescue is
because had the windsurfer been blown any further down the coast he could very
well have been swept out to sea and toward Africa.
Nothing but drama on what is sometimes referred to as ‘The
Devil’s Island’.
Last weekend I went with some holidaying guys (Pipa, Big Dave and Anna) to LagOmar.
We travelled by taxi from Cotsa Teguise and the journey took about 15 minutes.
There is some speculation about the circumstances surrounding his ownership or indeed his residence, but all agree that the actor Omar Sharif did by the house from a friend of his and soon after lost it in a game of cards.
On Friday and Saturday nights the gardens are used as a club.
Its a cross between a National Trust garden and a chilled club where although some people dance, most are sitting in groups chatting, meeting new people and making friends. Extraordinary.
Big Dave coming into the house through its tunnel.
Blurd image of the aviary in the garden. Its about twenty feet tall (just over 6m) and was probably for canaries.
Pool in garden by the aviary
A walkway leads us from one part of the garden to another
The swimming pool.
Walkway from garden through to bar
Sky lights which look down into a walkway tunnel, meanwhile we walk overhead toward the bar.
The bar which is in a cave-room.
Its the light, not any other reason which makes this a blurred picture! You'll have to believe me.
Me, Pipa, Anna and Big Dave after being laughed at by some canarian teens. If only they knew – fools!
Some day time images of the place
The place is amazing and I definatly suggest that if you are in Lanzarote, you make the time, day or night to see it. It is so cool.
Today I learnt about rescue whilst observing the instruction style and participating in two elements of the BSAC Ocean Diver rescue dive, namely the 'air assisted assent' and the controlled buoyancy ascent.
I was asked to be the 'casualty' and after being shown by the instructor, the client was asked to perform the exercises. Up and down I was hauled and sent. My right ear took a bit of a bashing, but even that was an interesting experience.
Simon the client was a great guy and his beautiful family (wife and son) came along for the ride to the dive site.
Later I went on a pleasure dive with Simon and the instructor seeing:
• - a cuttlefish
• - 2 angel sharks
• - grouper
Simon touched and held an Angel Shark's tail which made his wife and son very proud, when they were told after the dive.
Tonight I am going to visit Omar Sharif's house in Lagomar with a few of the guys I have met since arriving. The gardens are meant to be amazing.
Today was a busy day.
It started with me learning the opening up procedure for the centre.
Essentially three cohorts of divers move through the school each morning and again after lunch.
At 8:30 experienced divers come in a get their kit, at 9:30 again slightly less experienced, and at 10:30 the new.
After each group comes through and collects their kit, the wet room is cleaned and mopped. All the BCD's and wetsuits (left in a mess or from the day before) are re-wracked.
From 11:15 I was shown how to replace a valve within the BCD inflator which required periodic service/repair due to it having started to self-inflate.
I was then talked though the method of demonstrating a partial mask clearance and regulator recovery.
Patrick then demonstrated to me how to put an empty tank onto the compressor.
After an early lunch, Simon a Polish client who has lived in the UK for the last 6 years arrived for the sea based part of his BSAC course.
Simon is a nice chap. He is married and has a 10 year old son, both here with him on holiday. Although employed within an optics company, he operates his own online business selling, sunglasses, mini-scales and reading glasses.
I accompanied Patrick and Simon for this to witness the instruction of partial mask clearance and regulator recovery first-hand under water.
The bay we went to was very small and provides a maximum depth of 3m. Very good for beginners. Since the name of the beach does not appear printed on a map towel I bought, I canot tell you what it is called. I will find out and report tomorrow.
Fish I saw:
After the dive I went back to base, took a van for refueling and then spent the afternoon with Mr D learning about the rota and the challenges faced by him as the manager of the centre trying to manage a limited staff team.
After cycling home, I cooked carbonara, burnt it whilst I ran a bath, spilt food on the floor and could not find a mop. In fact I turned into a one man kitchen disaster.
Today I did a double dive at Puerto del Carmen.
I buddied Derek again who is completing his PADI Advanced course. We have swum together all week and he is a really nice guy whose occupation enables him to identify gliches in the configuration of airplanes cockpits and the software that is used (that is my crude understanding of his job).
The first dive was pretty amazing. After entering the water by a giant stride from the concrete jetty (I wonder whether all dives are going to be begun this way?) we went down to 31m.
Fish I saw included:
• Angel shark (about 1 metre long)
• Grouper
• Cuttlefish
After the dive we exited the water by the steps (taking the fins off is tricky in the surging water, balancing on one leg and trying not to look like an arse).
We had a break for an hour before getting our gear on again for our second dive. The term used at the school for this is a 'double-dive' (for obvious reasons).
The second dive was to concentrate on Derek’s navigation skills. This involved using a compass in submarine conditions.
The task is pretty straight forward.
A line is placed on the seabed at a fixed distance. The diver is asked to swim the length a couple of times to establish how many kicks it takes on average to swim it. After the average is established, say 20 kicks, then they are asked to swim off using the compass to swim in a straight line and return to their starting point.
After this is successfully completed (and the instructor can ask for the task to be repeated if they are not 100% happy with the performance), then the diver is asked to use the compas and swim the 20 kick distance before making a 90° turn, then again, then again. Until in the end the diver should have made it back to the original starting point. Its fair to say that their might be 'some' variance due to surge and currents, but on the whole, the box should be made.
Derek then navigated us back to the steps for exit, and thereby successfully completed his PADI advanced course. Brilliant!
We returned to base.
In teh afternoon, I was given detailed instruction on the RDP (the PADI dive planner) and shown how to remove tanks from the compressor when the noise stops, signifying that the tanks are full (my third tranche of responsibility).
At the end of the working day I swept out van one, and drove it to its overnight position in the car park down the road.
Because Andrew is leaving today, I went along to the drinks and tapas do which the Active Adventure guys do each evening. It was good and I met a whole bunch of new people; some staying a while for the surfing and some just passing through.
The evening ended with a 'TVR' – Tequila, Vodka and Redbull.
Best bit of the day: Laying hidden in a shallow sandy bed, the angel shark was indistinguishable from the seabed, covered in sand. Albeit for a feint depressed outline the fish was impossible to see. The instructor went over and gently touched the back of the tail end, at which point the shark, slowly and without any effort, slowly moved his tail from side to side, moving at great speed into the deep blue.