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First off I should say that before I first dived in Tenerife I hadn’t particularly heard of it as a dive destination. It was Chris and Liz Hall who recommended it to me and I first went in Jan 2004 for a few days boat diving . At that time I was gob-smacked by the viz and the variety of sea life to see and photograph. Since then my diving photography has developed and hence I was really looking forward to a return visit.

On recommendations of lots of other people I decided to dive with Ocean Quest. Taking both your kids diving can be a bit of a daunting prospect and if I am not careful my whole dive can be marred by a cyclic routine of

10 where’s Matt?
20 where’s Beth?
30 Go 10
thus leaving out
40 enjoy the dive
50 look for sea critters
60 take pictures
etc

So I had particularly heard about Mike being a good instructor/guide for younger divers and his preference for taking smaller groups, also his interest in underwater photography made the decision to dive with Ocean Quest a no-brainer.

During our stay we shared Mike’s expertise with Cheryl T and her little sister Nikki and this enabled us to schedule some dives specifically for the more experienced group members and also some to cater for newly qualified Nikki.

The great thing about the sites we dived was they were all shore dives (I know I am well known for not doing shore dives but diving a single and not too many rocks to clamber over made this fine). The benefit of this is that Mike takes to places you wouldn’t normally see in Tenerife. Most of these were the sort of places where the locals go for a swim, well away from “Chav Central”.

Shore diving also means that you are not limited to sites that are a comfortable rib ride away, hence you can get to the sites which are most favourable for the conditions of the day. We had a few very windy days where the swell was fairly strong and having the pick of the island meant that we still got a dive in.

Some sites we dived twice or more just because they are worth doing more than once. Here are some of my favourites

Playa Paraiso:- We did this site several times. The first visit being a check-out dive for the kids. Whilst they were mask clearing and “pin fivotting” I bimbled around and found a little octopus to play with. Once everyone had demonstrated their skills , including a mask removal by Beth that was faster that the speed of light, we set off around the shallow part of the bay and found 4 cuttle fish and more octopus. This was the first time I have seen cuttle fish outside of an aquarium and they are such fascinating creatures.
In the space of taking pictures of one example over a five minute period it must have changed it’s markings about 5 times, from spotty to stripey, from black to nearly snow white. They are also curious and as a photographer you can take advantage of this to try to get a good shot. Rest assured once they have seen enough of you then they are off in a jet propelled fashion and gone. Anyhow we had plenty of cuttlefish sighting during our stay and the novelty never wore off.
On another visit here, Cheryl, Mike and myself took sardines and went in search of rays and morays. From the sandy bay you swim across a lava flow and over the drop off into a sandy area at about 30m. Here Mike feeds the fish and looks for morays. The rays come or not depending on their mood (and if 5 other groups of divers have already fed them that day), they are not always here. Likewise sometimes the morays come out to play and sometimes not. There were times on this dive when it was truly hilarious and I was squealing with delight and just didn’t know where to put my camera next. On this occasion we didn’t see the large round string rays but were treated to the company of a happy little eagle ray that adopted Cheryl as it’s mum.
We also bagged a full catalogue of Morays, often in twos and threes so that I was blissfully unaware that whilst taking dental records of one Moray there was it’s big brother next to me and another of it’s cousins sniffing my glove. (Good thing I didn’t realise this at the time as I already had a mask full of water and a bad case of giggles, fear and panic would not have helped matters!)
On another dive we also took all the younger divers here. Mike was able to invite a round stingray up to the top of the drop off (13m) to meet them, all of whom impressed me by not being scared of these massive creatures (as I had been the first time I encountered one). They come at you like an over exuberant puppy looking for food attention and interaction, somewhat like being mugged by a large duvet.
Mar Azul:- literally Blue water. This site is beautiful with clear bright blue water and plenty to see. You get in via some old stone steps next to the disused sardine fishery. We had lots of octopus sightings here, especially the rather stupid octopus who can’t get back into it’s hole once it has an armful of urchin. For some reason this octopus, despite being spatially challenged and not very bright, has a great memory and inks Michael every time it sees him even before he tries to interact with it. This site is famous for it’s caves and caverns: Particularly the one with the hole in the top which is flooded with sunlight creating the most photogenic “cathedral rays”. It also has some lovely shrimps hiding in the corner which probably just about everyone photographs, well it would be rude not to! Again I think I could dive this site repeatedly and still find new stuff to see.
Radazul:- Another locals swimming spot (not really a beach) with old stone steps down to the water. If you go on Sunday, the local kids all try to mob you and nick your mask, underwater, which is a bit disconcerting. There you are in 3 metres of water trying to take a picture of a rather shy blenny and there is a 10 year old free-diver pulling off your mask! There is a sandy bottom with some rocky outcrops (with sea horse sightings, but not for us on this occasion). The majority of the dive is the rock wall which makes it an ideal “there and back again” kind of dive and easy to navigate for a night dive (which we also did). The sandy bottom kicks up easily especially if mike is trying to photograph something and three teenagers decide to mug him. The rocks are home to lots of fish, crabs, fireworms, cleaner-shrimps, canary lobsterettes and plenty of other marine life. The night dive we did here was brilliant with shrimps everywhere. Zillions of them!
We stayed in one of the bungalows in Abades, which is a lovely quiet village with a beach, a fab restaurant and a handful of bars. The Blue Bossa bar is run by a doppleganger of Leon the Assassin (the actor Jean Reno) only his name is Dirk and he is German. The restaurant (name escapes me now Bahia?) , is great, doing really generous main courses for about 7 euros and the food is top notch. Abades itself is maybe a little quiet for teenagers but lovely for a couple for a quiet week or younger kids who just need a bucket and spade and waves to splash in. You can sit in one of the shoreside bars and watch the local “trydive factory” dragging their hapless trainees down the beach for a low viz splash in a sandy bay. Suffice it to say that Mike’s DSD courses are run somewhat better and at sites likely to entice you to take up diving rather than put you off. All in all I know I will return to Tenerife and dive with Ocean Quest again, if only to collect on the dive Mike owes me for playing hide and seek on our last dive and sneaking off to photograph some rare shrimps in a cave without telling me. Many thanks to Mike and Rebecca for their hospitality during our stay, the airport runs, supermarket runs and I am not allowed to mention anything about excellent cheesecake or banana bread, so I wont. On the day of our last dive Clive arrived to do one day’s diving and immediately booked a second. It’s an ideal place to take non diving family and sneak in a few dives, the only problem is that a few won’t be enough and so don’t blame me if you end up in trouble with your better half. Ocean quest can be contacted at http://www.oceanquest-divers-tenerife.com/ Jules x