{"id":8987,"date":"2019-01-15T13:02:36","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T13:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.com\/en\/?page_id=8987"},"modified":"2019-08-28T10:33:36","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T10:33:36","slug":"ap_dive_challenge_1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/ap_dive_challenge_1\/","title":{"rendered":"AP Dive Challenge 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0<\/h1>\n

Lanzarote Dreaming<\/strong><\/h1>\n

2nd January 2019<\/h3>\n

Divers:\u00a0<\/strong>Jeff Parker, Sarah Parker, Jo Parker \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Dive Sites:\u00a0<\/strong>The Cathedral, The Blue Hole,\u00a0The\u00a0Museo Atl\u00e1ntico<\/p>\n

Camera:\u00a0<\/strong>Go-Pro 5 with available light. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Report & Photography:\u00a0<\/strong>Jeff Parker\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Christmas passed and\u00a0we\u00a0were determined to avoid another tedious, post-blowout crimbo-limbo\u00a0week\u00a0between Boxing Day and New Year and so\u00a0took\u00a0ourselves (myself, Sue, our daughters and mum, Angela 'AP' Parker) off to the Canaries\u00a0for a few days R&R -\u00a0rest<\/em>\u00a0for those in the family whose idea of a holiday is to lie on a sun-lounger all day and\u00a0recreation\u00a0<\/em>for the rest of us (actually, that's just\u00a0me).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Our resort - Costa Teguise on the eastern\u00a0coast of the volcanic island - is ideal\u00a0for both pleasures\u00a0at this time of year, offering an almost perfect climate - warming from cool to hot (25+degrees C) back to cool in the evenings, it's a keep-fit\u00a0paradise with apparently the entire population obsessed with the Outdoor Life. Walkers, joggers, cyclists, runners and exercise fanatics of all ages crowd\u00a0the 5km long sea-front paths and open-air gyms from dawn til dusk in\u00a0an impressive\u00a0display of rude-health and sports brand day-glo fashion. I was happy to join in.<\/p>\n

Googling the dive-potential\u00a0from back home, The Underwater Museum or Museo\u00a0Atl\u00e1ntico, immediately jumped out as a must-do\u00a0<\/em>bucket-list type thing.\u00a0A dive with a difference, definitely. An opportunity not be missed.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0is the work of artist Jason deCaires Taylor, a British sculptor, conservationist and diver who has been working in Lanzarote since 2016. More about that\u00a0later.<\/p>\n

The site also looked suitable, in terms of depth & difficulty,\u00a0for my teenage daughters Jo (16) and Sarah (17), who qualified Open Water\u00a0only a few months back in the summer and had done very little\u00a0diving since.\u00a0As it happened, both came down with colds in the first half of the week and couldn't dive.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, this left me free to do some deeper\u00a0stuff\u00a0to kick off our Lanzarote dive adventures. I contacted\u00a0Native Diving<\/a>\u00a0a few hundred metres north of where we were staying, a PADI\/SSI outfit with a beautiful\u00a0seafront location.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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I chose them purely for local convenience but\u00a0as it turned out,\u00a0I can highly recommend these guys to any\u00a0divers\u00a0visiting the area as they proved to be not only super-friendly, accommodating and most important, good, competent divers but they also run a slick and efficient\u00a0operation in which most of the heavy\u00a0work\u00a0is done for you. I arrived at the agreed time to meet our\u00a0dive guides\u00a0only\u00a0to find the mini-bus was already loaded and ready-to-go. No lifting and shifting to be done at all (or faff of any kind, not even payment which was all done at the end of the week). We headed south 30 minutes to Playa Chica in Puerto del Carmen to tackle our first two dives:\u00a0The\u00a0Cathedral and The Blue Hole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The Cathedral<\/h3>\n

What followed was a perfect day's diving. Both dives were extremely relaxed, almost zen-like experiences, full of colourful sea-life with crystal clear water and interesting rock and cave formations to swim through, in and around.<\/p>\n

The fun started when Victor our genial Uruguayan guide saw that the harbour steps were diver-congested and whispered \u201cOk to go off the wall?\u201d. I looked over the side. It was a long, long, drop. \u201cNo problem\u201d I confidently replied, turning pale. It must be over 35 years since I did something like it off Bovisand but what the hell\u2026<\/p>\n

Looking back up from the water a few seconds later I felt a bit sorry for newbie Mark from Ireland (on his final training day) looking visibly shocked and not quite believing what they were asking him to do.\u00a0 Happy to report, he did it in style and swam off with instructor Frankie to complete his qualifying dive.<\/p>\n

Myself, Victor and a couple from Italy, Virginia & Andreas, headed off southeast on the long swim down the reef and over the drop-off to about 35m to our goal, The Cathedral, an impressively large cave which turned out, surprise, surprise,\u00a0to be full of divers. It was at this point that I remembered that the brand spanking new dive torch I got for Christmas was still in my dive bag, on the bus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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\u201cLa Catedral\u201d was guarded comically by two Groupers \u2013 doing their best to look intimidating and stern - positioned at entrance and exit like stoney-faced sentinels, ready to \u2018bounce\u2019 us out of the area if we were to give any bother.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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On the sandy plateau directly above The Cathedral we came across a forest of air\u00a0streams bubbling out of the sand like volcanic activity. It is caused\u00a0by the\u00a0exhausts of the many\u00a0visiting divers\u00a0filtering up\u00a0through the rocks and sand. Just like us,\u00a0the Cathedral is off-gassing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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We decompressed, slowly making our way up \u00a0the gentle\u00a0slope of Playa Chica while\u00a0Victor perfected the art of diving backwards, keeping a beady-eye on his flock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The Blue Hole<\/h3>\n

Next up, after the surface interval, drink, snack and change of camera\u00a0battery, came Agujero Azul - The Blue Hole.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Swimming southwest this time from the harbour we eventually came to the entrance, an initially uninspiring hole in the ground, which opened up into an impressive cave with a slight dogleg to the south to daylight beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Victor signalled me to go first so I went down and in and waited in the gloom, looking back up to get the ubiquitous diver-in-cave entrance\u00a0<\/em>shot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Out of the Hole and right along the rocky wall, in and out for about 30m or so\u00a0and then\u00a0back up over it heading home. The journey back was packed full of life: octopus, barracuda, multi-coloured whatnots of all size and shape. At some points it was like swimming engulfed in a tropical fish-tank, the critters so used to divers that they swim closer than usual, completely ignoring us and going about their business unperturbed. It reminded me of Kew Gardens and how tame the squirrels are there. Foolishly maybe, the wild animals of Playa Chica see humans as no threat at all. Just\u00a0a perfect day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The\u00a0Museo Atl\u00e1ntico<\/h3>\n

Fast-forward 4 days to Wednesday January 2nd<\/sup>and the girls, now recovered from the sniffles, were keen to go diving.\u00a0 Gale force storms on New Years Eve and Day had prevented us from doing the planned 6m orientation dive\u00a0but we figured the Museum, advertised as a 12m-15m dive, was safe enough. I made sure they knew their theory well. They were confident - good to go.<\/p>\n

Our guide for the day was the experienced diver (and office-manager) Gerard, making a welcome return to dive guiding after a period manning the desk due to his multi-lingual talents.<\/p>\n

The drive to Playa Blanca was much longer, over an hour, picking up divers as we went.\u00a0 Travelling south I\u00a0began to feel slightly\u00a0anxious about the dives ahead, in complete contrast to a few days before when I only had myself to look after. The extra responsibility of two teenage novices plus the sheer strangeness of what we were about to do was sobering.<\/p>\n

Kitting up went reasonably smoothly and we, together with 5 more divers, a father and son from Germany, another German woman and a young\u00a0diver called Jack from England \u2013 8 divers in all - were soon heading out on the RHIB with cylinders already on our backs. Gerard had a quiet word, letting me know\u00a0that the storms had stirred up the site and visibility was poor.\u00a0He suggested I go in last, bringing up the rear. Fine by me.<\/p>\n

The Museum site loomed after a 10-15 minute ride and the RHIB moored up alongside a hardboat with Museo Atl\u00e1ntico printed on the side. We sat, bobbed\u00a0about and sweated into our wetsuits (25 degrees, mid-day on the hottest day of the week) for what seemed like an age, waiting for the previous boatload of divers to exit the area. While we waited I stared at the\u00a0huge yellow buoys that mark out the 2,500 square metre site, presumably as a no-go zone for other boats.<\/p>\n

I know it is probably necessary to organise things in this way but I did begin to feel a little bit like a tourist (exactly what we were) being processed along a conveyor-belt, from one step to the next. Spontaneity or\u00a0variety\u00a0is eliminated\u00a0- a\u00a0similar feel to the experience we had\u00a0visiting\u00a0\u201cFire Mountain\u201d a few days before.<\/p>\n

Eventually, blessed relief, we flopped over the side into the cooling water. So began the Magical Mystery Tour.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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We swam past the\u00a0\u201cEntrada\u201d, sign into the museum with no idea what to expect having made a point to not study a map of the route beforehand. We wanted surprises and\u00a0were not disappointed.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0first set of sculptures - Los\u00a0<\/em>Jolateros<\/i>\u00a0- a group of children paddling\u00a0brass boats loomed up\u00a0suddenly on our left and all anxieties and irritations about the dive vanished as\u00a0we became mesmerised by this arresting\u00a0spectacle.<\/p>\n

Why did they have books for paddles? Where were they from and where are they going... and in such precarious craft?<\/p>\n

A\u00a0comment on\u00a0our children's future? We swam on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Apparently the artist, Jason deCaires Taylor, used\u00a0Lanzarote residents to\u00a0make his sculptures. This haunting piece -\u00a0Immortal<\/em>\u00a0- was modelled on a local\u00a0fisherman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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We found ourselves in a unique and wonderful art gallery made special by virtue of being hidden from the rest of the world - for fish and divers' eyes only. The images that\u00a0follow are in the same order that we saw them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Challenging, profound\u00a0but also disturbingly\u00a0beautiful,\u00a0I found\u00a0his\u00a0work confusing\u00a0in a way that I often feel when wandering around art\u00a0- entertained yet\u00a0mildly annoyed by the enigma or more to the point, by my\u00a0inability to fully understand it.\u00a0I guess\u00a0if the meanings were obvious the work would be less interesting. The fact that it provokes me to think at all means that it has worked on some level. Job done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The Raft of Lampedusa<\/em>\u00a0was impressive and moving -\u00a0a stark monument to the tens of thousands of people who have\u00a0drowned and continue to die worldwide in their flight from\u00a0failed states, poverty and war. Who would have thought a few years ago that the Mediterranean would become such a killing field?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Disconnected<\/em> - the clue is in the name. A faceless couple take a selfie - she is pregnant - but the key is the setting with the boat-people raft in the background. A disaster is\u00a0unfolding yet the\u00a0couple's first\u00a0reaction\u00a0is to turn it into a self-absorbed photo-op. A selfish selfie... a\u00a0trivial virtual reality<\/em> response to a\u00a0seriously tragic\u00a0actual reality<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Again, I think the artist is inviting questions about the future of the unborn child if that's the way we are going to\u00a0carry on.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0piece manages to be both serious\u00a0and funny. It was one of my favourites. We chugged on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The\u00a0work is dynamic, constantly changing as the local flora and fauna take up residence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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I labelled this photo - Lost in a Crowd<\/em> - another hauntingly beautiful and poignant sight.<\/p>\n

We became part of that crowd as we\u00a0swam in three dimensions - in, around and above\u00a0the figures,\u00a0being careful not to\u00a0touch - it suddenly made sense to set this work underwater. We were viewing it\u00a0in a unique way not possible on land.<\/p>\n

Actually called\u00a0Crossing The Rubicon<\/em> - this major work\u00a0is a group of 35 figures walking towards a 30m long, 4m high wall structure with a single gateway in the centre.<\/p>\n

Surely another\u00a0comment about\u00a0people on the move<\/em>\u00a0migrating\u00a0towards almost impenetrable barriers. In this setting\u00a0we see the folly of\u00a0static 'walls' in a\u00a0fluid\u00a0world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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On the other side of the portal it all got a bit surreal.<\/p>\n

Like Buddy the\u00a0Elf we...\u00a0passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly gum drops...<\/em> not to the Lincoln Tunnel but to\u00a0a\u00a0cactus garden full of weird statues, half-cacti half-human. Go figure.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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On to a twisted version of a children's playground\u00a0called Deregulated<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Instead of children,\u00a0businessmen enjoy the rides, unfettered by government rules perhaps?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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A heavy-set Trump-like character\u00a0dominates a see-saw which is also\u00a0a nodding-donkey pump.<\/p>\n

Deregulated Oil versus Nature?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The character on the other end appears\u00a0to turn his head towards Sarah. Spooky!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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To be honest the experience overall\u00a0was sometimes a bit creepy and disturbing. But I guess that's the point, it should provoke a reaction.<\/p>\n

At the same time, in this underwater setting - it was dream-like and unforgettable. A top-notch dive adventure.<\/p>\n

On to the finale - The Human Gyre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The Human Gyre<\/em>\u00a0is a wreath - made up of 200 bodies. Devastating.<\/p>\n

For me, all of the failure and tragedy of the\u00a0last 100 years was represented here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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It will mean many different things to different people.\u00a0But again, the work\u00a0manages to be at once provocative, disturbing, poignant and impressive.\u00a0I think you can see it in Sarah's eyes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Certainly a dive to remember. Lanzarote dreaming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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BACK TO THE AP 50TH CHALLENGES PAGE<\/a><\/div><\/div>
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With\u00a0thanks to the guys from Native Diving<\/a>,\u00a0especially Victor and Gerard for their patience and skill.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please Note: As an employee of AP Diving this Dive Adventure is not eligible for entry into the competition. I present it here as a sample\u00a0dive report. Please feel free to write your own reports either longer or much shorter - it's entirely up to you. I will create a web page for each one. Please send text and images to me: jeff@apdiving.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Copyright for this report is held by the author. It is reproduced here with the permission of the author. \u00a0Any disclosure, copying, distribution or other action taken in reliance of the information contained in this report\u00a0is strictly prohibited. Any views expressed by the author are\u00a0not necessarily those of\u00a0 the company. AP Diving is the trading name for Ambient Pressure Diving Ltd, registered in England under Company Registration Number 4118978, and the Registered Office is Unit 2C,\u00a0Water-Ma-Trout Industrial Estate, Helston, Cornwall TR13 0LW.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Lanzarote Dreaming2nd January 2019Divers:\u00a0Jeff Parker, Sarah Parker, Jo Parker \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Dive Sites:\u00a0The Cathedral, The Blue Hole,\u00a0The\u00a0Museo Atl\u00e1nticoCamera:\u00a0Go-Pro 5 with available light. \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Report & Photography:\u00a0Jeff Parker\u00a0\u00a0Christmas passed and\u00a0we\u00a0were determined to avoid another tedious, post-blowout crimbo-limbo\u00a0week\u00a0between Boxing Day and New Year and so\u00a0took\u00a0ourselves (myself, Sue, our daughters and mum, Angela ‘AP’ Parker) off to [Read More …]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8987","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8987"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8990,"href":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8987\/revisions\/8990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.apdiving.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}