Scuba Diving in Tenerife – Roques de Anaga (wall dive)

Dive Site: Roques de Anaga

Location: Tenerife

Description: Wall dive

Visibility: 30 metres (100 feet)

The Roques de Anaga is a lava formation that emerges from the depths, arriving to touch the surface. Great vertical walls make this place good for sighting mantas, barracudas and great pelagics such as sharks. There is also black coral and an incredible basaltic reef. The zone can be divided into six dive points called: Roque de Fuera, Roque de Dentro, Baja de la Palometa, Baja las Manchas 1, Baja las manchas 2 and Baja de las Nieves.

Scuba Diving in Tenerife – The Garden, Radazul

Dive Site: The Garden

Location: Radazul, Tenerife

Description: Reef and vertical wall

Depth: 25 metres (75 feet)

Visibility: 30 metres (100 feet)

The Garden is a reef with a vertical wall that drops away. It is filled with life, red coral and soft coral. You can see great pelagics like barracudas and tunas, eagle rays and big groupers.

Scuba Diving in Cuba, Caribbean – Yemaya, tunnel and wall, Maria La Gorda, Cuba

Dive Site: Yemaya
Location: Maria la Gorda, Cuba
Description: Wall and tunnel
Depth: 30 metres + (100 feet)
Visibility: 30 metres (100 feet)

In the Santeria religion, an African religion practised in Cuba, Yemaya is the Goddess of the sea. The dive starts on a near vertical wall and finishes on the shallow reef that tops the wall at about 12 metres. The boat waits for divers to surface in the shallows where the reef becomes patchier. Within the wall there are deep gouges that make good tunnels for divers to explore. All sorts of obscure sponges line the tunnels and the wall including elephant’s ear, barrel and many other encrusting or bulbous forms. The coral growth is equally diverse with beautiful sea fans, staghorn, black, whip and elkhorn varieties on display. Pelagics can be seen on the wall where there are also tuna and a jacks as well. Leaving the final tunnel there are purple vase sponges with colourful shrimps in them. Away from the wall there are barracuda. Other marine life in the reef include creole wrasse, blennies, gobies, squirrelfish sheltered among the rocks also there are triggerfish and grey angelfish.

Scuba Diving in the Red Sea – Blind Reef (Sha’abrur Siyul), N. Hurghada reef

Dive Site: Blind Reef (Sha’abrur Siyul)

Location: North Hurghada

Description: Reef / drift

Depth: 10 – 20 metres + (30 – 65 feet)

Visibility: 20 – 30 metres (65 – 100 feet)

Sha’abrur Siyul, or Blind Reef as it is more commonly known, is an elongated oval-shaped reef located to the southwest of Sha’ab Abu Nuhâs. It has become commonly known as Blind Reef due to its location (totally below the surface) and in an area becoming increasingly heavy with dive boat traffic, it can be hard to spot.

There is some great diving to be found here and this site is dived much less regularly than other surrounding sites. Normally dive boats will moor on the south side of the reef and then ferry divers around to the north side using their dive tender or RIB. Currents will dictate whether one can dive from the north side in an easterly or westerly direction around the far tips of the reef and back to the south side. The north side of the reef drops away fairly steeply and has some beautiful corals. The upper slope has acropora table coral and some lovely gorgonian fan corals, as well as fields of whip corals and soft coral. As divers reach the 20m mark there is an ever increasing array of soft corals (which require less light than hard corals), as the hard corals diminish slightly. Large pelagics; white-tip reef sharks, barracuda and jacks can be seen here. There are also often turtles in the shallows as well as hoards of Red Sea bannerfish, fusiliers, and anthias. Currents can be strong here, usually coming from the north and splitting on the north side of the reef.

Scuba diving in Papua New Guinea – Miway reef, Rabaul

Dive Site: Midway Reef

Location: Rabaul, Papua New Guinea

Description: Reef / drift

Depth: 3 – 30 metres (10 – 100 feet)

Visibility: 25 metres + (80 feet)

Midway Reef is an elongated underwater seamount or shoal located between the coastline of Rabaul and Watom Island rising from 600 metres to within 3 metres of the surface. At the north side of the reef the wall drops away vertically and as the currents here can be strong and it is better to head in the easterly direction with the current which makes for a tough initial swim to the wall but an excellent and fast drift dive. The viz is poor in the shallows, but once below 20 metres it opens up to a good 25 metres +. Midway reef is a fantastic dive with turtles and a great chance of seeing grey reef sharks, white-tip sharks and other pelagics. There are schooling barracuda, jacks and black trevellays off the reef wall. One can find shoals of lunar fusiliers and also tuna, hunting near the prolific hard coral formations which cover the upper slopes.

The north and south sides are the vertical drops with shallower plateaus on the east and west tips which are great areas to either finish your dive or to hang over the vertical drops-offs and watch for pelagics. Remaining stationary at these drop-offs pays dividends as one has a chance of seeing a number of grey reef sharks near the limit of visibility. This dive had some of the largest barrel sponges, some with diametres of over 1.5 metres. The viz is still poor in the top 6 metres; however the sheer proliferation of small fish life and colourful coral is staggering.

Scuba diving in Tanzania – Amazon, Ukombe reef, Fumba, Zanzibar

Dive Site: Amazon

Location: Ukombe Reef, Fumba, Zanzibar, Tanzania

Description: Reef / drift

Depth: 10 – 12 metres average (30 – 40 feet), 17 metres max (56 feet)

Visibility: 20 metres (65 feet)

Rating: ****

A drift dive along a beautiful sloping reef dotted with smaller coral outcrops. On view are amazing whip corals up to 2 metres in length, Christmas tree bushes teeming with damselfish, lionfish, pipefish, anemonefish, geometric and marbled moray eels and the occasional giant lobster. The dive site is famous for its population of blue spotted stingrays which can be seen on every single dive hiding under crevices and darting across the sandy sea bottom. Pelagics do roam this site and one can often see Spanish mackerel, snappers and tuna darting into the deep.

Ukombe Reef, Fumba consists of 5 nautical miles of fringing reef and coral outcrops. Pristine formations including plate, table and staghorn corals dominate the shallower depths making it a haven for numerous tropical fish. The shallow depths along this reef make it a fantastic dive for beginners and all levels of diver. Those wanting to try underwater photography will love this site for its beautiful corals.

Scuba diving in Tanzania – Crypto Mania, Mtwara

Dive Site: Crypto Mania
Location: Mtwara, Tanzania
Description: Sloping sand with coral heads
Depth: 6 – 15 metres (20 – 50 feet)
Visibility: 5 – 20 metres (15 – 65 feet)

During the dive schooling pelagics can be seen overhead. The cryptic part of the name comes from the hard to find leaf crocodile fish that abound plus an assortment of lion and scorpionfish. An array of pipefish and ribbon eel make it a macro photographers haven. Easy access from boat or shore, best dived on slack water.

Scuba Diving in Mykonos, Greece

Dive Site: Anna II
Location: (Mykonos) Greece
Description: Wreck
Length: 60 metres (197 feet)
Depth: 18 – 35 metres (60 – 115 feet)
Visibility: 15 metres (50 feet)

This wreck recently sank in mid July 1995 and is a 60 metre cement carrier. She lays on her side in depths of 18 – 35 metres. This is an ideal location for intermediate and advanced divers. The wreckage itself attracts a large variety of pelagic marine life and it is not unusual to see schools of amberjacks around the hull.

Scuba Diving Fury Shoals, Marsa Alam, the Red Sea

Dive Site: Abu Galawa Kebir
Location: Fury Shoals, Marsa Alam
Description: Reef / wall
Depth: 30 metres + (90 feet)
Visibility: 30 metres (100 feet)

On the east side of this reef look like the blue but it was all very gloomy in the distance, and there was to be no sign of those larger pelagics on this trip.

An octopus who changed colour, camouflaged white and quickly went a defensive red/purple and reappear from behind the rock. The blue spotted rays shovelling for food in the sand and an orange and black nudibranch was creeping away from them as quickly as it could.

A nice typical Red Sea dive, basically following the reef wall round exploring whatever and ascending when you are low on air.