BUBBLES cont'

Today I went for my first dive without a instructor keeping a close eye on me. We went to a old shipwreck which was at a depth of 20 to 25m. Here are the pics!

Sunken Ship...obviously

Me

Steve Irwin Killer....it was a big one spanning about 2m. Its hard to see but its a stingray.

BUGGER

Question: What do you do when you are working at a windsurfing resort and there is a constant 18 knots with flat water?

Answer: Ask the boss if i can rig up his 7.2 Neilpride RS5 race sail with a 100% X9 Carbon Mast and take out his custom carbon slalom board to see if i can break the speed record at the resort.
Obvious really isn't it.

Question: How do you tell the boss you snapped his 9oo euro mast in half while rigging it.

Answer: Really quickly and 5 minutes before he is about to leave on holiday for a couple of days....

The big man took it quite well considering. I thought he was going to make me his whipping boy for the remainder of my time here but his only response was ''dude thats a 900 euro mast'' which i replied ''was a 900 euro mast''.

Enough said.

BUBBLES

As of yesterday, i am an offical Open Water Bubble Blower. Located convientely next to the windsurf school, and having 4 days off work a week, i thought it was the perfect opportunity to get my scuba diving license.


My dive buddy Stephan from Germany.

The course was completed over 3 days which involved 5 dives up to 20m depth and a exam. The dives involved completing a number of under water exercises which apparently i took to like a fish to water. On my supposely last day of dives, i woke up in the morning with a bit of a head cold. Thinking nothing of it (they strictly say you shouldn't dive with a cold) the first time i headed under my ears wouldn't equalize. After trying for like 5 mins which also includes sucking water through my nose (apparently this works to clear the sinus), i had to abort the dives. Depressed, and walking away with my regulator between my legs, i completed the last 2 dives a week later and got my certificate.

Diving also told me to be a little patient. Being an activity (they call it a sport) where the aim is to be relaxed and calm (to preserve precious air), the diving fraternity are a little more relaxed and chilled and don't mind taking their time.

Playa Chica - Location of the last two dives. The reefs here were home to lots of NEMO's, a few trumpet fish and even a school of barricuda.

Spending most of my time above the water windsurfing, surfing or kiting, diving has opened up a new playground to explore when the wind is light and the surf is flat.

YEEEHHHAAAA

On Sunday we visited another reef break just up from the secret spot. It was a chunky right hander (finally) called Spiders.


Shitty myself. If you don't make the section, lava rocks loom on the inside.



Bit of size



The old man Marky pulling into this monster.

Didn't quite make it



Flying high.

Thought i would show Diony (PROFESSIONAL WINDSURFER!!!)

a thing or two about surfing.....not!

YEEEHHHAAAA

The anticipation was building. The forecast for the weeked was a solid 3m swell with favorable winds and i wasn't working! Having been here for a few months and yet to see good surf, i was itching for the classic point breaks i here the locals go on about.

And now i know what they were talking about. On saturday we surfed a 3 to 4 foot left handing breaking of lava with just the boys. Check it out! The name of the spot is ''The secret spot''. Then on Sunday we surfed spiders which was big chunky right handed.


First wave of the day!



The girls keeping my cocktail ready for when i exit the water. God Bless'em


Germans have a lot to answer for. This bloke came out of the water with his flippers on wearing pink hotpants with a lime green rash vest. Only in Europe





A davo off the lip. One the lads from the Paradise Windsurf


The lip just waiting to be carved to pieces.


Local Spanish dude dropping in. Made sure it was the last time he did that.







Pic of the day!

Europe Mourns

No matter which country you are in Europe, if you ask them what they know about Australia they will reply;
*Rolf Harris (No shit)
*Great Barrier Reef
*Kylie Minogue
*Jason Donovan
*STEVE IRWIN

Last weeks news of Steve Irwins bizarre death has rocked Europe. They loved him for everything he stood for even if he did dress all in Khaki. Talk to someone and as soon they knew you were from Australia, they would throw in a ''Crickey'' and ''Fair Dinkim''. No one could quite believe that someone who wrestles crocodiles, kisses deadly snakes and goes swimming with sharks could be killed by a relatively harmless string-ray!

The funny thing is, Australia is known to Europeans where every fish or animal will eat or kill you and now everyone is terrified of little string-rays which is especially frustrating for the diving centres (which I am currently do more open water course) as all the divers are now afraid of string-rays.

A Tour Around Lanzarote with NICOLE

For the last two weeks, Nicole has visited me here in Lanzaroate. With my only day off, we went on a voyage around the island so see the sites! You will see from the pictures that lanzarote is a volcanic island. So we were told, the island was erupting only 15o years ago so a lot of the islands land is very new.

The first stop was at the Ceuva De Los Verdes, underground caves created by lava flows. The picture above is a optical illusion. The picture looks symmetrical but in fact the bottom half is a pond reflecting the light from the top of cave making it look like a massive hole. Everyone on the tour thought it was a hole until the tour guide threw a rock into the pond!


The next stop was lunch at Haria. Every palm tree in the town represents a new male born.
No they are not craters created from mini volcanoes or mortar fire. At the bottom of each mini craters there is a couple of grape vines. The poor sods who dug all the holes and laid stones around the surface.


The Mountain of Fire. A huge concentration of volcanoes in a small area. At the information centre, they have drilled a number of boreholes where the tour guide pours water down holes to later erupt in a jet of steam and water.

They warned me not to put my head over the blow hole


The big Mumma that exploded and killed lots of people.

Nicole and yours truly

The last stop on tour was at the green lagoon. Its pretty much a pond with blue gree algae next to the beach. Looks cool though. Didn't risk swimming in it!

P.S Every photo in this article is courtesy of Nicoles camera! (Which apparently is better than mine so i was told!)