Today ended up being amazing! I went scuba diving in Lanzarote. Ana, the girl I’m couchsurfing with, had said she would meet Ronald, David and I at a beach at 2:30. They are the two others who are couchsurfing with her also. We got up in the morning, intending to find a Desayuno Ingles (English Breakfast) but ended up wandering up and down the beachfront for a while because none of the restaurants were open that early (it was almost 11am!). Finally, we found a place and got some breakfast. One thing that was pretty neat was the beach where we were walking around was right near the airport. When planes would come in for a landing, it felt almost like the plane was flying directly over our heads and over the strip of beach we were on before landing on the runway just beyond.
Guaguito the Guagua Mascot!
After our breakfast, we took a bus towards the part of town where we were supposed to meet Ana. One thing that made me laugh a bit was this sign we found. The buses in the Canarias are called guaguas (sounds like wa-was). This little guy was playing mascot. Awesome.
We got there with not too much time to spare and hung out at the beach where we were to meet. But though we waited and waited, Ana didn’t show up. One of us would leave the group and go up and down the beach, looking for her, thinking maybe we were in the wrong area. Finally, I managed to get a hold of her on my phone. Turns out, we were in the wrong area, and she had been running late as well.
Getting ready to dive, Lanzarote
We all managed to get together finally, and in addition to Ron, David, Ana and I, there was Isadore (a guy who lives locally and makes cheese whom we’d met the night before), an Italian, and a guy from Barcelona. Those two guys had both worked as scuba instructors themselves. Isadore and David hadn’t been scuba diving before. Ron and I both had experience.
So we all went under together as a group, but after some time, the Italian instructor took Isadore and David back towards shore while the rest of us went a bit deeper. Actually, we got a little carried away toward the end of the dive because there was a sunken boat down around 24 or 25 meters that we wanted to check out, which is a bit further than basic divers should go. But the dive was incredible!
Playa Chica, Puerto del Carmen, Lanzarote
Just before seeing the boat, I came upon a grouper (within a meter of me as I came round a corner) that was huge! It was more than half my size! Unfortunately, David had been holding Ron’s GoPro when the group split up, so we didn’t have a camera for the second part of the trip. Luckily, we did have a camera for part of the dive, though, and Ron managed to get a few fun clips during and after our dive!
After the awesome dive, we all went up the hill for some beer, coffee, and/or ice cream. Perfect! Then, most of us headed back to Ana’s house where we cooked a meal. Ana has access to tons of locally grown fruits and vegetables because of her job. She helps agriculture students learn how to utilize the volcanic soil on the island. So the food she cooks (which is vegetarian) is always fresh and extra delicious! A great day….