Getting
your scuba diving certificate on Fuerteventura
Diving or scuba diving is
extremely popular on Fuerteventura and if you have never tried
it, there are a number of top class diving schools that offer
courses leading to the Padi certificate.
Fuerteventura offers superb
diving sites all around the island being of volcanic origin
and in the seas offshore divers can find dramatic underwater
rock formations, ship wrecks and reefs along with a wide
variety of sea life.
Diving
schools on Fuerteventura
Offshore there is an abundant
variety of marine life for divers to enjoy including tuna, sea
bream, angel sharks, barracudas and eagle rays. If you want to
lean to dive, there are about a dozen top class diving school
around the island offering all the gear and instruction you
will need.
Fuerteventura is a diver's paradise with its clear waters and consistent
temperatures. Visibility is an excellent 30 metres or more and
water temperatures range from 17-19 degrees in the winter to
22-23 degrees in the summer - ideal temperatures for the
eco-system which exists around the island and ideal
temperatures for diving.
There are diving sites that will satisfy everyone from
beginners to advanced divers.
Diving
centres on Fuerteventura
There are a number of top
class diving centres around the island catering for everyone
from complete novices to experienced divers and offering
jackets, regulators and console - all the equipment you will
need to start diving.
In Caleta de Fuste one school is based in the harbour and
offers beginners courses as well as courses for more
experienced divers.
If you are going to learn to dive, don't forget to start early
in your holiday because of flying restrictions. If you are
fit, a typical course will start with a lesson teaching you
basic theory and safety procedures, the hand signals you will
use and how the equipment works.
This will be followed by a practice session to allow you to
become accustomed to the equipment and for the staff to
correct your dive weights then it is off to the sea for a real
dive.
Diving
sites in Caleta de Fuste, Fuerteventura
There are 11 diving sites
around Caleta de Fuste. These offer various degrees of
difficulty for the diver.
Diving site Salinas Reef El Tazar.
Depth : 12m-35m (average 25m). Current : moderate. Waves :
unprotected. Time to reach site : 10/15 minutes. Difficulty :
beginner to advanced. There are normally large schools of
damsel fish by the reef and further on, large barracuda. In
the lower rock formations, grouper, parrot fish, mottled
grouper, garden eels and many others.
Diving site Salinas Reef Black
Treasure Bank (Tesoro Negro). Depth 12m-40m. Waves
: unprotected. Current : moderate. Time to reach site : 10/15
minutes. Difficulty : beginner to advanced. Black corals,
sponges, sea slugs and anemones. can be found in the reef wall
while at the foot of the reef are tube anemones and peacock
worms and on the sandy floor are often groups of rays.
Diving site Salinas Reef El Portal.
Depth 12m-35m. Waves : unprotected. Current : moderate. Time
to reach site : 10/15 minutes. Difficulty : advanced. A rocky
wall stands in front of the reef with an opening leading down
where conditions are ideal for larger fish. Tuna fish running
to 2m, amberjack of up to 1.8m and even whale shark can be
found.
Diving site Salinas Reef The Lookout
(El Mirador) Depth 12m-38m. Waves : unprotected.
Current : moderate. Time to reach site : 13/18 minutes.
Difficulty : advanced. Crossing a ravine are a series of huge
rock formations and looking towards the blue are amberjack and
bonit, eagle rays scouring between the rocks for food and in
the rocks, conger eels and moray hide.
Diving site Salinas Reef The
Labrynth (El Laberinto) Depth 12m-38m. Waves :
unprotected. Current : moderate. Time to reach site : 10/15
minutes. Difficulty : experienced to advanced. This wild sea
scape contnues to surprise een regular divers. Angel sharks.
barracuda, bonito and, if you are lucky looking to the
surface, a great hammerhead can sometimes be seen. Sometimes
on the edge of the reef can be found schools of sardines
waiting to be hunted by tuna.
Diving site Salinas Reef The Pyramid
(La Piramide) Depth 14m-39m. Waves : unprotected.
Current : moderate/strong Time to reach site : 10/15 minutes.
Difficulty : beginner to advanced. At about 26m behind the
edge of the reef a pack of grouper wait in the rocks to battle
with moray eels. Sea turtles often lurk near the pyramid wall
and deeper there is a fair chance of spotting a two metre ray.
Diving site Salinas Reef
Depth 14m-27m. Waves : unprotected. Current : moderate. Time
to reach site : 10/15 minutes. Difficulty : advanced Small
passages from the reef lead to chasms where hide grey
triggerfish, ornate wrasse, combers and sea bream while in the
sandy channels filefish and occasionally porcupine fish swim
against the current. Shrimps and large spider crabs can also
be found.
Diving site Boat Graveyard (Cementerio
de Barcos). Depth - 7m: Waves protected: Current
very slight. Time to reach site 2 minutes. Difficulty beginner
to advanced. Schools of young barracuda swim among the remains
of a ship wreck and sunken yacht along with black sea bream,
octopus, squid and sardine. In winter months angel sharks can
be found
Diving site Castillo Reef
Amphitheatre (Anfiteatro) Depth 12m-21m. Waves :
unprotected. Current : slight to moderate. Time to reach site
: 5/10 minutes. Difficulty : beginner to advanced. Under the
reef overhangs lie sole, trumper fish, scorpion fish and
grouper and in an area 12 metres at the edge of the reef are
barracuda searching for prey and alfonsinos.
Diving site Horizonte Reef
Nuevo Horizonte Depth 24m-39m. Waves : unprotected.
Current : moderate to strong. Time to reach site : 15/20
minutes. Difficulty : advanced This dive boasts a free descent
and the reef with its basalt walls rises from the sandy bottom
making it aperfect place for rays with Atlantic torpedoes,
butterfly rays, torpedoes and common rays all found here. From
the Deep Blue, gilthead sea bream, barracudas, tuna and blue
fish approach the reef.
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