A very pleasant 24hrs in Aldea, rowed Tinker ashore and strolled around the
breakwater and the village. Met a few English people, which was nice as we
don't often hear English spoken...they told me that this part of the West
coast is their favourite area of Gran Canaria, few roads, rugged terrain, no
tourist developments just Canarian villages and small harbours. We sat for a
while in a Cafe overlooking the small harbour, the helpful proprietor
brought us coffees and filled our water container and was helpful in
pointing out the diving area....all this with pigeon-Spanish and a smile on
our faces.
In the afternoon we did a snorkel-reccy of the dive area, which was at the
seaward-side of the breakwater. We put on snorkel and fins and made our way
from Barada to the breakwater finning along the concrete blocks that make up
the structure - there were plenty of fish, but mostly large shoals of
smaller fish which are a delight to watch.....suddenly you are surrounded by
a shoal coming from behind, one group was a vivid blue/lilac colour, then I
guess one of them suspects a predator coming near and they are gone in a
flash, literally. Unusual specimens we saw included many Blennies defending
their territory on the boulders, they constantly move in a snake-like
movement; lots of large crabs; as we finned back towards Barada 2 fish that
I have not identified for sure, but could have been either small Wahoo or
possibly Garfish, swam past me eyeing me up curiously as they passed. As
Paul was finning past a chap fishing from the breakwater, he found himself
snared by the fisherman who had a big smile on his face and said, amongst
lots of expletives in Spanish "you are the largest catch I have had all
day"!
However the fish around Barada's mooring were equally delightful, of various
colours and sizes including Bogue, Parrotfish, Wrasse, Damsel etc.
Unfortunately we didn't get back to dive the site the next morning as the
v.strong gusts from the NE became more and more persistent as the evening
and night went on and with an increasing NW swell made for an uncomfortable
night, even with our two anchors holding fast. This morning at daybreak we
prepared to leave and with anchors up-and-away by 1000 were heading west for
Tenerife, Bahia de ABONA on the east coast in lively seas F5-6on the beam,
and two WAZ's (wind acceleration zones) to pass through......
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