tyesai
Contributor
So for something different I took the two hour drive and drove over to the East coast of Spain and dove with Happy Divers located in Marbella, Spain. They are located on the beach side of Hotel Atalaya. The dive shop was small but they had some equipment available, including "tech gear" to rent or buy. It appeared they had a small classroom in the back and even though it was a small shop it wasn't cluttered and it was absolutely spotless inside. There was supposed to be two of us but my buddy flaked out so I ended up there by myself. I was really surprised to find out I was the only diver they had as it was Saturday, 75f / 24c and absolutely beautiful outside. Oh well....
The lack of customers made me a little nervous at first but I shouldn't have been. My personal guide for the day, Henry, made me feel like I had been his buddy for years. I don't know how much fun he had but I had a blast. We did two shore dives. One on an OLD sewage pipeline. I saw the typical Mediterranean critters including a few types of fish I hadn't seen before. It was pretty bare but interesting, you just had to look for the small stuff. I'd dive it again. There was also a quaint little bar right there and the beach had a fresh water shower.
After changing we drove to the next shore dive. This was also quite shallow, no more than 8 meters, and it was on an old French Galleon. I was told it is 200 years old, once again there was the typical Med life there but it was more abundant. I'd also not hesitate to dive here again. Nice easy relaxing dive, maybe 40 meters off shore. This was right in the heart of the tourist location so we geared up on the boardwalk and only had a 15 meter walk into the water. There was also another fresh water shower right there to clean up with after the dive.
I did get to briefly meet the dive shop owner Peter. Nice enough German fellow (I think he is German). Apparently they do some boat diving but the water had been to rough lately. I can't be certain but it looked like they had a small zodiac. All in all a good experience, my only gripe is that they charge extra for air??? Nitrox is included in the price and if you dive air they charged an extra 9euro for the two dives. When I asked about it the staff looked a little uncomfortable and simply said air wasn't a proper diving gas. I was going to pitch a fit about this but since I was the only diver and Henry the staff was so polite I let it go. I'll be sure to make my way back out there again every now and then (it is a 2 hour drive from me) to do something different. All in all a good experience.
The lack of customers made me a little nervous at first but I shouldn't have been. My personal guide for the day, Henry, made me feel like I had been his buddy for years. I don't know how much fun he had but I had a blast. We did two shore dives. One on an OLD sewage pipeline. I saw the typical Mediterranean critters including a few types of fish I hadn't seen before. It was pretty bare but interesting, you just had to look for the small stuff. I'd dive it again. There was also a quaint little bar right there and the beach had a fresh water shower.
After changing we drove to the next shore dive. This was also quite shallow, no more than 8 meters, and it was on an old French Galleon. I was told it is 200 years old, once again there was the typical Med life there but it was more abundant. I'd also not hesitate to dive here again. Nice easy relaxing dive, maybe 40 meters off shore. This was right in the heart of the tourist location so we geared up on the boardwalk and only had a 15 meter walk into the water. There was also another fresh water shower right there to clean up with after the dive.
I did get to briefly meet the dive shop owner Peter. Nice enough German fellow (I think he is German). Apparently they do some boat diving but the water had been to rough lately. I can't be certain but it looked like they had a small zodiac. All in all a good experience, my only gripe is that they charge extra for air??? Nitrox is included in the price and if you dive air they charged an extra 9euro for the two dives. When I asked about it the staff looked a little uncomfortable and simply said air wasn't a proper diving gas. I was going to pitch a fit about this but since I was the only diver and Henry the staff was so polite I let it go. I'll be sure to make my way back out there again every now and then (it is a 2 hour drive from me) to do something different. All in all a good experience.
