Scuba Diving in Spain - Medes 2004

The trip started well. Janos, Tricky, Paul, Kathy, Paul Adams, Dee, Ruth, Mark and Komal arrived in Stansted bright and early. Checking in with RyanAir was surprisingly easy, despite a few hangovers from those Hellfins who’d said a rather alcoholic ‘goodbye’ to their missuses. Also, by booking an extra ‘sports bag’ some of the group had gained an additional 32kg of luggage allowance, avoiding RyanAir’s ludicrously low weight limits. Despite this, Janos (‘a redundant person’ according to Kathy) was unable to take all the equipment his full spares kit, and had to settle for just the three sets of regulators in his 60kg of luggage. Paul had 10kg of cameras and photographic equipment, and Tricky had 8kg of salt, ‘just in case’.

After an uneventful flight, the Hellfins stepped off the plane into glorious sunshine. “A bit blowy,” said Tricky and so it proved. The wind died down to a Force 3 / Force 4 for Sunday, but Medes divers are used to the easy life, and so the diving was cancelled and the group spent the day buying clips and things in one of the many cheap dive shops in Spain. Sunday evening saw the group supping a pint of the finest Guinness outside Ireland, in Branaghan’s, a pub with fine folk music that somehow managed to capture the essential spirit of the Emerald Isle despite the heat.

Monday morning was a little calmer, but there was still a little breeze. Janos was despatched to see whether diving was going ahead. He came back with good news. “I managed to ‘persuade’ them to go out” he said with a wink. The method of persuasion he used is unknown. The first dive was at the civilised time of 11:00am, and so after a leisurely breakfast and the group wandered down to the dive centre to pick up kit and sign some forms. After a short but scary journey through the streets of Estartit in a van towing our kit in a trailer (during the previous week a trailer was lost when it overturned into the harbour) we arrived at the docks and boarded our boat, the Sirena II.

The Sirena II is a large boat, with room for about 30 divers. Half was occupied by nine Hellfins, and the other half was occupied by a similarly sized group of Belgians. The Belgians did not have the same degree of modesty as the Hellfins, and a new phrase ‘to do a Belgian’, meaning to change on the open deck without the aid of a towel, was coined. A short ride out to the islands gave the divers barely enough time to kit up, and certainly not enough time to be seasick. Then it was a giant stride in to the water from the bows of the Sirena II, some 3m above the surface.

The Medes islands are a protected marine reserve, and so the fish have the chance to grow to huge sizes. On every dive inquisitive grouper several metres long accompanied the divers. Mr. Birkin, our resident fish expert, also identified several other fish present, such as bib, wrasse, and also bream. However it’s not just the fish that make the diving in the Medes islands so fantastic. The hard geology of the area means that visibility is good, and that the huge boulders create dramatic underwater scenes

The second dive of the day was at four o’clock, so after a civilised lunch, the group went out for the second dive. There were some strong currents on this site and the divers had to fin hard to get back to the boat. Dee and Kathy swept off the rock and drifted out to sea. The two divers were hard to spot in the swell. Fortunately Dee had bought one of Janos’ flags at the dive auction, and when she deployed it she was immediately spotted by the crew of Sirena II. They sent out one of the two ribs to collect the pair, and a potentially serious situation was turned into a minor inconvenience. (You can find out how to make your own flag here)

All back safely on board, the group headed back to base where we met up with Jenny, who had bizarrely decided to miss a couple of days diving as she preferred to run a half marathon instead.

Back at our adjoining villas, complete with pool, and garages for those people missing their sheds, the now 10 Hellfins lounged around filling in logbooks and listening to music. Jenny and Janos were the only people who had brought any CDs with them, but fortunately Janos has excellent taste in music and had brought approximately 20 of his compilation car CDs. These proved popular with everyone present. Indeed Paul said that he’d felt his stomach moving in ways it had not moved before.

That evening the group hunted and gathered in the local supermarket, and returned back with armfuls of meat and some disposable barbeques. Paul was keen to light the barbeque, as he had been practicing his firestarting skills earlier in the week. A fact he insists is unconnected with the large forest fire that mysteriously started on a nearby mountain, and drew crowds of residents onto the streets to marvel at the spectacle.

Tuesday saw some more diving. The site, Dolfin, was criss-crossed by a large number of tunnels, some 50m long and wide enough for ten divers to swim side by side. Dee had developed a bizarre fetish for smearing her legs with Vaseline and wearing tights under her wetsuit, but apart from that the day passed without incident. That evening a newly cigarette free Ellie arrived, winning a prize for most-last-minute-person-to-sign-on-a-trip, having booked her flights only the day before. In the evening, the group went to a local restaurant and ordering a random selection of tapas. Unfortunately the local speciality of whitebait, anchovies, and other unidentifiable fish (even by Paul!) did not go down well with much of the group, and it fell to Tricky and Janos to maintain club honour by eating 11 portions of food between the two of them. Then it was back once again to the villas, where Tricky held the group enthralled with interesting facts about numbers. Did you know that over 30% of numbers begin with the digit 1?

Wednesday saw even better weather and better diving, although Ellie attracted hoots of derision as she was diving in her drysuit. In the surface interval, Paul Adams, like so many Hellfins before him, bought a Kowalski much cheaper than he could in the UK. After the second dive it was back to the dive centre as usual, to wash the kit. Washing the kit was not enough for Kathy, who decided to use one of the hosepipes to wash Janos. Janos reacted in a calm and proportionate manner by dumping Kathy in the rinse tank.

The evening’s entertainment was not debatable. Chelsea were playing Porto, and as Tricky was marshalling the diving that week, if anyone wanted to dive on Thursday then they had better watch the game. Fortunately there was no lack of bars showing the traditional element of Catalan culture that is Sky Sports, and Tricky was soon ensconced in rapt attention while the rest of the group ate their food and talked about the days diving.

Thursday nearly saw diving cancelled as Kathy spoke at length about the Belgian lack of modesty, unaware that the dive guide and van driver, Sonny, was a Belgian. Fortunately Janos saved the day by waxing lyrical about how much he loved Belgium, the only country with a National Union of Chip Fryers. In the end the Hellfins had three dives that day, the final dive being a night dive at around 8pm. Close to the coast, and with mountains blocking the moon, it was very dark indeed. Several of the group saw octopus and crabs. Sirena II, although a gorgeous boat in the daytime, was severely lacking when it came to underwater lighting, which provided a bit of a challenge when it came to navigating back to the boat.

Friday came and it was the last day of diving, and the deepest. Jenny and Janos made it down to 40m, (Janos wearing sandals as he’d left his boots in the dive centre) but were so narked that compass navigation was a challenge and they missed the site altogether. No matter, they still enjoyed the dive as practicing deep stops and mid-water DSMB deployment is much more fun in the Medes than in Stoney. Paul Adams also had a bit of a tragedy when he lost his Kowalski, which was just three days old. Tricky and Janos went back to the site to search for it in the afternoon, but did not find it. They were hoping for some luck, as it was Janos’ 100th dive since the last AGM, but sadly returned empty handed. Happy and tired, (even Paul) the Hellfins made their way back to shore for the last time, and Tricky did a Belgian.

After a shower and change of clothes it was back to the Dive Centre for free Sangria and nibbles with the Belgians and dive centre staff, which was a nice touch and a good way to end the diving part of the holiday.

This was followed by tasty meal in the restaurant that should have been discovered at the start of the week. Then, as there was no diving the next day, it was back home via a pub. At the first pub the group of Hellfins was quickly scared off by small children singing Karaoke. That dive was quickly aborted and the group went to another pub. This was better, although the manager did seem quite keen to get the group hooked on bingo, offering free games to start with. The group resisted the Bingo, although he did manage to persuade Dee and Kathy to play on the dancing machine. After a few pints, it was back to the villas to finish up the wine bought earlier in the week.

After a few warm up drinks, there was a short speech and a grateful group of Hellfins presented Kathy with some gifts as a token for arranging the weeks. They included a torch, a strobe, a signed t-shirt, and a token which could be exchanged for a special Medes flag.

Then the furniture was pushed back for some loud music and vigorous dancing. Paul and Dee taught the group Irish Dancing, then Janos taught the Gothic two-step. Jen taught Janos how to waltz, and then Janos was deservedly dumped in pool, and several other Hellfins soon followed… There are few reliable reports about what happened the rest of that evening.

Saturday found the Hellfins very hungover and subdued. Silence ruled in the taxi ride back to the airport, then a surprisingly smooth RyanAir flight took the Hellfins back to Stansted. Without exception the group enjoyed the trip, and can’t wait for the next one. Well done Kathy for organising the trip, and Tricky for marshalling the diving.