Nerja Diving ~ Spain

There are diving holidays and holidays with diving , my trip to Nerja (near Malaga on the Costa del Sol) was a holiday with some diving! Just two dives in fact! Both with Buceo Costa Nerja based on the Burriana beach , on the East side of the town.

The Med is generally not regarded as a 'diving destination' as it's principal attraction beyond (usually) warm water tends to be rock formations and occasional swim-throughs. Hence a holiday with some dives!

I did two shores dives on the same site (Marina Delesté, itself East of Nerja) over two days, so not what you would call full-on diving! Entry was a simple walk-in off the beach over a gentle slope of pebbles. Having descended we hugged the shoreline on our right shoulder and gained depth as we worked around the bay until 'U-Turning' and retracing our 'steps'! There were a few shoals of small fish and a lone (small) octopus. A few dozen tiny fluorescent purple fish (sorry , I don't know the species) were the colour highlight.

Marina Delesté is about a 30min drive from the PADI Dive Centre which is Spanish owned & run. Briefings were in English at the Centre and the dives were led by Spanish speaking guides. Formalities at the Centre were kept to a minimum, no PADI medical forms or a need to show cards. I had to certify that I wouldn't urinate in the rented wet suit or if I did I would have to buy it at a price of €150 ! I assume it was not just me that had to sign that , perhaps they took me for someone who needs a self-heating suit! I asked if I could have a dry suit on the basis that I could pee in it and get it for €150 (deal!) but no, I think they had spotted my ruse!

I have no underwater photos to attach as I didn't take the u/w camera ... I have dived the Med before and have plenty of rock photos.

Shore dives were priced at a heavy (I thought) €50 but reduced to €40 for me as I had taken some of my own kit. Another Brit did a 1:1 Scuba Discovery (one shore dive) and paid €100 ... whoa! Cheaper to dive in the Maldives, let alone Egypt!

Not surprisingly my dive profiles were very similar, 14.3m/14.6m and 50mins/58mins respectively. The most surprising thing of the diving experience was the degree in water temperature fluctuation over the space of three days, on the first dive the water temp was 25Deg C at the bottom and two days later it was astonishingly (well to me!) down to 14 Deg C at the bottom. So the second dive in the same kit was cool! The massive temp change was put down to Atlantic water flushing into the Med! I feared that coolness might cost me €150 but honour & wallet was saved to fight another day!

If I visit Nerja again , which is quite possible, I don't imagine doing more than two dives again.

Thanks to my diving buddies, in particular, Rudy from Belgium.