As I have finally managed to get some diving done, I thought it would be appropriate to start a section for fellow bubble-heads out there. I'd like to apologise in advance for descriptions such as 'blue fish' and 'spiny lobster thingy' but my marine environment knowledge is not what it should be (anyone who knows a good fish book divided into areas of the ocean and with lots of pretty pictures, please let me know!). I was lucky in Porto Santo as there was a dive-school very close by (based in the Clube Nautico) so after a day at anchor I went along to try and book some diving.

The response was typically Portuguese: if you want to come along just turn up at 0930. So I did so the following morning.

The diving school seemed more like a club and I was diving with a group of Portuguese guys who seemed to have dived together a lot. After a cursory dive brief (diving on a reef wall, go down the anchor line, go west until you reach the wall, follow it and go south at the end, Max depth 34m) we kitted up and headed back to the Marina to load up the rather posh RIB. It was on the way to the boat that I was attached to a buddy pair as the third number (they were both diving on Nitrox which made things a little interesting towards the end). One buddy was called Jesus so I felt relatively safe, although his buddy said that he preferred diving with Jesus' dad! For those interested, I dived in a 5mm full wet-suit and hood and was toasty throughout.

The cursory dive brief was just the start of a rather 'relaxed' dive. As soon as the RIB lay back on the anchor, we all got kitted up and as I turned around to Jesus and my other buddy to do a Buddy Check I found they were already in the water.. Oh well, maybe they just forgot me.

All was well at the surface and we quickly descended underwater, leaving our guide behind. But hey, my buddies had done this dive loads of times so they must be ok, right?! We reached the bottom at 20m and I followed Jesus. I was a little confused as he was going East, still he said he knew the reef so I just followed.

The reef was volcanic and was an undulating landscape with plenty of life with some Surgeon Fish (I think) and some Blue Wrass (fairly confident on that one) and a great deal of Parrot Fish as well as lots of other colourful fish around the blobs of lava. Visibility was excellent and one of the reasons I wasn't so worried about the strange route we were taking was that, even at 34m, the boat was clearly visible on the surface. The dive continued with me following my buddies and generally enjoying being underwater again. There was still no sign of what I would call a wall, but never mind, maybe something was lost in translation..

After about 25 minutes at around 30m I was down to 90 bar so I indicated to my buddies that we should maybe start heading back towards the anchor. They agreed and I led the way back. When we got closer I saw the bubbles of the other divers in the group so went over to see them, and found the wall! By this time I was down to about 70 bar and was up at 25m so I only got a chance to have a look at the top of the wall before I was in danger of busting my non-decompression limits. But as my buddies were on Nitrox they didn't seem worried.

I signalled that I was off and started towards the surface where the other divers (also on Nitrox) were heading already. Everyone made it up ok, although my buddies were down to about 30 bar when they surfaced. Jesus was very apologetic about going the wrong way, but I wasn't all that bothered as I had a great time and was pleased just to be under water again. But the jokes from the other divers about 'following Jesus' came thick and fast in Portuguese and English!

Spurred by my first dive in too long, Amelia and I decided to go snorkelling the following day along the beach side of the marina breakwater. Once again the water was gin-clear, but this time we weren't wearing wet-suits so about 45 minutes was enough. The breakwater is made of a mixture of rocks and giant concrete 'jacks' which provided plenty of hidey holes for fish, crabs, sea urchins and more and we saw nearly as many fish as I had during my dive. I enjoyed skin diving down to take a peek.

Overall, I would say Porto Santo is a pretty good diving destination and there is an artificial reef wreck which is supposed to be excellent, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to explore it.