Gran Canaria

This week I skipped school and went to the Canary Islands. I love Gran Canaria and Puerto Mogan, which is this cute little beach/port town. I am also ecstatic to say that I am officially a certified Open Water Scuba Diver!

When I got to the Hotel Paradise Lago Taurito on Wednesday morning I immediately went down to the beach and found the scuba place Blue Explorer Dive Center and met my dive master Sabrina, who was awesome. She was this cool Brit who was young and made my diving experience fun and relaxing. I was nervous I was going to get a strict old man, but I got the complete opposite!
Right away we drove to Puerto Mogan because he beach in Taurito was ruined from a storm that hit last week. I put on my gear which included a full wet suit and hood and then went right into the water from the beach. We did basic skills for the first two dives and I got to see a cuddlefish and tons of sea urchins and starfish, which I got to hold. Afterwards I went back to my hotel and laid by the pool with a rum and coke.

The next day I woke up early and went scuba diving off a boat for my third and fourth dives. I first went to Mogan and laid on the beach there and then went and dove. Our first dive was to the ship wreck the Mogan II. Here we saw a barracuda, an eel, and I held an arrow crab. The wreck was so cool and made me think of the Titanic of course. It was like I was in a different world.

After lunch I did my last dive where I had to swim using a compass and do a skill called Cesar. I was nervous about those two, but I made it! I got to see 2 cuddlefish, an eel, and an ANGEL SHARK! It was so cool, Sabrina even woke it up and it turned toward us so we swam away. All of this was in and near the Perchel Caves. Afterwards, Sabrina, Fiona, and I celebrated my certification with some rum and cokes on the beach, which was so much fun.

The next day I woke up and met Owen, Lior, and Megan in Mogan to go on a booze cruise out of Puerto Rico. The booze cruise ended up not even having hard liquor, but only beer and sangria so we bought our own haha, but it worked out and was a lot of fun! We laid out and just relaxed and then went banana boating in the freezing water. The whole booze cruise ended up working out and being fun. The only problem was that I got sun burn of course, on my knees and back and have been peeling ever since!

I seriously loved the Canary Islands though and would love to go back. I would highly recommend going there to anyone because it was just so amazing!