Well folks just back from diving in Galicia. Six sunny warm days with a bee-keeping, diving chef who hangs around here a lot. I chose the destination as I had never been to Galicia, our host (Chris-aka-divingchef) always shows great knowledgeable enthusiasm on the forum (http://www.bsacforum.co.uk/forums/ ), and somehow staying with a chef seemed likely to cover another requirement of mine. I wasn’t to be disappointed. Here is a taste

We were a three person group, one non diver. As my step daughter Marta and I had only 12 dives each to date we had some fairly specific requirements:

• Marta suffers from the cold so we wanted to test out some options that might help as she is yet to buy any kit.

• She also suffers from sea sickness but the circumstances on her last experience were a bit extreme; rushed from airport to boat followed by 45 mins of chop and then two dives (she only did one but of course couldn’t escape); so we wanted to see how she faired with shorter calmer trips.

• I had new kit (everything) except for tank and tubes so wanted to put it through its passes.

• I also had a new knife, torch and camera so we wanted to see if we could start to introduce these into the act without losing control of the main event

• My best SAC to-date had been about 30 so I wanted to try and make progress there.

• And finally we wanted to try something different from last time (Lanzarote)

• ................ and have a good time to boot.

The headlines:

My flight from London Stanstead to Santiago was £52 return with Ryanair (the headline price had been £0.00 !!! but I’m not complaining). This included 15 kilos. Luckily I only needed to take my BCD and a few clothes. My wife Pilar and stepdaughter Marta drove up from Madrid with everything else. At the airport I was two kilos over (Ryanair are strict) so I shuffled some stuff into hand luggage. Sadly it was only later that I discovered that my dive shears were still with me Well a nice lady who works for WHS looked after them and I picked them up on return

A short bus ride from the airport I had a quick look around the pilgrim destination of Santiago de Compostela (well worth a look) before taking the bus to Estrada (25 mins south) where Margaret (of Chris and Margaret) picked me up and drove me to Casa Quireza. The girls arrived after their 7 hour journey at almost the same time. Won’t bore you with the details, you can see them on the website (www.casaquireza.com ), but rural, spacious, scenic and three bars (3 bottled beers and a large lomo and cheese bocadillo and you had change from 5 euros!!) and a lovely village within a few mins walk. The ensuite were spacious with balcony and TV (which we never did get to use – just too much to do). A small pool and large patio areas outside perfect for lazing around and kit testing.

We took dinner with Chris and Margaret the first and last nights – three exquisite courses prepared to your tastes – Chris is a real chef I can assure you. And mustn’t forget the honey dribbling over the freshest bread mmmmm. (Note to self: get to gym tomorrow).

So now the serious stuff. Chris arranged the diving to meet our needs. Before we had arrived we had a full list of options and location details (subject to weather of course but the great thing here is that the Rias tend to offer safe and sheltered diving somewhere even if the Atlantic does decide to do its’ worst).

On the first day after Chris helped me with my new kit queries and Marta tried on various wet suit options (she is very tall and thin so not easy to find a good fit) we set off for a beach dive to acclimatise to our new surroundings. Very picturesque in the Ria (I’d call it a fjord but they are in reality flooded valleys) not far from Pontevedra. We quickly got back into the swing and sorted weights. A max of 5.1 meters but plenty of variety on the bottom.

The next day with Marta’s cold protection further tuned Chris had arranged two boat dives. For the first we were joined by a group of very friendly and helpful locals on a rib to Marta’s and my first wreck ‘Ivy’. We saw wrasse and spider crab plus other fish I didn’t recognise – plenty of flora and fauna. The metal carrying boat at 16 meters had been down 20 years. We took heed of the skippers warning and stayed well clear of the cargos sharp edges.

The hull still standing proud looked kind of ghostly. Visibility was middling and the experience great. The hot showers at the embarkation point were appreciated although the outside 25C with sunshine had made after dive life very pleasant. We had enjoyed ourselves but sadly I had managed to gulp air faster than I would have liked and although Marta had handled the sea sickness much better she decided one boat per day was enough.

 That was a pity as Chris and I in the afternoon joined 25 or so crazy Portuguese (tremendous fun) on an old wooden mussel ship. The vast wooden deck was great and there was room for all. We were off to dive around one of the mussel rafts of Galicia. Chris and I were early in the water but after descending to 8 meters we found the visibility rather poor. We surfaced but by then there were so many in the water that a recall was not possible. A further chat with Chris and we descended again with a revised plan. We found better visibility and employing my torch for the first time I enjoyed the mussel ropes (ok whatever they are called) and some kelp beds. Lots of bass, wrasse and various living things plus anemones, etc. We cruised over first a yellow starfish field then the red spidery starfish field (a real bio expert huh ). We didn’t see any other divers despite the numbers until we surfaced. A good sign I thought was that my computer showed a SAC of 26.8 despite the excitement and novelty and at times poor visibility. Dolphins hunting in the Ria were sighted on our way back to port.

The next day with Marta fully ready to go was to be special. We were off for a boat dive at Cies Islands – a marine reserve. Back to the shop in Vigo where we had started the previous day we geared up and using two ribs we went to the islands to get clearance to dive in the reserve. After waiting a few minutes at a quay in the middle of nowhere a car with three uniforms arrived. They eyed us over, papers were inspected and then we got the all clear. Only 8.4 meters but good visibility and lots of life to see. Marta showed no signs of sea sickness and my SAC was now 18.6 Afterwards we were dropped on the Island where Pilar awaited us. The rest had another dive to do but we explored the beautiful Island. From the ferry quay and a lagoon walkway we saw octopus and dozens of fish. With such clear water and easy fish spotting we were beginning to wonder if Scuba diving was worthwhile A great relaxing afternoon and then a 45 minute ferry trip back to Vigo at sunset.

The next day I had work to do so the girls went off to Santiago for the day. They had a great time.

The last day we could have done a further two boat trips including a 16th century galleon but for various reasons we decided to stay local and hone our skills with two further shore dives. (We had already decided we would be coming back so we felt the galleon could wait).

Two enjoyable dives down to 9 meters gave Marta and I a chance to practise buoyancy and play with the camera. Lots of variety as we circumnavigated a small islet. Hermit crabs, spider crabs, a lone dog fish who posed for photos, cuttlefish, wrasse plus all the normal suspects. Sadly our camera skills were fairly poor but we had great fun. My SAC for the last 3 dives averaged below 19 and despite the last dive being 50 minutes I was perfectly happy to switch from 15 litres to 10 litres and still had plenty of air at the end.

So to summarise we had a great time, we made better diving progress than we could have imagined, Chris organised everything as we wanted, and accommodated even our late changes of plan.

Non-diving time was relaxed and our hosts Chris and Margaret were great – they were there when you wanted help or a glass of wine but absent if we wanted to do our own thing. We had our own keys so could come and go as we pleased. Pilar as a non diver found plenty to do. She is more country than town orientated and enjoyed beach and hill walking. However Pontevedra, Vigo and Santiago all offer plenty of city activity if that is your thing.

For the three of us including all transport from Madrid and London we spent £1350 but this included some kit (Marta’s vest, bits for my commando, mask and snorkel, several tee shirts), Marta’s years worth of insurance (arranged by Chris, she just signed a form), all kit hire, Cies ferry tickets, and more than sufficient food, beer and red wine.

And finally the lowest temperature I recorded was 16C (if you’re reading this in the future it was end of September) and I was fine in 7mm wet. Marta used multiple layers and in the end found it OK but I think as she is such a cold morsel she will switch to dry. Chris offered her a course and kit but she decided to leave it to next time.

The links: www.casaquireza.com ; http://www.divegalicia.com