Late blog this week, because we have been to Lanzarote for a week in the sun and it was gorgeous !!

We went last Sunday with Dave and Helen (who we’d met in Egypt last year). It was absolutely brilliant. The weather was absolutely perfect with the only downside was the nights were a bit chilly (16′C) and you couldn’t quite get away with shorts and t-shirts. But the days were 100% the perfect temperature at about 25′C.

The idea was that I would go diving and complete my Advanced Open Water diving course, and Helen could keep kp company. Dave is a Master Scuba Diver so he was keen to dive as well. Together Helen and Karen make a good pair, because Karen’s brain injury means she is not 100% safe on her own (road crossings, trip hazards), which Helen can make up for, and Karen is probably a bit more physically able than Helen (who broke her back a couple of years ago) and so can push her (on the flat) in the wheelchair. The only downside is that Karen has persistent sleep problems and so remains asleep a lot of the days so they didn’t get to do too much. Also, Karen can’t take too much in as she suffers from information overload easily, so long chats tired her.

My advanced open water course was great. I did it with Calipso Diving (http://www.calipso-diving.com/) and the instructors were absolutely brilliant. Very knowledgeable, very safety-oriented and lots of fun. The course consisted of 5 dives, each one of a different nature. So, I ended up doing a dive focussed on fish identification, one on navigation, a wreck dive, a deep dive (32m) and a night dive. Very different to Sharm-al-Sheikh, but just as enjoyable. I also did one further dive with Dave, where we did a deep dive on a wreck called The Rabat. Saw all sorts of marine life (Octopus, Angel Sharks (lots of them!), Barracuda, Groupers, Wrasse, Spider Crabs). The night dive was a particular highlight. Very eery, but amazing at the same time. At one point, our group sat on the bottom of the ocean in a circle (at around 12m), turned off our torches and then the instructor (Debs), waved her hands in the sea, and loads of minute particles of light spun from her hands. Some sort of irridescent algae. Amazing ! On the last dive, we did The Rabat was absolutely covered in Sea Urchins. They are like black tennis balls (with blue streaks on them), with loads of spikes coming off them (about 6inches per spike). Well, I only went and put my hand on one (in error), and got a load of spike lodged in my finger. Ow !! When you bleed at 30m, it comes out blacky green ! One of the funniest moments for me, was when we went diving at Marla. Marla is a naturist beach – and I kid you not when I tell you this…………..After a 40 minute dive, I surfaced at the steps and THE FIRST THING I SAW when my head was out of the water was a penis and a pair of testicles hovering over me. Circumcised for those that want the extra detail.

As for Karen, she loved the temperatures and they didn’t half make a difference to her movements. Her sleep was all to pot still, staying awake most of the nights and sleeping until noon, but when she was awake, she enjoyed the island with Helen and Dave making various little excursions.

We did some things together as well. For example, on one day we all went to Puerto de Calero (a very wealthy area of the island). Karen, Helen and I wanted to go on a REAL submarine that took you down to about 40m to see all the marine life and a couple of wrecks. The BIG obstacle that we had established before we got there, was that to get into the submarine there were about 10 near-vertical steps on a ladder. But, kp and Helen were both adamant they were going to do it – AND THEY DID ! Thankfully, the rungs were proper flat steps. I had permission from Dave to touch Helen’s arse to help her get up and down the steps, and by virtue of marriage, no permission was required for kp’s arse. And by me going behind them, and taking it a step at a time, we got them both down AND up. They both high-fived each other when they got down there.

The submarine was great. kp found she had to stoop down a bit to see out of our porthole, but she persevered. We saw all sorts of fish. At one point a diver came down and fed the fish and they were swarming round him. Here are the photos from Puerto Calero and the submarine.

Another day, we all went to Timanfaya (the fire mountains) and it was amazing. We had hired a car for the week to do all these trips and some of the scenery we drove through was amazing. They had roads straight through fields of lava. Here are some pictures of Timanfaya.

One of the best things at Timanfaya was they showed the heat that was still only a few feet underground. They had a 10foot hole and they chucked some wood into it, and it smoked and caught fire. They also had some pipes that had been drilled into the earth and they poured water down and it immediately turned to steam with a big bang (causing the little kids/babies to scream and cry). I tried to catch this on a foto, but the timing was out, and I caught the tail end of it.

The earth was so hot, that the kitchen (of the restaurant at the top) were cooking chicken over it !

So, all in all, a great holiday, something we both needed. Beautiful temperatures, good company and generally a nice break. Back to the grindstone tomorrow (for both of us).

Karen is already starting to get a bit anxious about the onslaught of all the rehab team (Incl Doreen and Syd). She is close to tears as I type this. Fingers crossed, she will get through the day.

Here is a photo of the hotel cats that frequented the balconies….

David took his camera along, so there may be more photos in time.