Exercise BLACK BUZO was a Diving Course led by Captain Tim Fleming of the 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (4 PARA), but consisted of 12 members from across all four Battalions. The exercise is one of a long line of courses which 4 PARA have conducted annually at various locations around the planet and was initially scheduled to take place on Ascension Island. Unfortunately, due to equipment issues that were outside of their control, the plan for Ascension Island had to be amended and an alternative location had to be chosen.

After a lot of hard work by Tim, the course was able to be held on the island of Lanzarote. Of the twelve participants, six were complete diving novices and they (plus one who had previous experience) would be setting out to gain their British Sub-Aqua Club’s (BSAC) Ocean Diver Qualification, whilst the remainder furthered their diving experience.

The team departed Stansted Airport on the morning of Sunday 21 July after receiving their diving equipment and their first of seven theory lectures from Mr Ray Williams, the lead instructor. Early that afternoon, they arrived at the ‘Apartments Celeste’ in the resort of Costa Teguise, which is situated on the East coast of the island, protected from the Atlantic swell, making it an ideal location to dive.

Despite the attraction of the town’s many bars and restaurants, the group got straight down to work, doing more theory lectures that evening and promptly, the next morning, Tim and Ray headed to our resident diving school (Calipso), who they would be working with for the next two weeks. After testing the air (both literally and metaphorically) throughout the morning, the group were able to get their fins wet late in the afternoon of the Monday. The five more experienced divers went out on a familiarisation dive, while the remainder were able to learn the basic principles and skills in a local harbour, which was almost the same as doing it in a pool.

After conducting a second day’s diving in the same location, the group were now all competent enough to dive in open water, so they drove down to the bustling resort of Puerto Del Carmen. Here most of the diving would take place. The resort was clearly popular with divers as, during busy periods, up to 200 divers would be in the water at any one time, resulting to what is referred to in the industry as ‘Diver Soup’. Despite the many other divers in the area, the group were able to conduct most dives without the risk of accidentally swimming off with someone else.

For the group’s fourth day of diving, they headed up to the sleepy town of Mala, on the North-East coast. This location was less busy than Puerto Del Carmen, with only one other group of divers in the area. The location was famed for two reasons; one being the fact that the dive site was located on a lava flow, providing the team an opportunity to swim through caverns and small gaps. The other reason was that Mala was home to Lanzarote’s Naturist community, where people of all ages, would not only be seen sunbathing amongst the rocks in their ‘birthday suits’, but living in the nearby houses in varying states of undress. Fortunately, we were able to ignore the locals and concentrate on the diving.

After four-days continuous diving, the team had to observe a mandatory 24-hour break from diving to allow the Nitrogen levels in the blood to return to normal. This also gave them an opportunity to see what else Lanzarote had to offer, such as the “Fire Mountains” or explore some of the local architecture of some houses embedded in the rocks. The remaining days were spent much in the same vein, with confidence increasing on each dive. The ‘Ocean Divers’ were able to dive to a depth of 20 metres and saw marine life such as Groupers, Cuttlefish, Octopi, and Barracuda, to name but a few. They were also able to practice entering the sea via the beach, the rocks or a harbour wall.

The trip proved to be a huge success, with all novice divers gaining their Ocean Diver qualification, but more importantly than that they now have memories that they will cherish forever and they all want to further their diving experience in the future.

Chris Collier, Capt PARA