Diving Expedition to Garajau - Spot a Big Mero!

( Foto: Cláudio Vieira)

This weekend I was invited for a diving expedition along with some scuba-divers, under the supervision of Cláudio Vieira, a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor and also an experience freediver.

The day was very cloudy and the wind was blowing stronger from east, so we decided to make the two schedule dive sessions inside Garajau beach.

We gather at Funchal Marina arround 1 o'clock and board inside "Pitanga" yatch, which would take us to our diving spots.

Mr. Cunha, the captain, keept the trip in a good mood with a lot of laughs and plenty of stories to tell.

First Dive Session:

I let the scuba divers go down first, after two minutes or so, i made my first dive to 18m.

When i arrived down there, they were already surround by hundreds of fishes. One black moray (Muraena augusti) and one green dogfish (Pseudolepidaplois scrofa) completed the scenario.

From above, I could easily follow them by the bubbles they made and continued to make some freedives to see what they were doing.

In this series of dives, i saw some charuteiros (Seriola lalandi) near the surface, more deeper i saw a small eagle-ray (Myliobatis aquila) just passing by the scuba-divers at the bottom and a group of sargos-veado (Diplodus cervinus).

But the best was one of the last dives. Near the boat, Mr. Cunha told that some divers were somewere ahead of me and i thought they could only be there for something special. So it was, as i descend through the bubbles, i could´t belive, a big Mero (Epinephelus marginatus) was just bellow me, i just let myself go towards him, but as soon as he spot me he wisely got away.

Second Dive Session:

Well, in the second dive session i was a bit tired and i only dove arround 16m, so there isn´t much to tell.

Freediving under rain in Garajau - finally the Mero

Today i went to garajau already late in the afternoon. The sun was covered by gray clouds, but i was decided to freedive, since the ocean was calm.

As i was preparing for my freediving session, some thin light rain came along, so i decided to left my stuff undercover and enter through the "calhau"*.

I entered the water and relaxed for a while moving slowly foward to the yellow buoy.

Then i swam a bit of croll and found out at the end that i was surrounded by charuteiros (Seriola lalandi). So my first freedive was with them, underwater arround these thirty fellows.

As i got to surface i realise the current today was stronger than usually to the east and i was nearly 20m left behind the yellow buoy. So i prepare myself for a second dive to approach to the buoy underwater. In the company of my friends i dove to 14m and felt the current pushing me east, but i kept going south west and for my surprise a ray just crossed in front of me at 10m distance, i didn't follow her, cause i wanted to go ahead. Unexpectedly, as i was starting to ascend, i saw a Mero (Epinephelus marginatus) at the bottom at my left side. I was feeling well, so i decided to go down again and followed him for some moments, but as soon as i got to close he simply put the turbo on and bye bye Mero... yet it was awesome 8) with charuteiros, ray and Mero in one single dive.

At the surface i was already in line with the yellow buoy, but still 20m left, so i croll towards there and rest for some 5 to 6 minutes. Looking down, it was completely bluedark with the iron chain, which holds the buoy, disappearing in the depths. It started to rain again, it was already 6 o´clock and there wasn't no one in the beach. But i wasn't feeling alone...

I prepared myself for a long deep dive, already expecting a drift to the east side of the beach caused by the current. I hoped to see the Mero one more time, but i didn't found him, in what i called my first underwater flying experience in Garajau Natural Reserve: i dive in diagonal to the nearly bottom rocks at 17m and just let myself go with the current passing through some rocks and fishes.

I was done for this day.

* calhau - small round stones in a beach

About Garajau Beach and Garajau Marine Reserve

The Garajau beach was remodelated and open to public on the 22 of April 2007.

This beach is situated in the center of a marine reserve called "Reserva Natural Parcial do Garajau" that was created in 1986 at Madeira Island. This was the first exclusive marine reserve in Portugal.

It is well known by scuba-divers as the perfect place in Madeira Island to play with "Meros" - Dusky Groupers (Epinephelus marginatus) and sometimes to be in the presence of gracefull "Jamantas" - Manta-Rays (Manta birostris) or with some luck have an encounter with a rare mammal the "Lobo Marinho" - Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus).

The water is clear and the visibility is arround 20m all year round, in good days it can reach 35m. The bottom of the sea is rocky until a depth of about 22m, after that is black sand and worn outshells.

It is forbidden to spearfishing and scubadivers have to pay a tax to dive here, so it is a excellent spot for freediving 8).

Special links:

• http://www.sra.pt/pnm/
• http://www.madeiranature.com/
• http://www.madeiraislands.travel/
• http://www.madeirahelp.com/