Diving on the Costa del Sol
Spain`s beautiful south

Do you know where your parents spent their holidays in 1977 ? It was the Costa del Sol on Spain`s mediterranean coast near Málaga. 20 years later the countryside is still beautiful, the people family-friendly, and the world under the sea`s surface worth a visit. Just ask your parents, recommends journalist Thomas Mauz.

When dive-jounalists are not writing about the red-tigered Mulakken-Manta then they write about "family-holidays for divers". For the jounalist the story begins like this: Your dive buddy has become your wife and mother to your kids. Your luggage is measured in cubic meters rather than kilos. The basics are slightly streched. The kids are hyper-active and have to be watched 24 hours a day. So where do you go on holiday ?

Generations of jounalists have in time found new answers to this question. Not all of them have been any good. Suggestions for the years‘ holiday are varied, from camping by the Edersee ("Can I take the frog home, mum ?") to the family-friendly islands at the Maldives ("The plane is unfortunately fully booked, I can`t give you extra seats for your children.") or to Egypt, where the hotels have gastronomic specials (" Mum, what`s that moving about in my orange-juice ?").

I suggest: We do what our parents did, go to the Costa del Sol ! Costa del Sol ? Brief memories from our childhood pop up: The endless hours in dad`s Opel Rekord, the little hotel directly on the beach in Estepona, the many small boats in the harbour at Marbella and the first sun-burn. However, today ? Has the Costa del Sol not expanded itself to a destination for the super-rich tourists ?

The Spanish tourist-board tries to convince sceptical German water-jounalists. When we land in Málaga, we see staight away that our ideas about Spain were right. Beside our plane is the private-jet of the Saudi-Arabian Royal family, a white jumbo-jet with an extra air-con cabin for the hawks. "The king is receiving treatment in a local private-sanatorium", the kind tour guide tells us.

Arrival at Atalaya Park hotel. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and over everything the atmosphere . Room with sea-view. Meet up with collegues on the sun-terrace. I try to control my happiness. The rest of the group feel the same: We all agree, "this isn`t so bad at all".

Next morning we meet Peter Deth (38), head of "Happy Diver`s Club", which is at the hotel. Peter is originally from Frankfurt in Germany, where he worked as agricultural engineer. A year ago he decided, his life was full of too many tractors and not enough drift-wood, so he moved to Spain. The Barakuda organization got him the contact with the Hotel Atalaya Park to run the diving centre there. Peter has completely renovated the diving center, so today it has 12 complete sets of diving equipment and a nice Zodiac-Rib with 140 horse-power and GPS. Peter is, of course, very proud of his diving center.

"Although the clients are mainly Spanish during the summer, the hotel`s management attached great importance to having a German diving center" he tells us. German divers and German instructors have a very good reputation in Spain. Unfortunately this didn`t get through to the marine department, that is responsible for the registration of boats, boat licences and diving in general. Peter`s neck-hairs stand-on-end, when he tells us about his difficulties with the spanish bureaucracy - in spite of the EU and perfect language skills in English, Spanish and French. "For the Spaniards, German perfectionism is unknown. This is both in the tourist branch and for everyday activities". With a hint of sarcasm, he adds: "I now try to ensure that just one thing per day is working out".

Then he tells us about diving with children, one of the diving centers specialities. The huge swimming-pool on one side, and the flat and calm Mediterranean on the other side of his diving center are ideal for childrenlearning to dive. Peter has wet-suits in child sizes and small tanks, which children can lift and handle. He offers diving qualifications with the organizations CMAS, SSI and Barakuda.

In the afternoon, we sail out in the RIB to go diving. Peter wants to show us an old iron ore-cargo-tower, just north of Marbella. "We have here a special blend of marine life. Because of the closeness of Gibraltar and the obvious tide from the Atlantic ocean you find more types of fish, than you normally see in the Mediterranean". A small disadvantage of this unique area is getting clear to us on the way down into the deep: A quite strong water movement on a sandy bottom puts up a lot of suspended particles. Today the visibility is about 10 meters and the temperature is a fresh 15° Celsius. In the summer the temperature can reach almost 10° more, he assures us.

Today the attractions lie rather in the close up range. The tower`s bottom is covered with colorful marine life. A few meters under the surface, glass fish tumble in the light. Further down in cracks and under overhangs lots of conger eels and small cancers live. It is 15 meters deep here. Around me flashlights flicker. Two small wrecks - one yacht, one cargo boat - make the dive complete. Tired, yet satisfied, we speed home in Peters power-boat to the hotel.

If you only see the Costa del Sol through your dive mask, it is your own fault. The next day we go on an excursion to the mountains, it goes round the 1000 year old town of Ronda. We have plenty of time. As soon as we left the coastal road we found ourselves in heavenly surroundings. Mountains with deep valleys, spectacular views and beautiful mountain villages. This was the complete opposite of the coast. Within five kilometers we have entered a time-warp of thirty years ago. The experience is overwhelming. Have your parents of course told you the same ? Told you about the viaduct or the bullfight ring in Ronda, about the harbour in Puerto Banus or about the

Aquarium in Benalmadena ? But who would admit to listening to their parents - and definately not when you are on holiday ........

Info

Travel

Flights to Málaga are available almost from all German airports, for example with LTU, Condor, Hapag Lloyd and Air Berlin.

Place to stay

Situated within 50.000 square meters of subtropical garden, the Atalaya Park Hotel is ideal for both sports- and family holidays. The distance to the famous Marbella and to the quieter Estepona is only 13 kilometers. All of the hotel`s 400 rooms have sea or mountain views. In the Atalaya Park Hotel offers a huge variety of sports. There are six pools, two of them indoors, and six tennis courts. Tennis and golf are free of charge. The watersports facilities offer catamaran sailing, wind surfing and water skiing. For an excursion to the nearby mountains there are mountainbikes available. Weekly there are courses of spanish dance, ballet, karate, tae-kwon-do and archery. All sports, apart from scuba diving and riding, are part of an all-inclusive package.

Diving

One advantage of this diving area is its great variety of fish. Tunafish, rays and groupers are often seen. With a little bit of luck even dolphins accompany the dive boat. Because of the influence of the Atlantic ocean visibility sometimes can be as low as two to three meters. Average visibility in the Costa del Sol`s waters ranges between 15 and 20 meters. Attention has to be paid at the turn of the tide. Strong currents can occur. It is better to dive when the tide is coming in.

Diving center

The Barakuda diving center is open all year round and is situated directly next to the Hotels‘ beach . The dives are boat dives within a range of 15 kilometers along the coast to the left and right of the diving center. 12 litre steel tanks are used. Single dives and dive packages are on offer. Instructional courses follow CMAS and SSI guidelines. Peter Deth also offers diving for children.

Address: Happy Diver´s Club, Peter Deth, c/o Atalaya Park Hotel, Ctra. de Cadiz,

km 168,5, 29688 Estepona-Marbella, Málaga,

Mobile: 0034 - 609 - 57 19 20, Tel: 0034 - 95 -288 90 00, Fax: 280 81 66.

Peter can be reached by e-mail: peter@happy-divers-marbella.com or you can get your information from the internet: http://www.happy-divers-marbella.com

Travel agencies

A one week stay in one of the Atalaya Park Hotel`s bungalows, including flight and breakfast starts at 1.029 DM with Air Aqua Reisen, Tel: 0201/ 79 00 79,

Fax: 78 07 50, Barakuda Touristik, Tel: 0201/ 79 77 47, Fax: 78 07 50.

Tour operators as TUI as well have this destination in their program.

Dieter Schütz

Translation: Michael Fries, Lionel Fretz & Peter Deth