The first dive that morning was to be on the Rosalie Moller. This was to be a deep dive, so we switched to a lean 28% nitrox mix, to avoid any oxygen toxicity. I sensed at the briefing that something was wrong - we were told to stay with the guides at all times and not to enter deco. Some of us were a little annoyed about this - at the time I was one of the less experienced divers, and I had over 200 dives to my credit, with well over half of those at 30 meters or more! Deco diving is something I do most weeks, so we knew already that this was going to be a short dive.

.......I did most of my diving with my friend Brian, an old hand, who has been diving for ever, and has forgotten more skills than I've learned.

Now Brian is a great collector when he’s diving and regularly brings up stuff from the sea bed, and his house is a treasure trove of cannon balls and the like.

Have you heard of Crazy Scuba yet? If not, you should have. They've been around for over 20 years, and they are a great place to buy scuba gear on line and at great discounts.

They have every conceivable item you can think of, and some you didn't even know existed! They also offer gift tokens - ideal if your partner is crazy about diving.

They ship to The United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, The UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, Guam and APO/FPO addresses and can get your gear to you within 3 days.

A wetsuit is pretty much an essential piece of kit for a dive, affording some protection from cuts and scrapes, but with the primary aim of keeping your body warm. The body cannot maintain it's own temperature in water cooler than 33 degrees, so even in the tropics some kind of suit is needed.

The following day dawned bright, clear and warm, as they all did during our trip. It is worth packing a light fleece though, as evenings and fast crossings can be cool.

I had started this trip determined to do every dive on offer, but this was the day I failed in that task. Even as someone who dives pretty much every week, I was feeling the pace of the four dives the day before. But here are the dives I did:

Six AM and we were heading to the check dive site in calm sea and already the temperature was up to 25 degrees. We assembled for the dive briefing, and were told that the main purpose was to check our weight for the salty water and get used to the conditions. With four dives a day available, we all elected to use Nitrox in order to keep our decompression times to a minimum and to help prevent fatigue. This would be my first time using enriched air in anger, as I had passed my PADI course shortly before the trip.

Whilst I can give you some general help with choosing your fins, at the end of the day the design is very much down to your needs and they type of diving you actually do.

The Rabat is a freighter which struck the reef off Arrecife and sank on the spot about 20 years ago. All the Lanzarote dive clubs run boats to the wreck, which is a ten minute rib ride out of Arrecife Harbour.

Given that vision is the one sense we retain fully when we’re diving, choosing the correct mask is absolutely vital if you are to enjoy your diving.

It goes without saying that you should only purchase a mask designed for diving, rather than a snorkelling mask, for example. A diving mask will feature toughened glass suitable for the pressure experienced at depth.

Overall Fit

I was lucky enough to be invited by a UK dive club last year to join them on a liveaboard trip to The Red Sea. Termed a “wrecker’s tour” we would be diving most of the best known shipwrecks in the northern part of the sea, based on Tornado Marine Fleet's flag vessel Whirlwind.