Costa Blanca, Aguas Azules

July 16- July 19, 2012

Our journey from Cabo de Gata to Alicante seems incredibly long. Laura and I make exhaustive attempts to keep our driver awake including, 20 questions, catch phrase and simply reading aloud from my Spain guide book.  In doing so, we gathered some pretty useless facts  about olives, origins of flamenco, and paella. 

Alicante is a beautiful beachside community with high rise apartments painted in a rainbow of colors enclosing in on the sea. Scattered along the sand for a day in the sun, most families set up campsite-like configurations with tables, canopies, and food for daaaays.

A view of Alicante from Castillo de Santa Barbara

Alicante becomes my home for next few days as María and Laura head north to Barcelona before our reunion in Ibiza. Alone now, I spend some time on the beach, tour the local market and travel by elevator up the middle of a mountain to visit the castle of Santa Barbara which offers an aerial vista of the coast, and my hostel which is nestled at the base of the massive mountain.

I begin my hunt for dive shops to charter a boat into the Mediterranean and soon discover that the high winds that heave massive waves on the beaches have also compromised the diving conditions in Alicante. I inquire beyond the city limits and find Ali-Sub, a dive shop in Villajovosa, a smaller town just 30  km north of the city.

I catch a northbound seaside tram that travels just inland from La Costa Blanca providing occasional views of oceanside castles and the astonishingly teal blue waters. 

Ali-Sub is a long walk down the hill to the port, I arrive drenched in sweat and immediately try to conjure up my Spanish that usually warms up with a few fumbled words, Like greasing a squeeky wheel, I start to roll. I set up my gear and embark the small vessel setting off into the sea. To my left:  a unique view of Benidorm, a metropolitan city to the north, To my right: open Mediterranean sea where the million shades of blue will never cease to take my breath away. As we tie up our boat just off the SW side of a small island, an area known as the dock, my dive master, Alejandro, celebrates, in broken English, that this will be my first dive in the Mediterranean! 

Villayovesa beachside apartments

My immersion goes smoothly and we immediately spot an eagle ray gliding along the sandy ocean floor. We follow this little fellow for a while, until my attention is drawn to  a school of large silver fish that guides a path upward to the rocky slopes that create this magnificent dive site. 

There is a moment of serenity while diving that you find neutral bouyency, when you can breath in and elevate, and exhale to descend. I relish this feeling to be weightless in the sea, living with the fishes like Ariel in little mermaid. Too bad I can't sing underwater. Cause I would...

Alejandro and I pause to appreciate the splendor of the schools of fish encircling us and  gliding above. We find crabs, rock fish, neon blue noodybrunch, tuna, and smaller fish that present in a spectrum of colors and sizes. I leave the water feeling energetic and I set off to find a small apartment near the market to stay for the night. 

I return to Alicante the following day to reunite up with some new friends for a standing dinner date and a night of dancing at a Havanna club near by. 

Having used a sketchy website to attempt to buy my ticket to Ibiza, I show up at the airport in the morning and purchasel an inflated ticket an hour before take off. .  It is Thursday and I go to Ibiza to dance at, arguably, the best nightclub on Ibiza, Pacha. Guest DJ: David Guetta. We pop champagne.