Scuba diving — Gran Canaria

A first dive here fills half a morning, and a certified diver’s day out is usually two dives. What separates the centres is three things: the coast they work, the way you get into the water and how much of the kit their price already covers.

Which coast are you diving from?

The south-west centres — Puerto Rico Diving, Blue Water Diving, Calypso — work the sheltered water off Puerto Rico and Maspalomas, where the resorts are and where the try dives happen. Davy Jones is on the east coast in Arinaga, next to the El Cabrón marine reserve, and its whole programme is built around getting you into that reserve; the centre collects you from your hotel and drives you back.

Do you enter from the shore or from a boat?

El Cabrón is entered from the rocks, so Davy Jones sells shore dives and includes the transfers in and out of the reserve. Calypso picks divers up at their hotel and drives to whichever harbour suits the day, then dives from the boat. Neither is better underwater; a shore entry is slower and less weather-dependent, a boat gives you the second site without a drive.

What is not in the price?

Every centre draws the line somewhere else, so check what you would still be paying for at the counter: the computer, the insurance, the photos, the rest of the kit.

• Puerto Rico Diving: equipment, insurance and tax inside every Discover Scuba price, with only photos or a GoPro at €10 on top.
• Calypso: complete equipment included, dive computer rented separately, €8 a day for diver insurance on the certified programme.
• Davy Jones: tanks, weights, hotel collection and IGIC included; the rest of the kit at €25 or €30.
• Blue Water Diving: the page itemises nothing it leaves out; what it does state is 10% off for booking online and no deposit up front.