Diving in El Hierro

El Veril is the dive that defines El Hierro for most visiting divers — an underwater landscape of volcanic pinnacles and ridges rising from 30 m up to 5 m below the surface, covered in black coral, gorgonians, and the endemic Canarian damselfish (Abudefduf luridus) in such density they form living curtains over the rock. The site is accessible to Open Water divers in its shallower sections and progressively reveals more as certification level increases.

Loggerhead turtles rest on the sandy patches between pinnacles throughout the day — on our last visit in September, we counted four individuals within a 20-minute window at 15 m. Schools of barracuda orbit the pinnacle tops in the early morning. Spotted eagle rays cruise through the gaps between formations at depth. The visibility on calm days creates a spatial disorientation that experienced divers describe as one of the finest underwater optical experiences in the Atlantic — the pinnacles seem to float in blue space.

El Bajón's vertical basalt wall descends from 8 to 40 m in a continuous face of volcanic rock encrusted with black coral, sea fans, and the rich sponge communities that characterise the deeper sections of the Mar de Las Calmas. The wall is the finest example of El Hierro's dramatic vertical geology — sections where the basalt columns run perfectly vertical, each joint and fracture colonised by invertebrates, creating an almost architectural underwater facade.

The site is notable for its large grouper population — specimens of 60–80 cm are common, and a few individuals have become remarkably habituated to divers, approaching closely enough that our dive guide on a November visit had to gently redirect one away from his regulator. Schools of amberjack and yellow wrasse occupy the mid-water column above the wall. The depth range makes this site best suited to Advanced Open Water divers and above.

The offshore volcanic pinnacle of Roque de la Bonanza rises from depth to within 10 m of the surface and is the site where El Hierro's most spectacular pelagic encounters occur. On summer mornings when the current is running, this pinnacle acts as a congregation point for open-ocean species — silky sharks, scalloped hammerheads, schools of several hundred large amberjack — that come to use the upwelling current and the baitfish aggregations it creates. The best dives here are drift dives, following the current around the pinnacle while observing from mid-water.

This is a dive for experienced divers only. The current can be unpredictable and strong, the depth drops rapidly beyond the pinnacle, and the conditions that produce the best wildlife encounters are also the conditions that demand solid buoyancy control and situational awareness. That said, for certified Rescue Divers and above, the Roque de la Bonanza is simply the finest single dive site in El Hierro and among the finest in the Atlantic.

El Hierro's volcanic geology has created a network of lava tubes and submarine caverns along the southern coast, and La Cueva de Don Justo is the most accessible and rewarding of these — a series of interconnected chambers that a guide leads small groups through in single file, emerging after 15 minutes of tunnel navigation into open water. The interior chambers contain glassfish (cardinal fish) in dense shimmering schools, resident moray eels of substantial size, and the eerie blue ambient light that penetrates through vertical shafts in the basalt ceiling.

This dive requires an experienced guide who knows the route — it is not a site to attempt independently, even for experienced divers. All La Restinga dive centres offer guided cavern tours as standard boat dive additions. The site is also surrounded by excellent open-water reef diving, making it easy to combine the cavern traverse with a fuller reef dive at the same location.

Las Maretas is where beginners discover what diving in El Hierro actually means — and where experienced divers who want a long, slow, fish-rich dive at 6 m spend a blissful hour. The site is a series of small rocky ridges and sand channels in very shallow water, accessible from the shore at La Restinga or by a 3-minute boat ride. The fish diversity in this shallow zone is extraordinary for the depth — endemic Canarian species dominate, alongside large rainbow wrasse, trumpet fish, and the resident population of Barbary mackerel that patrol the area in dense formations.

This is the most-dived site in El Hierro for good reason: it's reliably magnificent at any time of year, in any conditions, for any level of diver. First-time divers doing their Open Water course do their check-out dives here. Advanced divers use it as a night dive (the Las Maretas shallow reef at night, with bioluminescent plankton and hunting octopus, is one of the more memorable experiences in the Mar de Las Calmas).

A massive 19th-century ship's anchor rests at 18 m on a sandy shelf surrounded by volcanic rock formations — the wreck of the ship that once carried it was never identified, but the anchor itself has become so thoroughly colonised by marine life over the intervening century that it reads as a natural feature. Sea fans, crimson sponges, and encrusting corals have transformed the iron into an underwater garden. Large grouper use it as a resting station; the sandy area around the base is reliable for stingrays partially buried in the sand.

The anchor is the centrepiece of a longer dive that explores the surrounding volcanic reef in both directions — to the east, a ridge of basalt with good soft coral coverage; to the west, a sand channel with sandy garden eels extending in hundreds for 30 m. It's one of El Hierro's most photogenic and reliable dives.

Los Cardos — "The Thistles" — is named for the black coral formations (Antipathella wollastoni) that cover this wall section from 20 to 40 m in a density found nowhere else in the Mar de Las Calmas. Black coral, despite its name, is white in life and only turns black when dead and dried — underwater, the colonies appear as white branching structures providing habitat for small fish, nudibranch, and the endemic Canarian shrimp species. The wall section also hosts the largest sea fan colonies in the reserve.

The dive follows the wall at variable depth — Advanced divers work the deeper sections while less experienced divers explore the more productive shallower sections above 20 m where the coral coverage is also outstanding. Nurse sharks have been recorded resting on ledges in this section on several occasions, and the site has consistent records of large angel sharks on the sand at the base of the wall.

The shallow flanks of the Tagoro volcanic eruption zone are accessible to recreational divers and constitute one of the most scientifically significant dive sites in the Atlantic. The eruption began in October 2011 and lasted into 2012, creating new black basalt formations at accessible depths of 15–35 m on the periphery of the deeper Tagoro cone. These new formations are still in the early stages of colonisation — visiting this site between 2014 and 2026, our guides note visible changes in coverage and species composition every season as the ecosystem progresses through colonisation stages.

Patches of white bacterial mats mark areas of mild hydrothermal activity. The new basalt flows create maze-like formations with no equivalent anywhere else in European diving. Species assemblages here differ notably from the established reef at El Veril and represent an ongoing natural experiment in marine colonisation. The site requires a dive guide who knows the area — the topography is complex and disorienting without local knowledge. A specialist guided dive experience to this site is essential; the geological and biological context significantly deepens the experience.

The offshore rock formation of Los Rones sits at the edge of the Mar de Las Calmas' protected zone, where the sheltered bay gives way to open Atlantic. Diving here on calm days delivers a completely different experience from the protected reef sites — the blue water stretching in all directions, the lack of visible bottom in mid-water, and the sense of genuine Atlantic scale that the bay sites don't quite convey. The rocks themselves rise from depth and are covered in the same black coral and gorgonian communities as El Bajón, but the mid-water column above them regularly contains tuna, wahoo, and on summer mornings, oceanic whitetip sharks passing through.

This site is only diveable in calm conditions — the same swell exposure that makes it a pelagic congregation point makes it dangerously rough when the wind picks up. All dive centre boats monitor conditions before departure and will substitute an alternative site if Los Rones isn't safe. When conditions allow, it's the most viscerally exciting dive in El Hierro.

For non-divers in the group, or for early-morning sessions before the day's boat dives, the La Restinga village shoreline offers one of the finest shore snorkelling experiences in the Canary Islands. The volcanic rock immediately in front of the village holds dense populations of parrotfish, damselfish, trumpetfish, and the endemic Canarian wrasse species — all in 2–8 m of water with visibility that typically exceeds 20 m. The protected marine reserve status means the fish are untouched and remarkably unafraid of mask-and-snorkel visitors.

Enter from the small beach or from the steps at the dive centre pier. Swim west along the shore for the best fish density; follow the bubbles of the guided dive groups to understand where the reef features are concentrating the marine life. A dawn snorkel from La Restinga village — the water completely still, the first light catching the parrotfish at 3 m — is one of the genuinely special morning experiences available in El Hierro. No booking, no cost, just a mask.