Deeply relaxing: fantastic diving sites off Lanzarote
With a message: the Museo Atlántico
Imagine an artificial reef of concrete, where plants and animals have made their home: The Museo Atlántico from the British sculptor Jason DeCaires Taylor is the most spectacular diving location on the island. On the ocean floor off Playa Blanca, the artist’s life size concrete sculptures recreate political reality: desperate people on a ‘Lampe-dusa river’, a group of people running toward the gap in a wall, and scattered throughout are scenes of indifference, thoughtlessness, and lack of empathy. Those who emerge from this extraordinary exhibition have a different view of the world than before.
Spotting rays and moray eels
The Ray Garden dive site lies at about 14 metres depth off the El Cachazo peninsula in Playa Blanca. Here, on the large, flat, sandy area in front of the reef, you’ll find numerous stingrays, eagle rays, electric rays, and butterfly rays. With a little luck, you might even spot an angel shark with its large, flat fins. The red coral at the Waikiki dive site off Puerto del Carmen is home to many different species of moray eels and has a maximum diving depth of 40 metres. If you want to see moray eels, you can dive directly from the beach in Playa Blanca to the 16 metre deep Moray Reef. This reef is home to black, brown, and even tiger moray eels.
Schools at the Flamingo Wall
The best and also the easiest place to spot large schools of fish is the Flamingo Wall off the Playa Flamingo in the south of Lanzarote. You can swim from the beach out to the gap in the breakwater wall that gives this site its name. Immediately after diving behind the wall, you’ll see hundreds of gold stripes, striped sea breams, and bastard grunts – and maybe even the odd hungry barracuda! You can dive 4-18 metres deep here and discover butterfly rays and angel sharks hiding on the sandy bottom, and sea turtles swimming above.
The longest reef: Las Coloradas
So you’d like to see barracudas – and plenty of them? Then the best dive location is the Coloradas reef, the longest off Playa Blanca. This narrow cliff formation lies parallel to the coast at a depth of 12-18 metres. You’ll see the young predatory fish in large schools – as well as their prey, the bream. When barracudas get older (and larger), they tend to hunt alone. The Coloradas reef has a long archway that you can dive through as well as a small cave that brings you to the top of the reef. Many marine animals can be seen there and around the reef, including angel sharks and stingrays.
The wrecks of Puerto del Carmen
Hidden off the old harbour of Puerto del Carmen, is a piece of paradise for divers: a ship graveyard. One of the seven wrecks was partially buried by one of the new breakwaters when the harbour was expanded. Here it’s not unusual to meet red cardinal fish, angel sharks, and eagle moray eels. Divers have posted on the internet about a bizarre discovery: Someone placed a ‘Chucky the killer doll’ on one of the wrecks and he is now quite overgrown! Experienced divers begin with the deeper wrecks and put the well-preserved ships toward the end of their dive.
Header - Photo by stylefoto24 on Adobe Stock
Paragraph 1 - Photos by Jason deCaires Taylor from Museo Atlántico
Paragraph 2 - Photo by Martin Strmiska on Getty Images
Paragraph 2 - Photo by OpiaKai Studio on Getty Images
Paragraph 3 - Photo by michael sweet on Getty Images
Paragraph 3 - Photo by Alotz on Adobe Stock
Paragraph 4 - Photo by antonio@islaazul.es on Getty Images
Paragraph 5 - Photos by artifirsov on Adobe Stock
Paragraph 5 - Photo by Brandi Mueller on Getty Images
