Berlengas & Peniche, the area around Rinchão

Berlengas & Peniche · Portugal · Reef · Wall

Rinchão

A reef head that breaks at high tide, walls to 32 m

Area photo: Alexkom000 · CC BY 4.0

Rinchão is a reef north of the Berlengas whose head occasionally surfaces on big tides, which makes it dangerous to navigate and good to dive. From the head a slope descends to 30 metres, and the deeper ground carries red gorgonia and the remains of a wreck, the Gomes VIII. Sea-bream, cow-bream, sea-bass, amberjacks and trigger-fish all work the rock.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Rinchão: typical dive to 32 m (to 105 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit32 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

39.4320° N, 9.5050° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The site is a reef north of the Berlengas, its head shallow enough to surface on some high tides. That is what makes it a very dangerous place to navigate and, at the same time, fantastic for diving: the shallow crown carries the fish, and the boat handling around it is the skipper's problem rather than yours. From the top the ground falls away as a slope that runs down to 30 metres.

The deeper walls are where the site earns the depth. Red gorgonia grows on the faces, and the remains of a wreck, the Gomes VIII, lie on this ground: the boiler, bits of the engine and some standing structure. Fish abundance is the other half of it, with sea-bream, cow-bream, sea-bass, amberjacks and trigger-fish over the rock, and most of that is shallow. The profile plans itself: deep along the wall first, then back onto the reef head.

Marine life and season

  • Reef fish swarms
  • Trevally & jacks
Month-by-month season rating for Rinchão
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Off-seasonOff-seasonOff-seasonFairGoodPrimePrimePrimeGoodFairOff-seasonOff-season

Season follows Berlengas & Peniche: Jun–Sep is the practical season; Atlantic swell and 14°C water shut the crossing for most of the rest of the year.

Know before you go

  • The reef head comes to the surface on high tides and the site sits in open water north of the archipelago, so stay with the boat's plan and surface with a marker.

Sources

  1. Diving in Berlenga — Centre of Portugal
  2. Sun7Dive 17h outing, Peniche — Haliotis Dive Center

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