Berlengas & Peniche · Portugal · Reef · Wall
Rinchão
A reef head that breaks at high tide, walls to 32 m
Area photo: Tiago Thedim · CC BY-SA 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
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
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Berlengas & Peniche: June to October is the high season; from December to February the Atlantic swell allows diving only on occasional calm days.
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
- Diving in Berlenga — Centre of Portugal
- Sun7Dive 17h outing, Peniche — Haliotis Dive Center
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