Atlantic · Spain
El Cabrón — Gran Canaria
Lava arches, canyons and tunnels reachable from a rocky beach entry
Photo: Victor R. Ruiz · CC BY-SA 2.0
El Cabrón is a marine reserve on Gran Canaria's dry east coast, entered by scrambling down a rocky beach at Arinaga. The reward is a compact volcanic playground of arches, canyons and tunnels between 5 and 30 m, packed into a small enough area that divers can cover several formations in one dive. Cuttlefish, stingrays, moray eels and dense shoals of grunts are constants, and angel sharks lie half-buried on the sand patches in winter.
About diving in El Cabrón — Gran Canaria
A day at the reserve is deliberately low-tech. Centres in Arinaga drive divers the last few minutes to a parking area above the bay, kit is carried down a short slope, and getting in means picking a line across the rocks and timing the step between sets. After that everything is walkable: routes fan out in different directions from the same short stretch of shore, so a second tank covers new ground rather than repeating the first, and two or three dives a day is the normal rhythm with no boat schedule to work around.
Underwater the coast keeps its shape. Lava ridges run seaward like fingers with sand-floored gullies between them, and the interest sits in the gaps rather than on top of the rock: corridors barely wider than a diver, arches you can line a silhouette up through, short swim-throughs that open back into daylight within a few kicks. None of it is overhead diving in any technical sense, but the walls are close and the growth on them is easily damaged, so it rewards divers who hold trim in a tight space.
The pay-off is in hours rather than headline animals. The same beach carries a first open-water profile in the morning and a longer, deeper route in the afternoon, which makes it a straightforward place to build experience and a rewarding one for photographers, who get rock architecture and small life inside a single tank. Divers who measure a trip in big animals will find it quiet. And because everything hinges on the entry, plans are made on the morning's swell forecast, with sheltered shore sites nearer the village as the fallback.
Best time to dive El Cabrón — Gran Canaria
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
| Sea surface | 20°C68°F | 19°C66°F | 19°C66°F | 19°C66°F | 20°C68°F | 21°C70°F | 22°C72°F | 23°C73°F | 23°C73°F | 23°C73°F | 22°C72°F | 21°C70°F |
| Daytime high | 21°C70°F | 21°C70°F | 22°C72°F | 23°C73°F | 24°C75°F | 24°C75°F | 25°C77°F | 26°C79°F | 26°C79°F | 27°C81°F | 25°C77°F | 23°C73°F |
| Rain | 18 mm0.7 in | 16 mm0.6 in | 14 mm0.6 in | 8 mm0.3 in | 7 mm0.3 in | 5 mm0.2 in | 2 mm0.1 in | 5 mm0.2 in | 12 mm0.5 in | 16 mm0.6 in | 20 mm0.8 in | 22 mm0.9 in |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime |
| Sea surface | |||||
| 20°C68°F | 19°C66°F | 19°C66°F | 19°C66°F | 20°C68°F | 21°C70°F |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 21°C70°F | 21°C70°F | 22°C72°F | 23°C73°F | 24°C75°F | 24°C75°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 18 mm0.7 in | 16 mm0.6 in | 14 mm0.6 in | 8 mm0.3 in | 7 mm0.3 in | 5 mm0.2 in |
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
| Sea surface | |||||
| 22°C72°F | 23°C73°F | 23°C73°F | 23°C73°F | 22°C72°F | 21°C70°F |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 25°C77°F | 26°C79°F | 26°C79°F | 27°C81°F | 25°C77°F | 23°C73°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 2 mm0.1 in | 5 mm0.2 in | 12 mm0.5 in | 16 mm0.6 in | 20 mm0.8 in | 22 mm0.9 in |
2011–2025 averages. Sea surface: NOAA Coral Reef Watch, measured at the surface, so deeper water can run colder. Daytime high and rain: NASA POWER.
Year-round diving in 18–24°C water; summer and early autumn are calmest, while winter swell can make the shore entry unsafe.
Best months: June, July, August, September, October
El Cabrón water temperature and weather by month
The sea surface runs from 19 °C (66 °F) in March to 23 °C (73 °F) in September. Rain is scarce: about 150 mm (5.9 in) falls in a typical year. Daytime highs reach 27 °C (81 °F) in October and drop to 21 °C (70 °F) in February. The coldest water here is about 18 °C (64 °F), so pack a 5 mm suit.
Dive types & marine life
Grunt and salema pack the shallow gullies year-round, with moray and octopus wedged into the rock and stingrays flat on the sand between the ridges. Cuttlefish turn up readily on night dives. Barracuda and the occasional turtle pass through in the settled June-to-October months, while the cooler half of the year is the better bet for angel sharks on the shallow sand patches.
- Reef
- Cave & cavern
- Wall
- Muck & macro
- Night
- Stingrays
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Barracuda
- Nudibranchs
- Macro critters
- Reef fish swarms
- Sea turtles
Best dive sites in El Cabrón — Gran Canaria
A gorgonian field at 30 m, with one fan over 2 m across
El Arco
Lava arch at 18 m, the reserve's signature formation.
La Catedral
Tall rock corridor with light shafts, running from 12 m to 25 m.
El Muellito
Shallow entry area with sand patches, reliable for angel sharks.
How to get to El Cabrón — Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria's airport is about twenty minutes up the east coast from Arinaga, the village beside the reserve and where the dive centres are. Plenty of divers instead stay in the southern resorts around Maspalomas and drive over for the morning. There is no boat operation, so getting to the parking area above the beach is the whole of the logistics.
Photos from El Cabrón — Gran Canaria
Marc Ryckaert (MJJR) · CC BY 3.0
Dive videos
Scuba Diving - El Cabrón - Gran Canaria [2022] · Anders Larsson dive video on YouTube
Scuba Diving the marine reserve park El Cabron by Arinaga on Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain · Splashpacker on YouTube
Photo credits
- A small rocky islet crowned with a cross sits just offshore near Arinaga, Gran Canaria, with a sailboat passing by. by Victor R. Ruiz, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- The rocky, arid headland of Punta de Arinaga on Gran Canaria's east coast, with its lighthouse on top. by Marc Ryckaert (MJJR), CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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