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Aerial view over a red-brown volcano on a flat sandy island, with white houses on the shore and two more islands out at sea — La Graciosa & the Chinijo Archipelago

La Graciosa & the Chinijo Archipelago · Spain · Reef

Veril de las Anclas

Anchors left on the seabed since the 15th and 16th centuries

Area photo: MiljenkoSuljic · CC BY-SA 4.0

Veril de las Anclas, usually just Las Anclas, is a thick rock shoal rising from a flat sand floor in the Chinijo Archipelago marine reserve. It is a submerged piece of history as much as a reef: ships have dropped their anchors here for centuries, and the site is practically an underwater museum.

Also known as Las Anclas, Anchor Pier.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Veril de las Anclas: typical dive 15–20 m (50–66 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit15 m20 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

29.2371° N, 13.4823° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

A thick bar of rock stretches for almost a kilometre across a sandy plain between Lanzarote and La Graciosa. The top of the reef sits at 15 m and the sand beside it reaches 20 m. Anchors dropped here since the 15th and 16th centuries can still be seen on the dive, and stingrays, abbots and old sea breams are among the species in these waters.

Marine life and season

  • Stingrays
Month-by-month season rating for Veril de las Anclas
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GoodGoodGoodGoodPrimePrimePrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodGood

Season follows La Graciosa & the Chinijo Archipelago: May to October brings the warmest water and the best visibility; the mild climate keeps any month a reasonable time to come.

Dive videos

La Graciosa Veril De Las Anclas - LANDIVE.ES · Jordi Lafuente Mira on YouTube

Sources

  1. Scuba Diving in La Graciosa — Visit La Graciosa
  2. Dive sites in La Graciosa — Visit La Graciosa
  3. Veril de las Anclas — ScubaGo

More dive sites in La Graciosa & the Chinijo Archipelago

Cave & cavern

Cueva de los Jureles

A sea cave in a cliff that shelters large jacks and sargos

18–20 mintermediate

Reef

La Burrera

Large groupers and Canarian lobsters in a maze of rock columns

20–24 mintermediate

Reef

Los Dedos

Raw volcanic seabed in its purest form

15–26 mintermediate

Similar dives elsewhere

Reef

Azul House Reef

Madeira · Portugal

Volcanic caves and coral blocks inside 18 metres

to 18 mbeginner

Reef

Baixa da Maia

Azores · Portugal

A rock face completely covered in yellow anemones

16–20 m · max 24 mintermediate

Reef

Baixa do Cotrim

Porto Santo · Portugal

Easy reef from 8 m on the rock to 22 m on the sand

8–22 mbeginner

Reef

Cannons

Porto Santo · Portugal

Three cannons and ammunition on the seabed at about 20 m

to 20 mintermediate