La Palma · Spain · Cave & cavern · Reef · Night
Charco Verde
Lava arches at 14 to 18 m on the edge of the marine reserve
Area photo: Frank Vincentz · CC BY-SA 3.0
Lava arches strung one after another at 14 to 18 m off the beach at Charco Verde, on ground that bottoms out at 25 m. The site sits right on the edge of the marine reserve and feeds off it: a huge grouper, oversized parrotfish and a large shoal of barracuda have all been logged here. Shallow, easy, and a standard choice for night dives.
Also known as Arcos de Charco Verde.
Where it is and how deep
28.5722° N, 17.8998° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The arches come one after another at 14 to 18 m, arranged so evenly that the island's own dive guide describes them as looking carved and deliberately placed to form a route. You take them in order, dropping through and around each one, and the ground never goes below 25 m, which makes this a dive to stretch out rather than rush, and a common choice for a first night dive.
Circle the lava tongues between the arches and the smaller life shows up: rays on the sand, triggerfish over the rock, shrimps deep in the crevices and reef lobsters under the ledges. The dive sits right on the edge of the marine reserve and is enriched by what the reserve produces. Divers here have logged a shoal of barracuda, parrotfish of unusual size, an enormous grouper and one of the largest spotted burrfish they had seen.
Marine life and season
- Stingrays
- Macro critters
- Groupers
- Barracuda
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good |
Season follows La Palma: Diving runs year round; the south-coast centre rates September to November best, when the trade winds ease and the water is warmest. Dives and boat transits inside the marine reserve are capped.
Questions divers ask
Is Charco Verde a boat dive?+
Effectively yes. It is one of the few sites on La Palma clearly more comfortable to dive by boat than from land, because the arches lie some way from the beach. Local dive centres run boat trips out to them.
Sources
- Charco Verde — Scubago
- Die besten Tauchspots auf La Palma — Punkfish Diving
- Guía de Buceo La Palma 2019 — Cabildo de La Palma / Oceanográfica
More dive sites in La Palma
Pinnacle
Three offshore rocks, two tunnels through the biggest
Wreck
A Cessna wing at nearly 30 m, colonised as a miniature reef
Cave & cavern
Two lava cathedrals and a run of arches, all inside 12 m
Cave & cavern
More than ten lava arches strung between 5 and 10 m
Rows of crosses on the sand at 15 m, set here in 1999
Two entries 350 m apart: arches inshore, lava tongues to 40 m
A wall from 10 m to past 40 m, straight off the beach
Pinnacle
A 20 m black-coral tower rising from 50 m off the Fuencaliente lighthouse
Similar dives elsewhere
A tunnel in at 8 metres, out at 18
Volcanic caves and coral blocks inside 18 metres
A rock gate onto an 18 m plateau with two standing towers
The archipelago's simplest dive, 6 m average in a sheltered bay