La Palma · Spain · Cave & cavern · Reef
Los Arcos
More than ten lava arches strung between 5 and 10 m
Area photo: Frank Vincentz · CC BY-SA 3.0
The shallow end of the area local divers call The Bulb, and the most enjoyable part of it: a route through more than ten lava arches between 5 and 10 m, with hidden chimneys running up through the rock. The ground itself is the attraction here, and the depth leaves time to work the maze slowly. A resident family of giant pufferfish is hard to miss.
Where it is and how deep
28.5916° N, 17.9187° WPublished position for this site.
Site maps published elsewhere
The dive
This is the shallow, playful end of The Bulb. The route links more than ten arches in the lava, none of them deeper than 10 m and the shallowest at around 5 m, so the dive becomes a sequence of short swim-throughs rather than one line along a reef. Hidden chimneys run up through the rock between them, and the shape of the sea floor does most of the work.
Because the whole route stays inside 10 m there is time to go through the maze slowly and come back through a different set of openings. A family of giant pufferfish has taken the area over and it is difficult to finish a dive here without meeting one of them, and large trumpetfish hang in numbers around the arches.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| 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.
Sources
- Los Arcos — Scubago
More dive sites in La Palma
Cave & cavern
Lava arches at 14 to 18 m on the edge of the marine reserve
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
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
The archipelago's simplest dive, 6 m average in a sheltered bay
Cave & cavern
Ponta da Piedade Caves
Algarve · Portugal
Linked tunnel passages under the Ponta da Piedade rock
A rock gate onto an 18 m plateau with two standing towers
A tunnel in at 8 metres, out at 18