La Palma · Spain · Wall · Reef
Puerto Naos - Playa Chica
A wall from 10 m to past 40 m, straight off the beach
Area photo: Frank Vincentz · CC BY-SA 3.0
One entry, two dives: the wall off Puerto Naos beach starts at 10 m and keeps going past 40 m, so the same steps into the water serve both a shallow potter and a deep drop. Crevices are packed with moray and conger eels, tuna are easy to find in the blue, and the guides here know where the seahorses and the frogfish sit.
Also known as Playa de Puerto Naos.
Where it is and how deep
28.5864° N, 17.9112° WPublished position for this site.
Site maps published elsewhere
The dive
The reef begins at 10 m a short swim from the beach, and the wall behind it falls away past 40 m. That verticality is the point of the site: shallow and very deep ground are reachable from the same entry, so a mixed group can be split by certification without splitting the plan. Follow the wall down and a few sea fans appear at 40 m, with the shelf continuing below until it is lost to sight.
Dived shallow, it is a crevice dive. Different types of moray and conger eel fill the cracks in the rock, and tuna are easy to pick out in the blue over the edge. A guide who knows the ground will produce a couple of seahorses, a pufferfish, and caves with cleaner shrimp and morays sharing them, the sort of thing that is hard to find without someone pointing at it.
The open water off this beach delivers the surprises. Ocean sunfish arrive, manta rays pass, a hammerhead has come in close to the coast, and dozens of school sharks gather here for reasons nobody has settled. Fin whales are often out in the open sea off La Palma and have been watched from here before a dive.
Marine life and season
- Tuna
- Macro critters
- Mola mola
| 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
- Puerto Naos - Playa Chica — Scubago
- Die besten Tauchspots auf La Palma — Punkfish Diving
- Guía de Buceo La Palma 2019 — Cabildo de La Palma / Oceanográfica
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Similar dives elsewhere
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