Tarifa & the Strait of Gibraltar · Spain · Wreck
Las Gorgonias
A steamer on its side under gorgonian growth, at 18–31 m
Area photo: Karan Jain from Washington, DC, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Las Gorgonias is the wreck off Los Lances beach on the Atlantic side: a steamer called El Citos lying on its starboard side on a sand bank, under gorgonian growth thick enough to have replaced the ship's name among divers. The profile is 18–31 m, rated for advanced divers with nitrox recommended, and it is dived only between August and May.
Also known as El Citos, The Gorgonian.
Where it is and how deep
36.0143° N, 5.6269° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The wreck sits on a sandy bank in front of Los Lances beach, on its starboard side with the hull roughly north–south and the stern the end closest to shore. León Marino gives the working depth as 18–30 m, YellowSub 25–31 m and Scubago a 30 m maximum on the sand; either way this is the deep end of the Tarifa list and the reason nitrox is recommended for it.
What draws people is the growth. The gorgonians on the structure are dense enough that the ship's real name, El Citos, has been displaced by the nickname. In and around the plating there are conger and moray eels, spider crabs, electric rays and groupers, and the hull holds schooling fish along its length. Plan a short bottom time and a measured ascent; the dive is worked from outside the hull.
The wreck
- Vessel
- El Citos (also written Citus)
- Type
- Steamship
- Cause
- Not recorded by the Tarifa operators or the site catalogue
- Lies
- On its starboard side on a sand bank, roughly north–south, with the stern the end closer to shore
The ship's real name is El Citos — YellowSub writes it Citus — a vessel on the sand off Los Lances beach that divers renamed for the gorgonians now covering it, and the nickname is the only name the site is listed under. When it went down is unsettled: YellowSub dates the sinking to 1928 and calls the ship a 70 m steamer, while León Marino puts it in the 1970s. Neither centre nor the catalogue records what put the vessel on the bottom.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
- Groupers
- Stingrays
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Off-season | Off-season | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair | Fair |
YellowSub dives this wreck only between August and May; June and July are not run at all.
Questions divers ask
When can you dive Las Gorgonias?+
YellowSub runs the wreck only between August and May. June and July are not dived, so a summer trip to Tarifa may miss it entirely.
How deep is the Las Gorgonias wreck?+
Between 18 and 31 m depending on the source: León Marino gives 18–30 m, YellowSub 25–31 m, and Scubago a maximum of 30 m on the sandy bed.
Sources
- The Gorgonian (Wreck) — Scubago
- Las Gorgonias — León Marino Buceo Tarifa
- Pecio de las Gorgonias — YellowSub Tarifa
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