Tarifa & the Strait of Gibraltar · Spain · Reef · Wall
Puerto Fenicio
Shore-accessible rock from 0 to 18 m over a Phoenician port
Area photo: Karan Jain from Washington, DC, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0
Puerto Fenicio is the Atlantic-side site that can be entered from the beach, named for the Phoenician port that stood on this face of the island more than 2,000 years ago. Depths run from the surface to 12–18 m over rocky walls full of holes. Electric rays, shrimp, moray eels, octopus, cuttlefish and pipefish are the usual list, with nudibranchs across the rock.
Where it is and how deep
36.0058° N, 5.6106° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
This is the site on the island's Atlantic face with a beach entry as well as boat access, and the profile starts at the surface: Scubago gives 0 to 12 m, León Marino 0 to 18 m. The ground is rocky wall broken by holes and gaps, which is where the dive is spent. YellowSub calls it an easy site by the beach and moves its try-dives and confined-water work here when the Levante is blowing, so it is the sheltered choice in an easterly.
The holes hold electric rays, shrimp, moray eels and schooling fish; octopus and cuttlefish work the open rock, pipefish sit in the growth, and nudibranchs are on the walls in numbers. The name is older than any of it: León Marino traces it to the Phoenician port that stood on this side of the island more than 2,000 years ago, on the Atlantic rather than the Mediterranean shore.
Marine life and season
- Stingrays
- Macro critters
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Nudibranchs
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Tarifa & the Strait of Gibraltar: August to October holds the warmest water; visibility does not track it, and the strait's funnelled Levante and Poniente winds can stop boats in any month.
Sources
- Puerto Fenicio — Scubago
- Puerto Fenicio — León Marino Buceo Tarifa
- Puerto Fenicio — YellowSub Tarifa
More dive sites in Tarifa & the Strait of Gibraltar
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A grotto rock at 5–14 m that shelters lobsters and rays
Wall
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Wreck
Three boilers still standing in an early-1900s wreck at 8–20 m
Wreck
A steamer on its side under gorgonian growth, at 18–31 m
Wreck
An upright steamer at 28 m with rudder and propeller visible
Wreck
An 1856 steamship broken across the bottom from 22 m to 30 m
Roman grinding stones and amphorae at the foot of a 40 m point
Anchors from several centuries along a 14–35 m rock run
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