Sunday 12 October 2014

Lanzarote – Diving the Blue Hole

As we’re going to stay in Lanzarote for the next 9 months we were keen to see its secret, side which only a few can get a glimpse of. The unique volcanic appearance of the island does not end on the surface but continues under the sea, too, as the strangely shaped volcanic rocks lend an interesting underwater scenery. The island is fortunately surrounded by shallow seabed which makes it ideal to dive in, not to mention the crystal clear water where the visibility is 30+m most of the time. And I haven’t even touched on the affordability of this normally rather pricey hobby!

In Puerto del Carmen there are many dive sites that are easily accessible from the shore, mostly form Play Chica. After looking through the available dive sites we asked to visit the two most famous ones, the Blue Hole and the Cathedral.

The Blue Hole (Ajugero Azul)
Like most of the dives in this area, this one also started from Playa Chica, where we just simply walked into the sea by the stairs. Then we slowly made our way toward the dive site. On the way there we found some interesting sea creatures to take photos of.





Around 20m we came across a big area covered with garden eels. These small eels with their heads sticking out from the sand always make me smile.


There are quite a few sea horses here. I love them, they are so cute!


At around 23m you will swim along a small canyon that will take you to the dive site. The hole that the site got its name from is a remnant of a lava flow. It starts at 24m and ends at 32. It is a nice, wide swimthrough that can easily be tackled even by the less experience divers. The walls are often occupied by colourful nudibrancs and apparently the bottom is often favoured by huge groupers and stingrays.




We took a different route on our way back and there was lots to see here too.


As the angle of the seabed is so gentle here, you can enjoy the dives up to the last minute and just swim around during your safety stop.

We dived with Manta Diving Lanzarote and found their fuss-free and straight-to-the-point attitude refreshing. However there are many other dive shops around and due to the competition in the area it's always worth shopping around for the best price. Enjoy!

2 comments:

  1. Hello! thanks for sharing these beautiful shots. I'm writing an short online article about Playa Chica Lanzarote and I'd like to ask permission to use one of your photos. Will link it to this post. Please? :) Will wait for your reply. Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Hi, of course, it's an honour. Thank you for asking.

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