Diving in Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria is dived by port. The island's sites sit on five stretches of coast, each worked from its own harbour or fishing town, and the stretch you pick sets the kind of dive: a shore walk over lava at Arinaga, a short boat ride from a southern resort, the capital's wrecks and cavern, or a sheltered bay in the northwest.

El Cabron, off Arinaga on the east coast, is the benchmark. Volcanic reef with arches, caves and drop-offs spreads around a central area at about 18 to 21 metres, and sand between the rock is where angel sharks lie. The site is a Natura 2000 conservation zone, ZEC ES7010053, declared in 2011; Gran Canaria has no fishing reserva marina. Of 271 angel sharks logged by a local centre over 1,709 dives between 2006 and 2008, 244 were at El Cabron. Operators look for them from early November to the end of March, and sightings peak when the sea falls below 21 C. Next door, La Gerardia is an advanced shore dive named for a colony of false black coral, with yellow and red gorgonians.

Sardina del Norte, in the northwest, is an old fishing refuge whose routes run between 10 and 18 metres across maerl beds and rock formations, with a night dive and garden eels and seahorses on the sand. Caleta de Abajo along the coast adds caverns, blowholes and lava formations, all graded advanced, including a route that starts down an L-shaped tube.

Wrecks are the second theme. The Arona, about 100 metres long and lying at 35, is the boat dive deep divers come for. Off Las Palmas, Kalais and the Angela Pando lie close to the city, and La Catedral drops from 6 to 40 metres. The south is the gentle side: natural reef off Pasito Blanco with morays and grunts, a concrete artificial reef at 21 to 24 metres where barracuda school, and shallow training reefs by Arguineguin.

Which coast you base on is the main decision. Gran Canaria Airport (LPA) is on the east coast between Las Palmas and the southern resorts. Arinaga is the base for El Cabron and mostly means shore diving; the southern bases, Puerto Rico, Arguineguin, Pasito Blanco and Puerto de Mogan, run boat dives to the artificial reef and the wrecks. Las Palmas has its own schools around Las Canteras, and the city publishes dive maps for Las Canteras, Kalais, La Catedral, Baja Fernando and the Arona. Sardina del Norte is about 25 km from the capital.

Operators grade La Gerardia, the Arona and Caleta de Abajo's routes advanced, and Tufia intermediate because of the fitness needed to carry kit to the water. Arinaga's entry and the southern reefs suit all levels. Operators here dive in wetsuits, mostly 5 mm, with 7 mm or semi-dry for winter and repeat dives. Night dives run at El Cabron and in the Sardina del Norte bay.