Angela Pando (Auténtico)

A shot line drops close to where the bridge once stood. Not much of it survives, hull and superstructure collapsed decades ago and split clean in two. Head aft and you pass the wreckage of the bridge and funnel before reaching the rudder and stern, where the ship's home port still shows through the algae in faded letters. A short, open passage through the old engine room needs no penetration training. Turn forward instead and the wreck unspools into exposed ribs, decking, and bulkheads. It's a long way to the bow. Covering the whole 253 metres in one visit means a long swim, so divers often split it across two dives on 12-litre cylinders. Swell reaches this shallow stretch of coast, so tuck against the wreck's lee side rather than let the surge do your steering for you.

Two wrecks lie along this stretch of coast, and divers easily confuse them. About 900 metres further north sits another vessel, never formally identified and only loosely linked to a ship called the Kos Island. Some dive guides call that wreck 'Ángela Pando' too. The real one, a 253-metre bulk carrier, earned the 'Auténtico' tag specifically to end that mix-up. At that length it ranks among the larger wrecks in the Canary Islands, and it rests against a rocky shoal rather than open sand, so the dive mixes wreck exploration with terrain more typical of a reef site. It's also, for now, the one wreck in this immediate cluster with a currently listed operator running trips to it.

The ship began life in 1970 as the ore carrier Solares, then passed through two more names and owners before becoming Ángela Pando in 1981, part of a fleet the owner named after family members. On 15 August 1986, thirty minutes after leaving Puerto de la Luz with iron ore bound for Gijón, a total electrical failure left the ship without steering. It ran aground on the rocks off La Isleta. All 36 crew got off safely. Salvage attempts failed, and the hull broke in two near the bridge the following spring, sinking fully soon after. It sat there for over three decades until the Spanish Navy authorised its removal as scrap in 2021. Cutting began in 2022, then stopped when the salvage barge itself ran aground nearby. Large sections of the hull remain in place today, some already cut.

This stretch of coast catches open swell and, in summer, steady trade winds, a rougher ride than the sheltered wrecks closer to the port. Plan around calm days if you can. The structure is heavily degraded, with exposed metal and collapsed sections throughout, so trim and buoyancy near the wreck matter more than they would on an intact ship. Depth runs 15 to 25 metres, and the surge plus the site's length push this toward experienced divers, with Advanced Open Water as a practical minimum. Buceo Canarias currently lists the dive. Confirm scheduling before you book, since coverage here has shifted over time.