Valle de los Peces

The wall drops in hexagonal basalt columns stacked tightly enough to look almost engineered rather than natural. Divers typically follow the cliff edge down, working a small canyon between 18 and 25 metres on the way, before pushing on toward the reward: a concentration of large orange Dendrophyllia corals along the wall at 38-46 metres. The cliff keeps going past a promontory and a narrow reef tongue toward its base, 48 metres on the east side and 50 on the west. Groupers work the rock on the way up from that depth, and horse mackerel and wrasse move along the wall at various levels.

Every other site in the Puerto de la Cruz cluster tops out well short of 50 metres. Valle de los Peces doesn't. This is the deepest and most demanding site in the cluster, built for divers who have already done the shallower sites nearby and want to keep going down the same stretch of coast. The Dendrophyllia corals at 38-46 metres aren't found in the same concentration at the neighbouring sites, which is what makes the extra depth worth the trip rather than just a numbers exercise.

This isn't a site for open water divers or anyone without recent deep-diving experience. The 48-50 metre base depth calls for a Deep Diver specialty and careful gas planning beyond the bare Advanced certification. Bring a torch and standard cold-water kit; a 5-7mm wetsuit covers most of the year. Boats head out from Puerto de la Cruz and reach the wall in around ten minutes.