Explore El Hierro

Isla del Hierro, the smallest of Spain's Canary Islands, offers a unique diving experience in the North Atlantic Ocean. This remote island, located to the southwest of the archipelago, is a haven for those seeking tranquility and adventure away from the bustling tourist hotspots. La Restinga, a quaint village, serves as the gateway to this underwater paradise, where crystal-clear waters and dramatic volcanic landscapes await divers of all levels.

The dive sites around El Hierro, particularly within the Mar de las Calmas Marine Park, are renowned for their breathtaking topography and abundant marine life. Divers can explore a variety of environments, from vibrant reefs and steep walls to volcanic formations created by an underwater eruption in 2011. This event has enhanced the biodiversity of the area, attracting species like tunas, stingrays, dolphins, turtles, and even elusive whale sharks. These encounters make diving here not just an activity, but a journey into a vibrant marine ecosystem. With numerous dive centers and resorts, both guided dives and courses are readily accessible, ensuring a memorable and enriching experience for every diver.

Upcoming Events

Diver Level Programs / Courses

AQUA DIVING ADVENTURES

Navigation

Contact the Center for more information.

In this specialty program, you will gain the advanced skills and knowledge you need to safely and confidently navigate underwater. You will learn how to use a compass and natural navigation techniques, estimate distance, how to leave and return to a designated point, plus basic navigation patterns. You will also be taught how to combine navigation techniques to enhance your diving experience. All of which hones your underwater observation skills, improves your dive safety and helps you to get the most out of every dive. Upon completion, you will earn the SSI Navigation Specialty certification.

Diver Level Programs / Courses

AQUA DIVING ADVENTURES

Perfect Buoyancy

Contact the Center for more information.

The SSI Perfect Buoyancy specialty is the best way to improve your buoyancy and get the most from every dive. Buoyancy is an essential dive skill, but any diver will tell you it takes time to perfect. The Perfect Buoyancy specialty will teach you advanced buoyancy skills and techniques, so you can master your buoyancy more quickly and enjoy more relaxed dive adventures. In this fascinating program, you will also learn new skills that protect the environment and work in every diving situation. Upon completion, you will earn the SSI Perfect Buoyancy Specialty certification. With better buoyancy skills, you will soon be able to hover with ease and take the underwater photographs you dream of!

Diver Level Programs / Courses

Arrecifal Dive Center

Advanced Open Water Diver

13 Dec 2025 + 1 more

If you cannot decide which specialty programs are the best choice for you, join the SSI Advanced Open Water Diver program! You will try Deep Diving and Navigation plus a variety of 3 more specialty areas of choice before committing to full specialty training. It is a great way to experience what advanced diver training is all about and how valuable it can be to your diving adventures. During the Advanced Open Water Diver Program, you will experience 5 different specialties by completing one open water training dive per specialty after a comprehensive briefing with your SSI Instructor. By taking this program you will have total freedom to explore. You can complete the full Specialty trainings any time in the future and credit your Advanced Open Water Diver training towards them.

Diver Level Programs / Courses

Arrecifal Dive Center

Try Scuba

26 Dec 2025 + 1 more

The SSI Try Scuba program is the best way to try scuba diving for the first time. You will be in confined water and well looked after by your instructor, so you can enjoy those first unforgettable breaths underwater and experience the magic of scuba diving. At the end of this short course, you will have earned your SSI Try Scuba recognition card and undoubtedly want to go diving again. Endless scuba diving adventures are waiting for you and this course is where it all begins. Start today!

Diver Level Programs / Courses

AQUA DIVING ADVENTURES

Open Water Diver

02 Jan 2026

This globally recognized certification program is the best way to begin your lifelong adventures as a certified scuba diver. Personalized training is combined with in-water practice sessions to ensure you have the skills and experience required to become truly comfortable underwater. You will earn the SSI Open Water Diver certification.

Diver Level Programs / Courses

TAGORO DIVE

Advanced Open Water Diver

12 Jan 2026

If you cannot decide which specialty programs are the best choice for you, join the SSI Advanced Open Water Diver program! You will try Deep Diving and Navigation plus a variety of 3 more specialty areas of choice before committing to full specialty training. It is a great way to experience what advanced diver training is all about and how valuable it can be to your diving adventures. During the Advanced Open Water Diver Program, you will experience 5 different specialties by completing one open water training dive per specialty after a comprehensive briefing with your SSI Instructor. By taking this program you will have total freedom to explore. You can complete the full Specialty trainings any time in the future and credit your Advanced Open Water Diver training towards them.

Diver Level Programs / Courses

TAGORO DIVE

Open Water Diver

23 Jan 2026 + 1 more

This globally recognized certification program is the best way to begin your lifelong adventures as a certified scuba diver. Personalized training is combined with in-water practice sessions to ensure you have the skills and experience required to become truly comfortable underwater. You will earn the SSI Open Water Diver certification.

Diver Level Programs / Courses

TAGORO DIVE

Scuba Skills Update

23 Jan 2026

It is easy for dive skills to get rusty and to lose confidence when you have not dived for a while. With the SSI Scuba Skills Update, we will get you back in the water and diving with ease in no time. This scuba refresher course allows you to review and practice scuba skills you learned in your Open Water Diver program, under the guidance of an SSI Professional. This is a great course to take just before a dive holiday, so you spend less time worrying about your skills and more time admiring the marine life. If you are a non-certified Open Water Diver student, a Scuba Skills Update is ideal for practicing your dive skills before your open water training dives. With no fixed course duration, you can take your time and focus on the skills you need help with.

Top Dive Sites Map

★★★★☆ Puerto de La Restinga

It is where we always do the nights, the diving courses and baptisms. It enjoys an incredible cleanliness of its waters. La Restinga beach is in the same place and has received the “blue flag“ for the purity of its waters.

2,538
Logs
1,090
Divers
12.0 m
⌀ Depth
11.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ Barco Chino

Through a big rock gate, you will reach a plateau at 18m deep with two towers near the edge. An exciting dive with lots of holes, caverns, and swim-throughs. Landscape diving at its best!

730
Logs
586
Divers
22.0 m
⌀ Depth
22.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ El Desierto

This is the last and furthest of dive sites in the Mar de las Calmas Marine Reserve heading west, and it will take 10-15 minutes to reach from the port of La Restinga.

1,591
Logs
1,215
Divers
25.0 m
⌀ Depth
21.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ Baja Bocarones

A very special and beautiful dive that is not always accessible because of the strong wind that is always on the island. It is not within the Marine Reserve, but it is as if it was!

604
Logs
479
Divers
27.0 m
⌀ Depth
22.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ Cueva del Diablo

“La Cueva del Diablo“ is very shallow and very easy. You go to a kind of large cave that is reminiscent of a church vault. It is very spacious with very nice sets of colors

984
Logs
779
Divers
16.0 m
⌀ Depth
22.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★★ El Bajón

It is surely the most famous dive in the Canary Islands and one of the most important in Europe. Submarine volcano that emerges from nowhere and stays about 9 meters deep from the surface. Giving us a landscape unmatched anywhere in the world.

1,966
Logs
1,277
Divers
25.0 m
⌀ Depth
23.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ Playa La Herradura

One of the essentials of the Marine Reserve !! Located right in front of “El Bajón“ and just two minutes away from La Restinga port. It is one of the dives that have more life and also does not touch much depth.

754
Logs
511
Divers
20.0 m
⌀ Depth
21.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ El Rincón, El Hierro

This is the first and closest site to the port of La Restinga, from the bollas of the Marine Reserve, Mar de las Calmas. As soon as you leave the eastbound port, this site is just 100 meters from the entrance and just 20 meters from the outside of the port.

1,860
Logs
1,334
Divers
20.0 m
⌀ Depth
21.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ Punta las Cañas

Punta las Cañas, near the integral reserve (place of maximum protection), is an easy dive, although sometimes we can find some current, almost always heading east.

745
Logs
585
Divers
24.0 m
⌀ Depth
20.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ El Salto, El Hierro

Beautiful immersion without currents and quiet, where we will enjoy some beautiful games of colors with small caves and a very special circuit...

1,116
Logs
840
Divers
22.0 m
⌀ Depth
21.0 m
⌀ Visibility

★★★★☆ Baja Fria

Close to the coastline the slope leads to a drop-off starting at 20m, after dropping down to your max. allowed dive depth you start ascending to a plateau at 6m where you can pass a small swimm-through before doing your safety-stop.

193
Logs
166
Divers
29.0 m
⌀ Depth
23.0 m
⌀ Visibility
Mares, Janez Kranjc

★★★★☆ La Herradura

There are two buoys of the marine reserve on the plateau of Herradura. This buoy is located on the limit between zone C and B of the marine reserve, there is no diving allowed in zone A. On the plateau are lots of canyons. This place tends to be exposed to currents, then it’s not suitable for beginners.

799
Logs
601
Divers
22.0 m
⌀ Depth
20.0 m
⌀ Visibility
Scubapro

★★★★☆ Punta Restinga

We descend to a fairly flat platform at around 20 meters and continue until we reach the edge of a drop-off that falls below 40 meters in some areas. Along the wall, there are caves and crevices. We ascend along the wall back to the plateau, passing through several canyons on the way to the mooring point.

1,072
Logs
750
Divers
26.0 m
⌀ Depth
21.0 m
⌀ Visibility
Mares

★★★★☆ El Río

We begin the descent at less than 10 meters deep and gradually reach greater depths, crossing several rock ridges and adjacent ravines. As we go deeper, the seabed becomes more uniform with wide sandy patches. A cave in shallower waters is well worth a visit.

518
Logs
424
Divers
21.0 m
⌀ Depth
21.0 m
⌀ Visibility
Mares

★★★★☆ El Coral/Punta del Río

We gradually descend along a lava tongue that borders a light sandy bottom on its eastern side. As we ascend along the western side, we can explore the nooks and crannies of the rock, especially in the shallower area.

374
Logs
318
Divers
23.0 m
⌀ Depth
24.0 m
⌀ Visibility

Diving in El Hierro

With the volcanic rock characteristics of most of the dive sites, divers experience a truly 'out of this world' adventure. There are multiple dive sites featuring canyons, overhangs, arches, pinnacles, boulders, plateaus, and several steep drop-offs. Around the island, there is a dramatic drop-off reaching down to 300 meters/984 feet. Some of the more unique features include a large lava tongue and a significant sea mountain at El Bajon, one of the most famous dive sites here. Night dives are conducted from the harbor, which itself is a unique dive site.

The best Months to Dive in El Hierro

Diving in La Gomera is possible year-round due to warm temperatures ranging from 18°C–26°C/64°F–79°F. Water temperatures range from 18°C–25°C/64°F–77°F with incredible visibility throughout the year, averaging 30 meters/98 feet. The best diving months are between June and October for optimal conditions. November to January are the winter months, characterized by the most rain, resulting in the least visibility. The species inhabiting these waters are present throughout the year, except for the pelagics.

Statistics

Historical data and trends

Dive Activity & Environmental Conditions

Centers Map

TAGORO DIVE

CALLE EL LAJIAL 7, 38917 LA RESTINGA, IC - ESP

AQUA DIVING ADVENTURES

Avenida Maritima 2, 38917 La Restinga, IC - ESP

MERIDIANO CERO

19 Calle de la Orchilla, 38917 La Restinga, IC - ESP

Arrecifal Dive Center

Calle La Orchilla 30, 38917 La Restinga, IC - ESP