Members Stories

Golden Lion divers decided to venture further afield and explore the little known island of El Hierro in the Canaries. The intrepid eight gathered at Manchester airport and flew out for an overnight stopover in Los Cristianos, Tenerife, before heading out on the ferry for our diving trip.

El Hierro is an unspoilt island with little to do there except enjoy the beauty of the island. No big hotels, no fancy theme parks but there are decent roads all be it steep and narrow.  We picked up our hire cars – two to a car – and headed for the south of the island. Roads are not always well signposted with sheer drops on almost every corner. We eventually arrived in La Restinga. Six days of diving looked promising.

Diving at Buceo La Restinga: Our first day started well with two good dives. In total 11 dives were done over the six days we were there including one night dive.

 

The diving was very good some of the best I have done with the boat dives being well-organized so that we kitted up quickly and were in the water prompt. Tank changes were done efficiently. There were some lovely dives especially as depth was easily achieved on every dive. Diving was generally finished by 2 pm when there was time to shower and adjourn to the local bar for lunch and to compare notes. The resort is really low key and lends itself to just chilling out. There are walks to do following the coastline and of course the hire cars to explore the rest of the island.

So what were the dives like? There was a whole array of fish to be seen including moray eels, trigger fish, grouper, garden congers, zebra fish, sting rays, pipe fish, puffer fish, octopus, spider crabs, scorpion fish, black coral with tiny little harlequin crabs, cuttle fish and I could go on but you get the idea. At times it felt like swimming in an enormous aquarium with visibility extending into a vast blueness. Flying fish accompanied us on one boat trip.

Diving a submerged volcanic landscape is quite spectacular; a real underground terrain with towers, hidden caves, deep cracks and dikes hiding all sorts of treasures. Descending, the tower at Bajo los Camellos, allowed us to swim towards the open sea following the parallel tongues of rock to a depth of 20m then back to the base of the tower. There was also the opportunity to dive La Cueva del Diablo which is a simple dive for all levels of ability with maximum depth 15m. Generally the dives did tend to be deeper by the very nature of the sea bed, and therefore, depth was easily attained so it would suit more experienced divers. However, above 25m seemed to be where the fish life was most abundant and that suited us.

El Bajon is a legendary dive. The tower of rock rises from the bottom at a depth of 100 metres and is be one of the myths of El Hierro. A dive on El Bajon is always unpredictable as well as very changeable. It is often exposed to the wind and current so not always possible to dive it. If you are a fairly good diver you can manage a moderate current. The day we did it, it was a challenging dive but a great spectacle. There was some current but our guides did a good briefing advising a steady descent down the anchor line to 8 metres then down the side of the tower to peer into the crater holding firmly on to rocks to maintain positive buoyancy – wearing of gloves essential. It was a real thrill and adventure which is what diving is all about.

 

The resort of La Restinga had everything we needed. It is very much all about the diving with just fishing boats and dive boats operating out of the harbour. There are about half a dozen restaurants serving local dishes which allows you to try a different one each night. Some good local wines to sample and, of course, the bar to chill out in and compare diving experiences by the seafront; what more could you ask for!