El Bajón (Mar de las Calmas marine reserve)
Marine-reserve site – diving only with a licensed centre under the reserve permit. El Bajón is a submerged volcanic massif with two humps, roughly 300–550 m off the southern tip of La Restinga; the crater lies at about 20 m, the peaks rise to 6–9 m, the seaward face drops about 80 m and the other walls about 50 m. Strong currents bring schools of barracuda, large amberjacks and dusky groupers, and manta rays are seen on strong-current days. It is the flagship dive of the reserve and, by the centres' own account, a difficult one.
Facts
- Region: Canary Islands – West
- Area: El Hierro – La Restinga & Mar de las Calmas
- Depth: 6–50 m
- Level: advanced
- Current: strong
- Type: pinnacle, wall, drift
- Coordinates: 27.6335, -17.9815 (approximate)
- Highlights: submarine volcano / seamount, dusky grouper, barracuda, amberjack, occasional manta rays, moray eels
- Permit: Marine reserve (Punta de la Restinga – Mar de las Calmas): recreational diving only with an authorisation. For outer waters the MAPA Directorate-General for Sustainable Fisheries grants it, per calendar year to dive centres and per month to individuals, up to a limited daily quota of dives and boats. Divers need a recognised certification and a valid medical certificate, boats may be at most 10 m long, and each mooring buoy takes one boat with at most 12 divers. In practice dive with a licensed local centre. Check current rules with the La Restinga visitor centre.
- Issuer / contact: Secretaría General de Pesca (MAPA) – Reserva Marina Punta de la Restinga–Mar de las Calmas
- Phone: +34 922 557 188
- Email: reservasmarinas@mapa.es
- Website: https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/pesca/temas/proteccion-recursos-pesqueros/reservas-marinas-de-espana/la-restinga/informacion-de-interes
- Tips: Exposed to strong currents and depth: advanced divers only, boat dive, deep/drift experience needed. Position is an estimate from published distance and bearing from La Restinga.