El Rincón (marine reserve)
Marine-reserve site – diving only with a licensed centre under the reserve permit. An easy dive that starts where the harbour breakwater meets the drop-off of Punta Restinga: you follow a natural wall seaward from 12 m down to about 20 m over sand where angel sharks and stingrays rest, turn at small caves with lobsters and porcupinefish, and come back tight to the wall. It is the most sheltered of the Punta Restinga drop-offs, even when there is a current, and on swell days you can watch the waves break over your head.
Facts
- Region: Canary Islands – West
- Area: El Hierro – La Restinga & Mar de las Calmas
- Depth: 12–20 m
- Level: beginner
- Current: low
- Type: wall, reef
- Coordinates: 27.6375, -17.979 (approximate)
- Highlights: natural wall from the harbour breakwater, angel sharks on sand, stingrays, spiny lobsters, porcupinefish
- 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: Very close to the port; a good first dive of the trip. Position approximate (just seaward of the harbour mouth).