Punta Lajial (marine reserve)
Marine-reserve site – diving only with a licensed centre under the reserve permit. A uniform rocky slope falls from about 10 m to beyond 40 m, and from a certain depth lava dykes run perpendicular to the coast and break up the slope. Divers face open water, since pelagic fish pass here; one centre describes the drop as vertigo-inducing, compared with the neighbouring Punta las Cañas.
Facts
- Region: Canary Islands – West
- Area: El Hierro – La Restinga & Mar de las Calmas
- Depth: 10–40 m
- Level: intermediate
- Current: moderate
- Type: wall, reef
- Coordinates: 27.6538, -18.0152 (approximate)
- Highlights: steep lava slope with lava dykes, vertigo-inducing drop to the blue, pelagics passing
- 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: Drift-prone drop-off; watch depth on the slope. Position approximate (just off the headland).