Spain · Canary Islands
La Restinga
Long Atlantic island season with stable weather and volcanic topography.
La Restinga on El Hierro (Canary Islands) is volcanic Atlantic diving — black-sand bottoms, manta rays, devil rays, occasional whale sharks, and the 2011 underwater volcanic eruption site that created new geology.
Good season
Year-round; September–November is calmest. Water 19–24°C.
Trip duration
5–7 nights at one of several small lodges.
Dive style
Shore and boat diving on volcanic walls and lava flows; mild current.
Dive level
Open Water; Advanced for deeper sites.
Reef health
What you’ll actually findSome loss since the 2010s, but the reef still has plenty to dive. Pick depth and shoulder-season carefully.
Coral reef health
How is this calculated?On current trend, no live coral by ~2124. Losing about 0.2% cover per year — roughly 100 years of reef left to see if nothing changes.
Heat stress right now
No abnormal heat right now. Corals stay coloured.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch · updated May 2026 · 0 °C-week heat dose
What to expect on a dive
Subtropical volcanic seamount. Pelagic encounters drive dives; reef cover modest but stable.
Sources, methodology, and the raw numbers
Raw observed numbers
- Coral cover: 20% (survey Sep 2024, Canary Islands benthic ecosystem survey)
- Bleached: 4%
- Recent mortality: 1%
- Canary Islands — observed condition reflects the stable regional pattern.
Raw thermal numbers
- NOAA CRW alert level: No stress
- Degree Heating Weeks: 0 °C-wk
- SST anomaly: +0.1 °C
How we summarise this
Observed coral cover, bleaching, and mortality come from named in-situ surveys with a stated date and method — they describe one snapshot of one reef and do not extrapolate to neighbouring sites. Current thermal stress is satellite-derived from NOAA Coral Reef Watch at ~5 km resolution; it indicates risk, not observed coral damage. We deliberately separate observed condition, current thermal stress, and projection — and we never publish a projection without a documented model and uncertainty.
Sources
- Reef Life Survey — Reef Life Survey Foundation
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch — U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program — Australian Institute of Marine Science
- Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network — GCRMN / ICRI
- Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment — AGRRA Program / Perry Institute for Marine Science
- NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program — NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
- Reef Check — Reef Check Foundation
- NOAA CoastWatch / OceanWatch — NOAA NESDIS / STAR
- Allen Coral Atlas — Arizona State University Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science
- Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority — Australian Government
- International Coral Reef Initiative — ICRI Secretariat
- NASA PO.DAAC — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Caltech
- Copernicus Marine Service — Mercator Ocean International for the European Union
- NASA Ocean Color (OB.DAAC) — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Ocean Biology Processing Group
- Argo float network — International Argo Program / UCSD
- CoralWatch — University of Queensland
- IMOS / AODN — Integrated Marine Observing System / Australian Ocean Data Network
- WRI Reefs at Risk Revisited — World Resources Institute
- Ocean Health Index — OHI partnership (Conservation International + UCSB + NCEAS)
- IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere (SROCC) — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- GOA-ON — Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network — GOA-ON Secretariat + IOC-UNESCO
- HAEDAT — Harmful Algae Event Database — IOC-UNESCO Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms
- NCEI Marine Microplastics — NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Reef condition changes year to year. If you visit, consider supporting responsible-travel and conservation operators on the ground.
Pressure on this reef
Protection · fishing · what you can doProtected-area status
Multi-use MPAInside a designated MPA that permits regulated fishing and other uses. Worth checking which zones at this location are no-take.
Fishing pressure
Moderate fishing pressureDominant pressures
- pelagic fishing
- warming
- limited monitoring
1 Green Fins-verified operator known at this location.
What you can do
Mar de las Calmas Marine Reserve protects El Hierro's diving area. Atlantic island reefs (Azores, Canaries, Cape Verde) are partially protected. Pelagic fishing pressure dominates; pick operators that support marine-science partnerships.
Protection status sourced from Protected Planet / WDPA and refined with Marine Protection Atlas. Fishing pressure proxy is Global Fishing Watch AIS data. See the methodology for what these sources can and can’t prove.
Dive sites here
1 curated
Gear
What to bringSite-specific add-ons
Some dive sites here call for extra gear. Check the individual site page for full context.
- SMB + finger reel — Currents over the seamount can push divers off the structure; surface marker buoy required for blue-water ascents and boat pickup. · El Bajón
- Dive computer with multi-level/deep capability — Walls drop past 100 m and most dives work depth profiles between 20 and 40 m along the ridge. · El Bajón
What divers say
“Atlantic biodiversity meets new volcanic geology. The 2011 eruption site is alive and well.”