El Barco Chino

El Barco Chino is found just 20 minutes of navigation by boat from the port of La Restinga heading east. This dive spot is past the limits the Marine Reserve of Mar de las Calmas. It is nestled within a small bay guarded by volcanoes and lava chimneys.

This dive site is known for offering one of the most pleasant tours among all the dives in El Hierro. Divers can experience a great variety of landscapes here. The dive begins by descending along the round boulders sloping down with an eye up in the blue for larger fish, the swimming through several arches carved in the rock and a small flat sandy slant. The dive develops into the shallows until we get to the very shore, the base of the cliffs that rise up to some 70m over the surface. This is where it gets even better, with natural stone arches, depressions, caverns, and dozens of cavities where sunlight filters through, creating a stunning landscape. Another intriguing feature is a small cave where you can experience the phenomenon known as halocline, a mix of different density waters caused by the saltwater of the sea and the freshwater filtered through the mountain. A must-see for a diver.

This jaw dropping site hosts one of the largest concentrations of marine life on the entire island. On the deep parts, you can see various types of rays, groupers, amberjacks, jacks, seabreams, damselfish, and triggerfish. In the shallower areas, you will find scorpionfish, moray eels, crabs, shrimps, lobsters, anemones and nudis, starfish, octopuses, spiny pufferfish, ornate wrasses, dogfish, pompano, saddled seabreams, mullets, different types of sponges, and even a small colony of garden eels.

Due to its location on the eastern side, outside the Marine Reserve of Mar de las Calmas, dives here can only be performed if wind and surge conditions are favorable. This area of the island is not protected from the trade winds. Under good weather conditions, access is very easily accessible by boat, and underwater visibility usually ranges between 10 and 30 meters.

This dive site is suitable for all types of diving licenses, both beginner and advanced, as the extensive tour around does not require descending more than 20 meters. Divers of all levels will enjoy this natural wonder to the fullest.