Dive from the shore – easy level (depending on weather forecast).The village of las Eras is just after the one of Poris de Abona, in the direction of Santa Cruz, the capital. Once arrived in the village, it is necessary to go to the right in a labyrinth of small streets bordered by disproportionate buildings.
The entry point of this dive is made from the recently fitted out sandy beach. Careful however, the East coast of Tenerife is famous for its Northeast prevailing wind, and can make the entry dangerous when it blows strongly. We enter the water; rocks of small sizes quickly replace the black sand of the beach. We swim at the surface for about ten metres or so, to find enough depth and we begin the dive at the end of the wave breaker dam in 3 metres of water.
We follow the rock on the left hand side (North direction), by keeping the sand area on the right hand side. A slight current in front of us is felt. Without loosing time, we move slowly by following the sloping bottom. Hardly two minutes of dive and we are already at 15m depth. A half-dozen of parrotfish escorts us for few metres. Today the visibility is great, 20 metres at least: a true delight. Garden eels are present in large number. Scattered on the sandy bottom, they always keep their face in front of the current in search for nutriments. A very good help to find out about the direction and the strength of the current, what can be useful for underwater natural navigation.
The drop off is not very rich with fixed marine life, but as we look carefully, we manage to find some anemones and a tiger moray eel. A very curious octopus draws our attention. The animal without fear throws itself on my camera, its tentacles stuck to the objective. Certainly intrigued, he wanted to bring it back in its hole to study it quietly…
As we progress the blue replaces the green. At 30 meters depth, the drop off turns abruptly towards the West. It is already time to go back to shallower waters. Nearly 25min of diving time, and we are half way. It is necessary to fin for a distance of about thirty metres to get close to the shore. Two sea slug (Nudibranchia) seem literally stuck on the wall. I use some time to immortalize the scene, but my underwater photography techniques are still not ready: no pictures for this time. Slowly I leave the bottom and the tracks left by sting rays on the sandy bottom. The drop off wall is almost vertical in its last part: a vertiginous scenery.
We arrive on a plateau at about twenty metres depth. Some barracudas regroup together right above our heads. The Seabream fishes swim towards our direction. They will follow us during about ten minutes. Las Eras dive site is crowded with local divers, especially during the weekend. Fishes are thus used to feed on black sea urchin’s Diadems killed by the divers with the aim of controlling their population.
It is time to turn around and swim back to the beach (South direction). The major part of the plateau is between twelve to fifteen meters depth and is bordered by another small drop off, from 8 to 5 metres high. The overhangs are numerous here, and offer protection to shy fauna. Big eyes, arrows crabs are legion, but there is no black coral on this dive site.
By following the rock at 12 metres deep, we find on the right hand side the entry of a tunnel. It is approximately located at 150 m away from the first drop off (the one who goes from 30 to 20 metres depth). The « Swim trough » (tunnel), does not show visible danger: inside, it is possible to turn back or to assist a diver with air. Only the exit is a little narrower and imposes to go one by one for two, three metres or so.
The daylight is present all the way through a crack in the ceiling. We find there some shrimps everywhere and a beautiful pink anemone at the entrance on the left hand side. The tunnel is rather short, about twenty metres and uncork to a small, circular and open roof place. At the exit, there are many huge overhangs. Trumpet fishes teem in this place and the size of some exceeds the biggest specimen's one I ever had the chance to see in the Red Sea.
The current pushes us slowly towards the exit. Along the way, a couple of cuttlefish looks at us with an attentive eye, while we contemplate them, almost motionless. We thus follow the rock on the right hand side to get to the artificial rocks which compose the wave breaker dam. Here, we stop for some minutes to make our safety stop.
Suddenly, a threatening shadow put me into darkness: a skin diver with spear gun just swam above us, on the surface. He drags behind him a buoy where hang three parrotfish and an octopus. A regrettable vision which put me straight back into the reality of the world we had escaped during almost one hour …
The entry point of this dive is made from the recently fitted out sandy beach. Careful however, the East coast of Tenerife is famous for its Northeast prevailing wind, and can make the entry dangerous when it blows strongly. We enter the water; rocks of small sizes quickly replace the black sand of the beach. We swim at the surface for about ten metres or so, to find enough depth and we begin the dive at the end of the wave breaker dam in 3 metres of water.
We follow the rock on the left hand side (North direction), by keeping the sand area on the right hand side. A slight current in front of us is felt. Without loosing time, we move slowly by following the sloping bottom. Hardly two minutes of dive and we are already at 15m depth. A half-dozen of parrotfish escorts us for few metres. Today the visibility is great, 20 metres at least: a true delight. Garden eels are present in large number. Scattered on the sandy bottom, they always keep their face in front of the current in search for nutriments. A very good help to find out about the direction and the strength of the current, what can be useful for underwater natural navigation.
The drop off is not very rich with fixed marine life, but as we look carefully, we manage to find some anemones and a tiger moray eel. A very curious octopus draws our attention. The animal without fear throws itself on my camera, its tentacles stuck to the objective. Certainly intrigued, he wanted to bring it back in its hole to study it quietly…
As we progress the blue replaces the green. At 30 meters depth, the drop off turns abruptly towards the West. It is already time to go back to shallower waters. Nearly 25min of diving time, and we are half way. It is necessary to fin for a distance of about thirty metres to get close to the shore. Two sea slug (Nudibranchia) seem literally stuck on the wall. I use some time to immortalize the scene, but my underwater photography techniques are still not ready: no pictures for this time. Slowly I leave the bottom and the tracks left by sting rays on the sandy bottom. The drop off wall is almost vertical in its last part: a vertiginous scenery.
We arrive on a plateau at about twenty metres depth. Some barracudas regroup together right above our heads. The Seabream fishes swim towards our direction. They will follow us during about ten minutes. Las Eras dive site is crowded with local divers, especially during the weekend. Fishes are thus used to feed on black sea urchin’s Diadems killed by the divers with the aim of controlling their population.
It is time to turn around and swim back to the beach (South direction). The major part of the plateau is between twelve to fifteen meters depth and is bordered by another small drop off, from 8 to 5 metres high. The overhangs are numerous here, and offer protection to shy fauna. Big eyes, arrows crabs are legion, but there is no black coral on this dive site.
By following the rock at 12 metres deep, we find on the right hand side the entry of a tunnel. It is approximately located at 150 m away from the first drop off (the one who goes from 30 to 20 metres depth). The « Swim trough » (tunnel), does not show visible danger: inside, it is possible to turn back or to assist a diver with air. Only the exit is a little narrower and imposes to go one by one for two, three metres or so.
The daylight is present all the way through a crack in the ceiling. We find there some shrimps everywhere and a beautiful pink anemone at the entrance on the left hand side. The tunnel is rather short, about twenty metres and uncork to a small, circular and open roof place. At the exit, there are many huge overhangs. Trumpet fishes teem in this place and the size of some exceeds the biggest specimen's one I ever had the chance to see in the Red Sea.
The current pushes us slowly towards the exit. Along the way, a couple of cuttlefish looks at us with an attentive eye, while we contemplate them, almost motionless. We thus follow the rock on the right hand side to get to the artificial rocks which compose the wave breaker dam. Here, we stop for some minutes to make our safety stop.Suddenly, a threatening shadow put me into darkness: a skin diver with spear gun just swam above us, on the surface. He drags behind him a buoy where hang three parrotfish and an octopus. A regrettable vision which put me straight back into the reality of the world we had escaped during almost one hour …
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