El desierto

El Desierto — the Desert — earns its name from the character of its seafloor: an expanse of open sandy bottom stretching between the basalt formations of El Hierro's La Restinga coast, creating an underwater landscape that is open, minimalist, and in its own way profoundly beautiful. What might sound like a less compelling dive site is, in El Hierro's extraordinary water quality, a canvas on which the island's most celebrated marine residents are painted in clear relief. The sandy desert floor of this beginner site is where El Hierro's iconic angel sharks live their unhurried lives. These critically endangered sharks — once nearly extirpated from European waters but now recovering strongly around El Hierro under the island's strict marine protections — rest motionless on sandy substrate during the day, their bodies adapted with remarkable precision to resemble the substrate. In the island's famous visibility, which can reach forty metres or more, a resting angel shark is visible from a distance that allows calm, non-intrusive observation: the rough-textured upper surface, the outline of the pectoral fins spread against the sand, the slow working of the gills. El Desierto's open sandy character makes it one of the most reliable angel shark sites on the island. The surrounding basalt formations that border the sandy expanse provide the encrusting community typical of El Hierro's exceptional marine environment: dense sponge colonies, anemone carpets, and the hard coral formations that are more developed here than at other Canary Islands sites. Smaller residents of the sandy areas include garden eels extending from their burrows, and the various flatfish and gobies that live camouflaged against the substrate. For beginner divers, El Desierto provides the combination of manageable conditions, spectacular visibility, and the genuine wildlife encounter of an angel shark sighting that makes El Hierro one of Europe's most compelling diving destinations.