Montaña Amarilla

Montaña Amarilla — the Yellow Mountain — is a beginner dive associated with one of the Canary Islands' most geologically distinctive landmarks: a volcanic cone whose iron-rich composition creates the yellow and ochre colouration that gives it its name, rising from the coastal landscape with a vividness of colour remarkable even by the already dramatic standards of Canarian volcanic scenery. Underwater, the geological character of the yellow mountain is expressed in a distinctive substrate that sets this dive apart from the more typical dark basalt of most Canarian sites. The yellow-orange volcanic tuff of Montaña Amarilla is a geologically young formation, its colouration reflecting the altered volcanic material that weathers differently from the older, darker basalt of the surrounding landscape. Underwater, this material creates reef formations with a warmer, more varied visual character than the dark rock typical of Lanzarote's dive sites, and the encrusting community colonising these surfaces has developed on a distinctive substrate that adds to the site's unique character. The dive at Montaña Amarilla unfolds at beginner depths in the calm, clear water of Lanzarote's southern coast, the yellow volcanic formations providing the navigational framework and visual identity of the site. The encrusting community on the coloured rock includes the sponge and anemone assemblage typical of Lanzarote's sheltered southern dive sites, but set against the unusual yellow and ochre substrate that makes this site immediately distinctive. Fish life is typical of Lanzarote's southern dive zone: the endemic Canary Islands wrasse species, schooling bream and bogues, and the large dusky grouper that are a consistent feature of any undisturbed Canarian reef. Sea turtles forage along this section of the south coast, and the sandy areas between the coloured volcanic formations host the stingrays and angel sharks that make any Canarian sandy-bottom section worth examining carefully. A visually distinctive beginner dive with genuine geological character.