Pechiguera

Pechiguera is the lighthouse headland that marks the southwestern tip of Lanzarote, where the island's volcanic coast projects into the strait between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura and encounters the powerful tidal currents that flow through this narrow passage between two major Canary Islands. The dive site bearing the lighthouse's name is an advanced dive shaped by this geography: exposed, current-influenced, and with the pelagic wildlife encounters that productive, high-flow environments consistently produce. Punta de Pechiguera is one of Lanzarote's most exposed dive locations, where the tidal flow through the Fuerteventura strait creates conditions that can be demanding in the extreme and spectacular in their wildlife consequences. The current that runs through the passage is capable of carrying large quantities of nutrients and baitfish, and the predator response to this productivity — the tuna, amberjack, and barracuda that exploit tidal flows for hunting — makes Pechiguera one of the island's most thrilling advanced dive sites when conditions align. The basalt formations at Pechiguera descend from the rocky headland in the angular, exposed manner of a coast that regularly faces serious Atlantic swell. The encrusting community on these formations reflects the productivity of the current-swept environment: dense sponge colonies, robust anemone populations, and the hard and soft coral formations that develop in the Canary Islands' warmest southern waters. Large grouper claim territories in the deepest sections of the headland's basalt with impressive size, the product of protected habitats and generations of undisturbed growth. Planning a Pechiguera dive requires careful attention to tidal state — the difference between a dive at slack water and one during peak flow is the difference between a manageable and an untenable site. With optimal timing, the headland's position produces the open-water encounters that make it worth the planning: schools of Atlantic bluefin tuna on seasonal migration are possible here, and large amberjack hunting in the tidal current are reliable. One of Lanzarote's most dramatic and rewarding advanced dive sites.