Views of the Risco de Famara and “the River” from La Graciosa, French beach
La Graciosa Diving 4: Anchors Reef
As in Grunts, White Trevally II and White Trevally Cave dive sites, Anchor Reef diving spot is located in the rocky bar that crosses “the River” perpendicularly, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean located between Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
Anchors reef and White Trevally Cave dive map ©oceanografica.com
The reason why there are so many anchors, is a Pirates story. In the centuries of piracy, between the 14th and 18th centuries, commercial ships went to the “el Río” area to load fresh water from the only source in the area, located on the “el Risco” wall of the island of Lanzarote.
The pirates, aware of this, made raids to board the ships just at that time to steal their merchandise.
So when pirates were sighted, the crews of the boarded ships shouted, Pirates! Anchors up and full sail! And to try to escape faster from them in a hurry, they cut the anchor rope leaving it at the sea bottom.
La Graciosa diving center zodiac, in the small port of Caleta del Sebo
As in other dives in this reef (Grunts, White Trevally II and White Trevally Cave) the dive consists of going through an area of the reef and the rocky area, with the peculiarity of diving in an area of historical interest due to the anchors and amphorae that rest on the bottom.
The remains of the most important Roman amphorae in the Canary Islands have been located in the River. As in any other place, it is essential not to alter or extract anything at all from zone.
historic anchor close to White Trevally Cave dive site
In addition to a few anchors very covered by algae, in this dive we see a lot of variety of life: dentex, groupers, a beautiful brown meagre, Barred hogfish, parrotfish, trigger fish, two moray eels…
male parrotfish
trigger fish
Exploring little corners in the rock we are surprised by a beautiful sea slug
sea slug
We continue exploring and we see slipper lobster, forkbeards and a giant spotted burrfish! At least it was 50 or 60 cm lomg, the largest we have seen, for sure.
Spotted Burrfish
forkbeard with big eyes
We see red and yellow coral anchored on the bottom. In addition to a lot of life such as azores chromis, seabream, barred hogfish, salemas, red porgy,…
azores chromis
red porgy
Two-banded Seabream
A very fun and entertaining dive, without any doubt.
After the dive we return to Caleta del Sebo. The dives are at 9 am and at 1 pm, which gives time to rest and do the second dive with 3 hours of surface time.
Very happy with Buceo La Graciosa dive center, we get ready for the next dive in La Graciosa: the Fingers.
For more information about other dive sites on the island, the diving center and the logistics of the trip, read our GUÍA DE BUCEO EN LA GRACIOSA.
