Puerto del Carmen, Canary Islands, Spain

Cathedral (Lanzarote)

The Cathedral, also called La Catedral, is the largest cavern on the Puerto del Carmen wall and one of the most photographed underwater chambers in the Canary Islands. The cavern entrance opens at around 30 metres on the deep face of Playa Chica wall and the vault rises into a ceiling at 38 metres carved by ancient lava flows that hardened against the older basement rock. The interior is dim enough that divers normally carry torches, and the upper corners are matted with Atlantic brain coral, golden cup coral and small encrusting sponges. Resident inhabitants include schools of bigeye, large dusky groupers, the protected slipper lobster and conger eels. Outside the chamber the wall continues to drop and frequently hosts amberjack, barracuda schools and the occasional eagle ray. Because of its depth profile and the overhead environment, the Cathedral is dived only by experienced divers with at least Advanced certification and adequate gas planning.