Tijarafe, Canary Islands, Spain

Cueva Bonita

Cueva Bonita lies on the western cliffs of La Palma near the village of Tijarafe and is the most famous dive cave in the western Canaries. The cave was sculpted by an old basaltic flow and ends in a tall vault inside the cliff with a small opening at the top of the rock face. In the late afternoon a single beam of sunlight pierces the opening and floods the chamber with a deep blue glow that gives the cave its beautiful name. Outside, the wall drops vertically below 25 metres, covered with yellow encrusting anemones, golden cup coral and red gorgonian. Inside the cavern divers find hundreds of cardinalfish, lobster, slipper lobster and sometimes red banded shrimp on cleaning stations. La Palma's clean Atlantic water keeps visibility regularly above 25 metres and the abrupt bathymetry just metres from shore frequently brings encounters with passing amberjack, barracuda and groups of trumpetfish.