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Canary Islands
Also known as Islas Canarias, The Canaries
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The Canary Islands are a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish Autonomous Community and an Outermost Region of the European Union. The islands include (from largest to smallest): Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Alegranza and MontaƱa Clara. During the times of the Spanish Empire the Canaries were the main stopover for Spanish galleons on their way to America because of the favorable easterly winds. The economy is based primarily on tourism, which makes up 32% of the GDP. The Canaries receive about 10 million tourists per year. The official symbols from nature associated with Canary Islands are the bird Serinus canaria (Canary) and the Phoenix canariensis palm. The Marine life found in the Canary Islands is also varied, being a combination of North Atlantic, Mediterranean and endemic species. In recent years, the increasing popularity of both scuba diving and underwater photography have provided biologists with much new information on the marine life of the islands. Fish species found in the islands include many species of shark, ray, moray eel, bream, jack, grunt, scorpionfish, triggerfish, grouper, goby, and blenny. In addition, there are many invertebrate species including sponge, jellyfish, anemone, crab, mollusc, sea urchin, starfish, sea cucumber and coral. There are a total of 5 different species of marine turtle that are sighted periodically in the islands, the most common of these being the endangered Loggerhead Turtle. The other four are the Green, Hawksbill, Leatherback and Kemp's Ridley Turtle. Currently, there are no signs that any of these species breed in the islands, and so those seen in the water are usually migrating. However, it is believed that some of these species may have bred in the islands in the past, and there are records of several sightings of leatherback turtle on beaches in Fuerteventura, adding credibility to the theory. Marine mammals include the Short-Finned Pilot Whale, Common and Bottlenose dolphins. The Canary Islands were also formerly home to a population of the rarest Pinniped in the world, the Mediterranean Monk Seal. |
People who dived here
Nearby photos
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Top 10 Dive Sites in Canary Islands
#1Playa Chica, Lanzarote
#2Tenerife
#3Tenerife
#4Tenerife
#5Tenerife
#6Lanzarote
#7Tenerife
#8Gran Canaria
#9Playa Chica, Lanzarote
#10Lanzarote
Top 10 Operators in Canary Islands
- Safari Diving Lanzarote Playa Chica, Lanzarote
- Dawn Dives Lanzarote Lanzarote
- Diversity Tenerife
- Aquasport Lanzarote
- Acuarios Jandia Fuerteventura
- Fuerte Divers Fuerteventura
- Dive and Sea Tenerife Tenerife
- Easy Blue World Tenerife
- Aqua-Marina Oxygene Los Cristianos, Tenerife
- Wannadive Tenerife
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Popular dive logs
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Blue Hole North Atlantic OceanNacho 8 years ago
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Areanetas North Atlantic OceanKim Barlow 18 years ago
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Soo many fish! North Atlantic OceanTim Davis 23 years ago
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Palm Mar Wall North Atlantic OceanKim Barlow 18 years ago
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Roncadores El Palm Mar North Atlantic OceanKim Barlow 18 years ago
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Palm Mar Wall North Atlantic OceanKim Barlow 18 years ago
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Playa Chica Wall North Atlantic Oceanguriel 9 years ago