Volcanic dive sites
Diving with Volcanoes: Life in bloom
It is no coincidence that many volcanically active areas on earth are particularly popular diving destinations. Underwater volcanic rock formations provide a perfect habitat for sponges, algae and small animals. This is where food for larger sea creatures settles, and these in turn attract the large predators.
In addition to the overwhelming fauna, volcanic landscapes provide geological clues: What did this lava look like when it flowed into the water? Or is she frozen on land? How long ago was that? And what do we know about them?
And they are simply beautiful to look at: Lava formations can create veritable works of art underwater, which we can decipher from different perspectives in three dimensions.
Volcanic diving areas are scattered all over the world. Island chains resulting from hotspot volcanism such as the Canary Islands or Hawaii, the home of glacier volcanism Iceland, the many diving areas around the Pacific Ring of Fire such as Bali or Indonesia, or crater lakes in the Eifel – volcanic diving spots are diverse.
Canary Islands: Old and Young Lava
Hot Spot Volcanism: The Birth of Islands from Volcanoes
Not all volcanoes lie on plate boundaries. There are a number of “hot spots” around the world: places where lava emerges because the pressure from an underlying magma chamber is too great and the crust is too thin. This spot remains in one place, while the plates drift – so one island after another can grow out of the same hotspot.
The Canary Islands emerged from such a hotspot – the first about 20 million years ago (that was shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs, geologically speaking…) The youngest islands, La Palma and El Hierro, are only around two million years old, and they are also the most volcanically active today. In 2010 the underwater volcano Tagoro in front of El Hierro erupted, in 2021 an as yet unnamed volcano in the Cumbre Vieja volcanic chain on La Palma.
Earth history to touch
In volcanic landscapes such as La Palma, you can marvel at millions of years of geological history.
The people in the foreground of this picture are standing on the Roque de Los Muchachos, the highest mountain on the volcanic island of La Palma, on the edge of the Caldera de Taburiente. This caldera is not a volcanic crater but the result of continually collapsing volcanoes – the rock here is from the birth of the island. On the right, in the middle of the caldera, the Pico Bejenado rises as a single volcano, which has also not been active for a long time. But straight ahead you can see the Cumbre Vieja: This is the youngest volcanic chain, on which there have been eight volcanic eruptions in the last 500 years. The last of these at the end of 2021 cannot yet be seen in this picture.
Diving in the Canaries
The Canary Islands are a diving paradise in southern Europe, located next to the African continent in the Atlantic Ocean.
The northernmost islands are the oldest. Lanzarote was formed 15-20 million years ago, and yet another volcano erupted in modern times: The Timanfaya spewed for more than five years from 1730 to 1736. The area is now a much-visited national park. Underwater Lanzarote has a lot to offer from the lava flows in the north to the reef at Playa Chica – the lava caves are outstanding. Fuerteventura, the other old island, has almost been shaved away by erosion caused by the strong winds and heavy seas. Nevertheless, you can still go diving there: between the islands or in Morro Jable on the moray eel reef.
Gran Canaria, around 15 million years old, is incredibly scenic. The many schools of fish are particularly striking here, and there are some interesting wrecks off the coast.
Tenerife is also 12 million years old – but Spain’s highest mountain, Mount Teide, is still volcanically active. The last time there was a small eruption in the Teide massif was in 1909 – from a geological point of view that was yesterday. Therefore, the Teide is also meticulously monitored, should the activity increase, the population is warned. The popular bathing island is of course also ideal for diving – whether from land or from a boat, there is something for everyone.
La Gomera is a beautiful island, but unusually shallow underwater. You can go fish-watching, but it is better suited to hiking than diving.
The geologically young islands of La Palma and El Hierro offer the most spectacular diving spots in the Canary Islands by far. On El Hierro, diving is mainly done in the nature reserve, where you can admire an incredible variety of fish. What can live on the Canary Islands when there is no fishing is shown here. On La Palma it is remarkably deep from land: Shortly before the coast you can easily crack the 100m mark yourself and comfortably decompress along the seabed. That’s why the island attracts a community of technical divers who want to explore the depths here, in addition to the regular divers, who of course also get their money’s worth. The small island is best known for the volcano that raged here from September to December 2021. The result is a new lava delta on the coast, where a variety of interesting diving spots can be expected.
Where is it most beautiful? That’s not an easy question to answer… But you can get a few very good tips here: Where are the most beautiful dive sites on the Canary Islands?
Adventure cave
Where there are volcanoes, there are also lava tunnels – and where there are volcanoes, there are caves underwater.
There are many small sea caves in the Canary Islands. Not branching systems, but small tunnels in which you can no longer surface directly, and which are sometimes subject to significant forces from the waves and tides.
If you want to dive in caves, you need to be trained. For such first experiences there are as beginner courses e.g. the SSI Cavern Diver, with which you can dive most of the spots. If you want to go further, you will then have to deal intensively with cave diving.
Iceland: Silfra Fissure and Spa Diving
Iceland has this one dive: The Silfra Fissure. Here you dive between two continental plates, so to speak – after that it is not surprising to see how much the island above this rift is characterized by volcanic activity.
The Silfra Fissure runs through the Thingvellir National Park in the south of Iceland. The up to 63m deep fissure is filled with crystal clear glacial water, so that nothing blocks the view of the two continental plates. You can touch the Eurasian and North American continents underwater at the same time – but you don’t have to push the plates apart. Every year they drift 7 cm further apart on their own.
The Silfras Fissure is very popular with divers and snorkelers from all over the world who want to see this unique geological attraction. Diving is only done in dry suits, which is simply necessary at 2-4 degrees water temperature. You can complete the speciatlty for dry diving on site or in advance to enjoy the excursion even more relaxed.
If one dive is not enough, there are other smaller crevices where you can admire lava rocks.
Another very special highlight is diving at a geothermal chimney that ends a few meters below the water surface: Strytan. Here, 22-degree water comes out of the rock, forming a distinct thermocline and providing food for a variety of fish. A spectacular example of the volcanic origin of a variety of landscapes around the world.
Land of Geysers
A special form of volcanic phenomena are the geysers, which Icelandic language owe their name to. “Geysa” means to spit out, and that’s exactly what geysers do: they spit out boiling hot water.
These are thermal springs in which some of the water suddenly turns into steam, and which then blow liquid water and steam spectacularly into the air. Some bubble almost constantly and very regularly, others show this natural phenomenon only rarely and unpredictably…
Volcano – Spa: thermal springs
Although the number of geysers is disappointingly few, Iceland remains the land of thermal springs. From bubbling springs the size of a bathtub to the enormous blue lagoon, Iceland is criss-crossed with springs heated by volcanic activity.
Hawaii: Origin of Vulcan Names
The mother of all hot spot volcano chains
Hawaii: a name that invites you to dream.it is a group of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and dream destination for many divers. The name “Hawaii” is derived from the name of the largest island in the chain, sometimes called the Big Island. But also the smaller islands offer exciting volcanic landscapes both above and under water.
Like other island chains far from plate boundaries, Hawaii is a child of hot spot volcanism. Over a length of more than 6000km and during the last 89 million years, this hot spot has piled up more than 120 individual volcanoes in the Pacific Ocean – the Hawaii-Emperor chain. Many of them never broke the surface of the sea, but some particularly spectacular ones make up the Hawaiian Islands of today. These volcanoes are among the largest on earth. For example, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea both rise more than 10,000 meters, from the bottom of the deep sea to more than 4 kilometers above sea level. These are classic shield volcanoes that owe their comparatively gently sloping flanks to Hawaiian eruptions of mostly thin-bodied lavas. Due to the good flowability of the lava flows, they still reach the sea during the occasional eruptions of the volcanoes on Big Island, resulting in a spectacular “Ocean Entry”.
The lavas of Kilauea, and the Polynesian culture of Hawaii’s first inhabitants, have also shaped the nomenclature of volcanology. The particularly fast flowing Pahoehoe – lava, and the rather blocky, sharp-edged rock forming Aa – lava are known worldwide. Hawaiian volcanoes offer the rare opportunity to trace the path of lava from the lava fountain at the active crater, through the lava flow rolling down the slopes, to the pillow lava below the sea surface. And also the entire “life cycle” of a volcanic island becomes tangible here: already from the moment of the fiery birth, the forces of erosion – wind, water, and also life – also gnaw at the rock. Molokini in the Hawaiian archipelago is the rim of an extinct volcano just partially rising above sea level, home to seabirds above water, and one of the islands’ most beautiful dive sites underwater.
Indonesia: The most active volcanoes in the world
The island chain of Indonesia, located at a foothill of the Pacific Ring of Fire, is known for its strong volcanic activity. The island nation has the largest number of active volcanoes in any country in the world, with minor eruptions being a daily occurrence and violent eruptions with multiple victims happening every few years. Fortunately, early warning systems are improving and the number of victims has fallen significantly over the last century.
Despite the high volcanic activity, the region is densely populated: The lava soil is known to be very fertile. The nature is overwhelming and the diving areas are among the most spectacular in the world.
Why is this region in particular so frequently affected by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions? The reason lies in the collision of several plates: The islands lie on the boundary of the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates. But that’s not all: there are also smaller, wedged-in plates between the continental plates: The Burma Plate and the Sunda Plate, and others that characterize a teconically unstable region.
In particular, the subduction of the Indian Ocean oceanic plate under the Sundra Shelf leads to frequent movements.
Among divers, several of the Indonesian islands are among the world’s most popular dream destinations: Resounding names such as Bali, Gilis, Sulawesi, Bunaken and Raja Ampat are high up on the list of dream destinations. The warm water, the beautiful beaches, the corals and the tropical fish – just what it takes.
But it is not only the diversity of species that characterizes the region, but also its volcanic origins. Underwater lava rocks make for varied landscapes and you can even marvel at lava flows that have flowed into the water. And as a special attraction, there are places here where volcanoes are active underwater and you can still feel the heat above and see the sea bubbling.
Galapagos
On the other side of the Pacific Ocean lie the Galapagos Islands. Just under 1000 km off the coast of Ecuador and located directly on the equator, they are another example of hot-spot volcanism. They lie on the Nazca plate, which is slowly moving over a hot spot that is still active today. The oldest rocks can be dated to over 89 million years ago, making them comparatively old.
They are known for their biodiversity both on land and underwater.
