Canary Islands - How long to spend in El Hierro?

[LeggoDiveyDivey]

Was thinking of planning a trip to El Hierro and to put it mildly, it is a hassle to get there. It takes a flight > ferry/second flight> car ride to get to the southern most tip of the island where the dive shops are. All in, it would take about 12 hours of travelling, easily taking 2 days out of an entire trip. The local area is also small, with steep climbs out, so its best to get as much diving in as possible.

So that begs the question, how many days of diving should I do to cover most of the good sites while still leaving time to explore other areas on the island?
I have about 10 days so I am wondering if the other canary islands are also worth doing?

Most places should offer a minimum of 2 morning dives, with an option to do an afternoon and night, so thats 2-4 dives per day. Also because the operators seem small, it should be semi-strenuous diving with RHIB rides, refitting of tanks etc in between dives.

My gut feeling tells me that my days should be split:
Day 1: Full day of travel
Day 2,3,4,5,6: 5 days of about 12 dives
Day 7,8,9: Leave La Restinga to explore the rest of El Hierro or even explore the other islands (South Tenerife)
Day 10: Full day of travel

 

[sinidive]

Have been diving both on El Hierro (La Restinga) and Tenerife.

I think most operators do 2 morning dives from a RIB and afternoon/night happens in the harbor.

The site you really want is El Bajón. However that has limited capacity so not all operators can go there on each day - and it is dependent on both swell and current. So it can take a few days till you get it done. There are also a number of other dive sites that are nice. For diving El Hierro is more exposed than Tenerife, so more swell/current. More variety and larger fishes than Tenerife in general, but Tenerife has angel sharks, rays and turtles.

For your off time there is a nice pine forest round El Pinar that I enjoyed.

On Tenerife if you want to climb Teide note that you will need to book a permit well in advance. I would avoid the Los Cristianos/Playa de las Americas area. Generally on Tenerife south is dry/sunny and touristy, north is more wet and less touristy. There are 2 airports and the El Hierro flights go to the northern one. If you stay in south that is one extra hour of car ride... Most diving on Tenerife is chill and the waters tend to be quite protected.

I would consider Gran Canaria perhaps as a possibility too?

 

[LeggoDiveyDivey]

Thank you! Do you recommend any operator? To be fair, I think most operators are recommended so I am not picky. Thanks for the tip about angel sharks and El Bajon. I think its also difficult to pick an operator that would go to El Bajon, or can one even be picky and just go with whoever is going to El Bajon the next day?

I'm good with currents, so far so hopefully that remains the case. Thanks for the tip for El Pinar too.

From your comments I think I should then give Tenerife 1-2 days to see the angel sharks, do you have a recommended dive operator in Tenerife?

Unfortunately due to costs and international flights, I decided to do the flight + ferry route, because international flights go to South and El Hierro flights depart from North like you mentioned.