Dive Sites - Baldies Cave, Lanzarote

Badlies Cave is so called because a bunch of us, who are all lacking in the hair department, actually discovered the cave! It’s at Charco del Palo, which is a small village near Mala on the coast of Lanzarote. As you drive into the village, take the first turning on the right, and then the third on your left. This is a dead end so park at the bottom of the road.

From here you can see the beach area, which is where you’ll be entering the water – this is the first fun part! You can only do this dive at high tide, as the exit from the beach has a narrow channel which only exists at high tide. If the waves are running, it can be quite hard to get out against them, but coming back is hilarious. More on that later.

Once you’ve exited the beach, submerge and head on a bearing I’m happy to give you when on the island. You’ll go past a big rock outcrop on your right and then keep descending to around 20 meters. You’ll follow the reef along for some time, seeing the usual cuttelfish, octopus and shoals of small fish. You might spot some Barracuda. Eventually you get to what is basically a cliff edge, dump any excess air and “fly” down the cliff – I absolutely love this feeling!

You’ll hit the sea bed again at around 42 meters and you’ll see the cave entrance in front of you. There are usually some stingrays and electric rays on the bottom in this area. Swim into the cave and you’ll go into a vast cavern, which has been created by volcanic action – the top is a good 15 meters high and the cave is big enough to spend some time there. A family of grouper live inside, and you’re likely to spot them swimming around. We’ve also found Moray Eels and Angel Sharks in there from time to time. There are some unusual looking corals on the ceiling and walls. Something you must do is look back towards the entrance – always fascinating in a cave, especially if you can catch another diver entering or exiting, as they are silhouetted against the ambient light.

At those depths you don’t get much time without racking up deco time, so make the most of it, then ascend back up the cliff face. Swimming back at 15 meters or so, stop and check out the home of the big Moray that lives in the rock wall – we quite often feed him! Fairly quickly you’ll be back at around 6 to 10 meters and can off gas and rummage around in the shallows.

The area is not dived much, as entry and exit isn’t for the feint hearted, which means you won’t have a problem with sediment being stirred up, and typically for Lanzarote, the viz is almost always 20 meters or more, with sea temperatures ranging from 18 degrees in mid winter to 24 degrees in the summer.

So now we get to the exit! If the sea is calm, simply swim through the narrow channel, but if it’s rough you need to let the waves take you. Before you get to the channel, secure all your kit and tuck in any parts that are sticking out. Once you start moving, you’ll only be able to steer, so let the wave fire you down the channel. You’ll burst back into the beach area with a huge grin on your face, much to the surprise of the swimmers there!

Baldies Cave is one for experienced divers, but it is a cracker!

Here are some other dive site reviews:

1/ Dive Sites – The Rabat wreck Lanzarote

2/ Black coral dives in Lanzarote

3/ Scuba Mike’s Red Sea Trip