Atalaia Diving Center Madeira

The Dive Center
Founded in March 1988 by Joe Klenk, Marco Klenk took over the Dive Center 2016 from his father Joe, who explored the underwater world of Madeira as one of the first divers ever. Together with Sasha Hartmann he now leads the newly renovated Dive Center. The team offers relaxed diving in small groups at the highest level of comfort, individual service and respectable diving education. Of course there’s space for tons of fun too. The Dive Center has a pool for educational training and Discover Scuba Diving sessions as well as direct access to six top divesites right at the doorstep. Atalaia highly values top-certified dive instructors and high-class equipment.

Right above the Diving Center you find the following hotels: Royal Orchid ****, Roca Mar ****, Cais da Oliveira **** with dreamlike views of the Atlantic… up to the offshore islands, the Ilhas Desertasa.
Many customers also like to book apartments with Klenk's Café (2-8 people) which offers a fine restaurant and home-brewed beer.

The Dive Center can be reached from almost all the hotels in and around Caniço de Baixo in no time.

The diving with Atalaia Diving Center as certificated CMAS / IAC and PADI Dive Resort is ideal for education from beginner’s level up to Divemaster and also offers experienced divers a great deal. No matter whether it’s the Canyon, Moray's Wall, inside the Cave or the Blue Hole, there’s always something new to discover. Boat dives in the nearby Underwater Marine Park Garajau with the big groupers are as well part of the program. On customer request we individually offer autonomous diving as buddy-team and night dives.

The highlight
The exclusive highlight is definitely the catamaran day trip to the offshore Underwater Marine Park of the Desertas islands - including a one-tank dive, fine catering and drinks on board as well as dolphin and whale observations on the way.

The name ATALAIA indicates the area where the Dive Center is located. ATALAIA means „The Guard“. You recognize a clear male face in the rock formation of the eastern coastline about 1 kilometer from the Atalaia Diving Center. „The Guard“ watches and protects the offshore area. He embodies the guardian of the sea like Neptune or Poseidon in the mythology.

This dive site is the perfect spot for getting started – for beginners as well as for refresher courses or check-dives. Slowly the coast drops to a maximum depth of 18m. You find large rocks, underneath which countless crustaceans, Trumpetfish and Redlip Blennies hide. In the sandy bottom you can find Garden Eels and everywhere you can see the highlight of this dive site: anemones of all colors and sizes - from golden-yellow to purple-violet. Good buoyancy is worthwhile, because in many anemones you can spot white banded Cleaner Shrimps like the pretty White-Patched Anemone Shrimp.

This spot is an easy one to navigate directly at the western entrance. Right there in the shallow water is one of the "aquariums". You can dive up to the rock wall in front of the cave and use the entire depth from the sandy bottom to the surf zone to explore. On the sandy patches along the way, there are many Brown Stingrays and Butterfly Rays, especially in the summer months. In the rock under the western entrance is a small tunnel, which should not be missed. The rock "Big Rock" itself is a prominent landmark about 50 meters before the entrance. It has a small steep wall to the south.