Los Anegados

A bank under the surface

Los Anegados is a rock bank that stays below the waterline, out toward the mouth of Banderas Bay. Two dive guides place it about halfway between the rock of El Morro and the Marieta Islands, so it sits in the open water off the Punta de Mita side of the bay. Nothing shows above the sea here, which is why the spot is known mainly to divers and to the boat crews who take them. It turns up in lists of the dive sites the bay is known for, next to El Morro and La Corbeteña.

What divers find

One guide reports that the top of the bank begins at roughly 30 feet (about 9 metres) and that the rock is cut with caves and odd formations. Another gives dives here a range of about 50 to 120 feet (15 to 37 metres). Sharks and giant manta rays can be seen in this water, though no sighting is ever certain.

Who it suits

Because the site sits in open water, with depth and current to manage, it is best left to divers who are already comfortable in those conditions rather than those on a first dive after certification. Divers usually go down along a line from the boat, and the trip needs a captain who knows where the bank lies, since there is no marker on the surface.

Getting there by boat

A dive boat can leave from any of our boarding points, though the marina at La Cruz and Marina Nuevo Vallarta are on the northern shore and closer to this side of the bay than Marina Vallarta or Opequimar. No source we trust gives the bank's exact position, so we do not quote a distance or run time. We'll confirm the dive plan, depths and conditions for your day.