In the south of Lanzarote, off the coast of Yaiza, there is a museum without walls or opening hours. To enter, you descend 12 to 15 metres in Las Coloradas bay. There, on the sandy seabed, dozens of life-size human figures walk, wait, embrace or row a raft. They were made by the British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor, and the sea has done the rest: algae, sponges and fish have turned the sculptures into a reef.

The essentials

  • Where: Las Coloradas bay, in Yaiza, in the south of Lanzarote, next to Playa Blanca.
  • Depth: between 12 and 15 metres.
  • When it began: first pieces submerged in February 2016; opened on 10 January 2017. It was later expanded with 240 new sculptures.
  • How to visit: always with a dive centre. Certified divers on a guided dive; without certification, on introductory dives with an instructor.
  • What not to do: touch the pieces, take anything away or dive independently beyond what the centre indicates.

What the pieces say

Taylor does not make decorative sculpture. His figures are portraits of real people, and his scenes address uncomfortable themes: the relationship between humans and the ocean, consumption, migration.

The Rubicon is the museum’s defining image: a group of figures walking in single file towards a wall that opens beneath the sea. The name evokes a point of no return. Diving among them, you feel as if you have joined the procession.

The Raft of Lampedusa is the hardest piece: a boat carrying people adrift, a reference to those who cross the sea in search of another life. Under the Atlantic, off an island that also sees small migrant boats arrive, the scene needs no explanation.

There are more groups, and the expansion has multiplied them, but the idea remains the same: works designed for the sea to colonise. With every year that passes, the museum looks less like the day it was submerged and more like a reef.

How to see it

Visits are organised through the island’s dive centres, with instructors who know the site. If you hold a diving certification, a guided dive is the natural way to explore it. If you do not, several centres offer introductory dives with an instructor, sometimes as two dives of increasing depth. Certification and depth requirements are set by each centre: ask when you book.

A few pointers so the visit is what it should be:

  • Choose a centre experienced at the museum and with all its authorisations in order.
  • Do not touch the sculptures. The life growing on them is fragile, and it is precisely what makes the museum a reef.
  • Take your time. One calm dive, early, in good visibility, is worth more than two rushed ones.
  • Nothing goes home as a souvenir, from the seabed or the shore.

From the surface

The Museo Atlántico is truly seen underwater. For the rest of Lanzarote’s sea, and the marine reserve in the north, best explored by boat, continue with Lanzarote from the water: sailing the Chinijo Archipelago. Close by, east of Playa Blanca, lie the Papagayo coves; and to understand the island around the museum, César Manrique, the man who decided what Lanzarote should be.

Our view

The Museo Atlántico is the opposite of an attraction: it is a work that needs time and silence, and that changes with every season. It deserves a whole morning, with a centre that dives slowly and explains what you are about to see. If you do not dive, it may be the best reason to try for the first time.

Facts checked on 20 October 2026 with Canary Islands Tourism, spain.info and the international press. Access information as of October 2026: always confirm visit requirements and conditions with the dive centre before booking.