Watersports in Gran Canaria: jet skis, parasailing, diving, surfing and fishing

Watersports in Gran Canaria follow a fixed map: jet skis, parasailing, flyboarding and banana boats run from the south-west coast, at Anfi del Mar and Puerto Rico, where the sea lies sheltered from the trade wind. The benchmark dive site is on the east coast, at El Cabrón (Arinaga), and the wind that makes Pozo Izquierdo a windsurfing World Cup venue blows along that same coast.

From Playa del Inglés or Maspalomas you mostly book surf lessons and jet skis with hotel pick-up; for everything else you need to go to Anfi or Puerto Rico. And if you were looking for jet skis in Playa Blanca, that's on Lanzarote: jet skis in Lanzarote.

Our pick

1

Jet ski in Puerto Rico

A guided tour, no licence needed; the most-reviewed in the area.

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide30 minutes - 1 hour

Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria: Jet Ski Tour

4.6 (1,208 reviews)

from €69.90Check availability

2

Try scuba diving

To have a go without a qualification; the law requires one instructor per student.

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide3 hours

Gran Canaria: Try Scuba Diving for Beginners

4.8 (497 reviews)

from €89Check availability

3

Surfing at Playa del Inglés

To learn without leaving Playa del Inglés or Maspalomas.

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide4 hours

Playa del Inglés Maspalomas: High-Quality Surf Classes

4.9 (407 reviews)

from €60Check availability

4

Kayak and snorkelling in Mogán

Paddling to the coastal caves, with no engine and no noise.

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide3 - 4 hours

Puerto Mogán: Guided Cave Kayak and Snorkel Tour

4.9 (424 reviews)

from €65Check availability

5

Boat trip with snorkelling

Half a day on a shared yacht with lunch; the sea without the adrenaline.

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide4 hours

Gran Canaria: Shared yacht trip with drinks, lunch and snorkelling

4.7 (865 reviews)

from €68Check availability

Where to do watersports in Gran Canaria

• Anfi del Mar (Mogán): Watersports Luis Molina, with a public price list. Jet skis, parasailing, flyboard, waterskiing, banana boat, paddleboarding, kayaks and pedalos.
• Puerto Rico: Canary Watersports, in the harbour, with jet skis, parasailing, an inflatable sofa and the ‘El Diablo’ speedboat. It doesn't publish prices and only takes cash.
• Arinaga and the east coast: shore diving at El Cabrón; windsurfing at Pozo Izquierdo and Vargas.
• Las Palmas: snorkelling and surfing at Las Canteras.

Watersports prices in Gran Canaria

These are the rates published by the Anfi del Mar centre; Puerto Rico has no public price list, so use them as a guide:

Parasailing in Gran Canaria: price for 1, 2 or 3 people

Parasailing is done at Anfi del Mar and in Puerto Rico. At Anfi, flying as a trio (€130, maximum 200 kg between the three of you) works out at about €43 each, against €50 solo. The Puerto Rico flight is sold on GetYourGuide from €39.90 for 10–12 minutes, less than Anfi's counter rate. Don't confuse it with paragliding, which in Las Palmas is flown in tandem from land.

Jet skis and boats in Gran Canaria: licence, age and price

‘No licence needed’ is only true in two cases: inside a buoyed circuit or on a guided group excursion following an instructor (Royal Decree 259/2002). To hire a jet ski and head off on your own you need a boating qualification.

The legal age to drive one is 18, or 16 with written parental permission; the Anfi del Mar centre requires drivers to be 18 and able to swim. Below that age you ride as a passenger.

On GetYourGuide, the guided tour from Puerto Rico costs from €69.90 and the Maspalomas one with hotel pick-up from €130.

Diving and snorkelling in Gran Canaria

El Cabrón, in Arinaga (Agüimes), is the benchmark dive: shore entry (so no boat fee), an average depth of 19 m and a maximum of 22 m, intermediate level, with shoals of grunts, groupers, moray eels and barracudas. Many centres sell it as a ‘marine reserve’, but it isn't one: it is a Special Area of Conservation in the Natura 2000 network, only proposed as a future marine reserve.

The island's official dive guide also includes Sardina del Norte (Gáldar), Playa de Taurito, Puerto de Mogán and Puerto Rico. Off Puerto de Mogán lies the Parque Submarino La Atlántida, a 3,000 m² artificial reef where fishing and anchoring are banned and diving is controlled; it is the same seabed the Mogán submarine descends to.

What Spanish law requires:

• A minimum age of 8, with depth limits by age: 6 m (8–9), 12 m (10–11), 21 m (12–15) and 40 m (16 and over).
• One instructor per student on try dives. A ‘group’ try dive with a single instructor is illegal, however cheap it is.
• Compulsory accident and third-party liability insurance, and a signed medical questionnaire; if you answer ‘yes’ to anything, you will be asked for a medical certificate.

The angelshark, a critically endangered shark, lives off every coast of the Canary Islands and above all off Gran Canaria; dive centres in the islands see it more in winter, roughly from November to April. To compare islands, see diving in the Canary Islands.

For snorkelling without a boat, the place to go is Las Canteras: the rock bar about 200 m offshore shelters almost the whole beach. GetYourGuide has guided trips from €39, and in Mogán, kayak routes with snorkelling in the caves from €65.

Surfing, windsurfing and big-game fishing

Surfing

In Las Palmas, La Cícer, at the southern end of Las Canteras, is the city's surf zone; El Confital is for experienced surfers. In the south, schools teach at Playa del Inglés and Maspalomas, from €49–60 on GetYourGuide. In the Canaries the big swells arrive from October to March; summer brings small waves, better for learning.

Windsurfing

Pozo Izquierdo (El Arenal beach, Santa Lucía de Tirajana) hosts a round of the PWA windsurfing World Cup every July, in the first half of the month, in the wave discipline; watching from the beach is free. Vargas is the island's other windsurfing beach. The trade wind blows on 70% of days in July and 45% in January: summer is wind season.

Big-game fishing

You can fish all year round, but the season for blue marlin, other billfish and tuna runs from May to November. The fishing grounds lie between Punta de Maspalomas and Punta del Descojonado, near La Aldea, and the boats leave from the southern harbours. The boats don't publish rates: ask for the price per person and what is included before you book.

Can you swim with dolphins in Gran Canaria?

Not with wild dolphins. In Spain it is forbidden to swim or dive alongside cetaceans: Canary Islands rules class swimming within 500 m of them as harmful behaviour, and national law sets a 60 m exclusion zone. Dolphin trips that advertise a ‘swim stop’ anchor in a cove with no animals nearby. Licensed watching trips almost all leave from Puerto Rico: more in Puerto Rico and Mogán and, for all the islands, in whale and dolphin watching.

Booking watersports in Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide30 minutes - 1 hour

Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria: Jet Ski Tour

4.6 (1,208 reviews)

from €69.90Check availability

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide4 hours

Gran Canaria: Shared yacht trip with drinks, lunch and snorkelling

4.7 (865 reviews)

from €68Check availability

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide

Maspalomas: Jet Ski Tour with Hotel Transfer

5.0 (563 reviews)

from €130Check availability

Gran Canaria

Tiqets04:30

Gran Canaria: Afrikat Catamaran Cruise

4.0 (4 reviews)

from €79.50Check availability

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide3 hours

Gran Canaria: Try Scuba Diving for Beginners

4.8 (497 reviews)

from €89Check availability

Gran Canaria

GetYourGuide3 - 4 hours

Puerto Mogán: Guided Cave Kayak and Snorkel Tour

4.9 (424 reviews)

from €65Check availability

See all options on GetYourGuide →Prices checked on 2 October 2026

More activities in the watersports selection; to combine them with other trips, see the Gran Canaria guide.

Frequently asked questions