Charco Verde

On the western shore of Lanzarote a small lagoon of startling emerald green lies cupped between a dark volcanic crater wall and a beach of black gravel, with the Atlantic breaking only a few dozen metres away. Known as Charco Verde or Charco de los Clicos, it is often held up as an emblem of Lanzarote itself, an island made by fire and sea, and the contrast is the whole point: green water, black sand, banded volcanic rock and the blue of the open ocean, all in a single frame.

The lagoon is roughly 100 metres long and covers about 7,100 square metres, running parallel to the shoreline. It formed in an old volcanic crater that subsided under its own weight and was invaded by the sea; the crater rim, whose last eruption dates to the eighteenth century, still rises as a curved wall of layered rock on the eastern side. The pool is fed by seawater seeping through the beach rather than by an open channel. Its colour comes from living organisms: the aquatic plant Ruppia maritima and algae thrive in the mineral-rich, salty water, and sulphur in the water adds to the effect. The black beach between the lagoon and the sea is speckled with green crystals of olivine. The second name refers to clicos, an edible bivalve once gathered here and prized locally for its flavour.

Charco Verde lies beside El Golfo, a small coastal village in the municipality of Yaiza in the island's south-west. The surrounding coast belongs to the Los Volcanes Natural Park, the protected belt that wraps around Timanfaya National Park. The lagoon is viewed from a lookout on its northern side, reached on foot along a short path from El Golfo. Its otherworldly setting has drawn film-makers: it appears in One Million Years B.C. (1966), Enemy Mine (1985) and Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces (2009).

Getting there

Charco Verde is next to the village of El Golfo, about 6.5 km from Yaiza, the municipal centre. César Manrique-Lanzarote Airport (ACE), near Arrecife, is about 22 km away in a straight line. El Golfo is reached by road from Yaiza, and the lookout by a short footpath from the village.