Leave the busy shore behind and immerse yourself in a silent, watery world of lush plants and exotic wildlife. Serene yet awe-inspiring, scuba diving is a wonderful way to explore the diverse marine life that inhabits the Mediterranean.
The Costa Brava is home to some of Spain’s best diving opportunities. With spectacular underwater landscapes, excellent weather and good visibility, divers from Europe and beyond come to enjoy its calm waters. The famously rugged coastline gives way to an equally dramatic aquatic world of sharp cliffs and colored coral mazes, home to more than 600 types of fauna, from sardines to octopus and barracuda. The rocky cliffs of this stretch of coast also led to a watery grave for many ships over the ages, leaving today’s scuba divers with a number of interesting wrecks to explore.
That the Mediterranean is relatively warm water—it ranges from 12.8ºC in the winter to 20.8ºC in summer—also means that diving is available all year round (with a wetsuit).
There are diving opportunities on the Costa Brava for all levels, from absolute beginners to seasoned divers looking for a challenge. The many dive schools offer dives of different depths and technical knowledge, from short introductory dives to wreck diving and night diving for the more experienced.
To rent equipment and dive by yourself, you need to be a PADI Open Water license holder. If you’d like to get your PADI license, the course is available at all dive schools. It usually takes four days to complete and costs start at around €500.
The course teaches you the basics of scuba diving with both theory classes and dive practice. Specialty courses are also widely available from deep diving to underwater videography.
If you’re new to diving on the Costa Brava, here’s a little look at some of the best dive sites and what you can expect to find.
The Medes Islands
These seven small islands, located a mile off the coast of L’Estartit, are among the best places to dive in the Mediterranean and attract divers from afar. Once a haven for pirates, the islands have been uninhabited since 1934 and, since the Eighties, have been protected as a marine reserve. Their protected status means that there is a wealth of unspoiled marine life to be discovered here.
Nearby lies the Reggio Messina, which, at 115 meters long, is the largest shipwreck (open to divers) on the Costa Brava. Its working life as a train transporter ferry ended in 1991 and the boat was deliberately sunk to become a dive site. A dive here goes down to 28-35 meters and is suitable for experienced divers.
Ullastres I, II and III, Llafranc
Off the coast of Llafranc, Ullastres I, II and III are rock pinnacles that jut out of the water up to 10 meters and reach down to 55 meters. Draped in colorful gorgonians and soft coral, these submerged mountains are home to huge amounts of sea bass and mackerel.
Furió Fitó
Half a mile north of the Cape of Begur lies one of the Mediterranean’s most stunning underwater rock formations. This enormous submerged massif begins at a depth of 14 meters before dropping down to 55 meters. Dives here go to depths of between 12 and 60 meters. The north wall features gigantic gorgonians and colorful coral formations. Also to be spotted here are octopus, snapper, grouper, rays and sunfish.
Cap de Creus
The Cap de Creus National Park was Catalunya’s first marine/terrestrial nature reserve, and extends over 13,866 hectares in the eastern foothills of the Pyrenees. The rugged headland juts out of the north Costa Brava coast giving way to a mountainous underwater landscape which is one of the best preserved of the Mediterranean, and home to a rich plant life. Its unique rocky landscape has been shaped by the wind and is protected by bays and inlets. The main diving spot, Massa d’or, lies just off the headland and is more suited to experienced divers due to its unpredictable currents. The visibility here is excellent, with caves to explore and schools of barracuda.