Diving in the Medes Islands: will it be as good as they say?
We've often heard the most spoiled divers say that these days they only dive during tropical trips to the warm waters of distant paradises and only rarely dive in the Mediterranean because "it's cold and there's not much to see ." We're willing to bet that at the Medes Islands they'd change their minds and perhaps venture out with even more enthusiasm than on other, more distant dives!
After crossing the French Riviera and the French-Spanish border, after about an hour's drive, you reach the Costa Brava, the coastal region of Catalonia overlooking the Mediterranean. Here lies the Medes Islands archipelago, made up of several islets and seven islands: Meda Gran, Meda Petita, Medallot, Cavall Bernat, Ferrenelles, Tascó Gros, and Tascó Petit.
This extremely interesting and life-rich area, established as a marine park in 1983, is protected from fishing and from actions that would damage its conformation, starting with an absolute ban on construction.
The islands are about a mile off the coast and can, of course, only be reached by boat or canoe. The best place to reach them is L'Estartit, a small town opposite the park. Originally a fishing village, L'Estartit has developed steadily since the 60s, focusing on tourism. Scuba diving has also played a key role. Today, there are twelve diving centers that bring hundreds of divers every day to explore the seabed off the coast.
Among these centers we have chosen one that is certainly the best known and most renowned especially for us Italians, theHotel Les Illes, a hotel with about sixty rooms, a restaurant and a diving center, located in a very convenient position both for diving and for enjoying the endless white beach or the city streets.
Life in L'Estartit is peaceful and, despite the heavy tourism during the warmer months, it has remained a human scale. Getting around is easy, even by car, with parking always available, especially in the huge parking area on the beach. Unlike most of the ones we're used to in Italy, it's free and well-maintained.
For a one-hour tour of L'Estartit, we recommend taking one of the little trains that regularly run along the seafront. The many restaurants and bars along the seafront offer a variety of typical Costa Brava cuisine, featuring fish, meat, and vegetables, all seasoned with olive oil.
Diving in the Medes Islands
Estamos aqui para bucear! We went to L'Estartit to explore the Medes Islands' underwater world, and we also relied on Les Illes for this purpose. Three trips to the islands are scheduled daily, at 9:00, 11:00, and 15:00, with at least one night dive per week and numerous other dive trips along the coast.
The comfortable wooden boats depart from the port, where the equipment is transferred by the diving center staff. The tanks are already there; in fact, the compressor room has been built opposite the dock, a structure with five compressors that fills several hundred tanks every day for the five associated diving centers.
The effort is almost zero, just that of taking a seat on the boat and comfortably assembling your own equipment.
In just a few minutes, you can travel the Blue Mile and arrive at one of the many dive sites around one of the seven islands. You can dive independently or with one of the dive guides, as you prefer, provided you're properly trained. Each dive is preceded by a briefing, although we must confess that we often took our own decisions underwater, changing our route. It's almost impossible to go wrong; there are buoys with ropes for mooring boats throughout the area, and every time, it was a fantastic dive, far exceeding our expectations, which were already high given the Medes Islands' reputation for diving. Partly because of the ease of the dives, partly because of the experience of the many divers who return every year, and partly because of the peace of mind of being able to take photos and videos without restrictions, many divers go in small groups without a guide.
There are numerous dive sites and in a week you can visit the main ones including: Les Ferranelles, Tascó Gros, Tascó Petit, Carall Bernat, Dofí Sud, Dofí Nord, La Vaca, Pedra de Déu, El Medellot and Salpatxot.
It's difficult to recommend one in particular because they're all equally worth it, and every dive promises some special encounters with the constant presence of groupers and plenty of fish.
The grouper festival at the Medes Islands
The first underwater experience was incredibly exciting. Just think, we dived in and found five eagle rays, numerous groupers, and hundreds of other fish swimming peacefully beneath us. Unperturbed by our approach, the eagle rays continued to swim around us sinuously throughout the dive, along with several other fish. We have to admit, not even in Polynesia had we seen so many of them in such a long time.
Everywhere we went, we felt like we were attending a grouper festival , never seen before in such numbers. What surprised us most was how easily many of them let us approach without fear. All we had to do was not disturb them and approach slowly, and they stood there staring at us, almost intrigued by our presence, circling around us without straying too far from their area.
The Medas sharks' habitat is ideal for them, consisting of numerous caves and crevices that make them perfect lairs. They come in all sizes, some truly impressive, others small and shy, but all are stunning, with their lips that look like they've been remade by a skilled plastic surgeon, their very prominent eyes, and their slightly sly gaze.
In addition to groupers, the variety and quantity of fish is impressive: schools of dentex, barracuda, corvina, sea bass, mullet, salema, white sea bream, gilt-head bream, eagle rays, moray eels, lobsters and small stuff like flabellina, shrimp, nudibranchs, sea cows that wander among the colors of the gorgonians, sponges and even coral.
Useful Information
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Most dives take place within the first twenty meters and last about an hour. The water temperature in August hovers around 22°C above the thermocline, then drops a few degrees. We've dived with people without wetsuits and others with drysuits; the choice is subjective, but we believe a 5mm wetsuit is usually more than sufficient in the summer months.
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A dive guide is mandatory for open-water dives, but we recommend it even for more experienced divers, at least for their first orientation dives. Given the simplicity of the dives, it's not necessary, but only for experienced divers.
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We opted for Les Illes, a hotel and diving center that offers attractive hotel and dive packages, but above all, comfort and simplicity unlike any other. The facility is convenient and ideal for families with children who, like us, can take turns diving and limit travel time: in two hours, we can get there, dive, and be back at the hotel.
Overall rating . Rating: 9+
The Medes Islands were a discovery for us, offering us experiences comparable to those of diving in faraway, more challenging, and decidedly more expensive destinations. The park is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular resources in the Mediterranean, with an impressive array of fish that accompanied us on every dive.
We definitely recommend a diving holiday in L'Estartit to everyone. Having had such a great time, we would definitely recommendHotel and Diving Les Illes, comfortable, convenient and suitable for divers and non-divers, for couples, friends and even for families with children.
Even the most demanding divers will certainly not be disappointed and underwater photo and video enthusiasts will have plenty to enjoy.
We're giving it an overall rating of 9+ because we like to think we'll find a 10 tomorrow, but in reality, the Medes deserve full marks, and we're happy that this heritage site is in our beloved Mediterranean Sea, in a country like Spain, so similar to our own. Definitely one of the top 100 dives in the world.
To book:
HOTEL LES ILLES – info@hotellesilles.com – Tel: +972751239 – http://www.hotellesilles.com
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