Scuba Diving Holidays in Spain
With a coastline of 5000km which includes the Mediterranean
and Atlantic coasts as well as the Balearic and Canary Islands there is
no shortage of scuba diving opportunities in Spain. In fact Spain has
the largest coastline of the EU yet surprisingly it has only relatively
recently joined the list of desirable diving destinations.
For most divers it is the clear waters of the Mediterranean that
is most attractive for a diving holiday. In prehistoric times the
Mediterranean was a valley that flooded when the isthmus that joined
Spain to Africa was breached by the Atlantic. The western part of the
Mediterranean is very deep and without plankton which means that as well
as there being no danger of coming across basking sharks or manta
rays there is also very good visibility, excellent characteristics
for most divers.
One of the highlights of diving on the Costa Brava are the
Medas Islands off L'Estartit which have been protected since 1990.
As well as conger and moray eels you'll come across a huge
diversity of marine life and many fish tend to come close to divers as
they are protected and have no fear of fishermen. There is plenty to see
from as shallow as 10m down beyond 50m including magnificent cave
structures. There are some great dive sites on the Costa Blanca,
the most notable ones being around Calpe which is a stone's throw
from Benidorm. Further down on the south coast there are great dive
sites off the western Costa del Sol from Fuengirola and the other
major resorts as well as from Nerja and Almunecar in east.
There is some outstanding diving off the rugged west coast of
Mallorca stretching all the way from Pollenca in the north to
Andratx in the south. There are regular sightings here of morays,
octopus, scorpionfish, bream and anglerfish as well as the shoaling
barracuda. The island od Cabrera off Mallorca is a protected marine
reserve which can be booked in advance by divers. The southern coast
of Menorca offers stunning underwater scenery which attracts many
cave divers as well as recreational divers. Marine life is similar to
that in Mallorca with common sightings of barracuda, amberjack, dentex
and dolphins as well as the occasional swordfish.
In this section we provide information on scuba diving holidays in Spain
and where appropriate we suggest small businesses which specialise in
particular regions. We receive no commission from these companies so
rest assured that we are providing genuine recommendations to people
considering such activity holidays. We also welcome emails from other
small companies which offer specialised activity holidays in Spain.
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