Diving the Cap de Creus - Spain
Located in the North-East of Spain, this little peninsula was shaped by millions of years of erosion by the hard Northern wind, locally known as “Tramuntana”. The Cap de Creus is a very popular area for tourists: its temperate climate, great food and beautiful landscape attracts people from all around the world. But for me, the real beauty of this peninsula resides beneath the surface: as much as the landscape might seem dry and barren, the underwater world could not be more different. Colourful and healthy coral reefs are thriving there, big schools of fish and even bigger animals such as Dusky Groupers, Sunfish, Bottlenose Dolphins and Yellowfin Tuna can be sighted on some of the dive sites around.
Official Video of the Natural Parc of Cap de Creus
Working as a Dive Instructor there during the summer season after the lockdown, I got to know this area well, specially the north coast between Port de la Selva and Cadaqués: coming back from working in the Maldives, I was a bit afraid to be disappointed but instead I was truly amazed by the beauty and the quality of the diving.
Even though it located in Spain, the water on the North Coast of the Cap de Creus can get a little fresh, even in summer: a cold nutrient-rich current coming from France can come with the South wind, dropping the temperature from a nice and cozy 24/25C to below 18C, from one day to another. The silver lining to this is that the cold currents attract unusual fish and highly migratory species, such as Sunfish but even Fin whales, which have been sighted 3 times during the summer of 2020. The visibility is usually good, between15-30m, except when this current previously mentioned, filled up with plankton and nutrients that can reduce the visibility to slightly below 10m.
The rock formation underwater are very similar to the ones that are on the land: deep crevasses on the walls and big boulders on the bottom make up most of the area, along with prairies of Posidonia oceanica (also known as Mediterranean tapeweed) that brings food and shelter to a great variety of species. Even though most of the dive site displayed a very high quality of diving, some of them were even more breathtaking, such as the following:
La Punta dels Forallons
This dive site is one of my personal favorites: half a dozen big pinnacles rising from the surface all the way to -50m, they are completely covered with Violescent Sea-Whips (Paramuricea clavata) and White Gorgonians (Eunicella singularis), except the first 8m, where the rocks are barren but huge schools of Sea Breams can be found, making your safety stop a little more entertaining.
Around -12m , a big school of Barracudas tend to be there, above a pinnacle. As you go deeper, the corals get bigger and healthier, and some big branches of Red Coral are growing between the other species of coral. Basket Stars (Astrospartus mediterraneus) can be seen feeding while staying on top of the corals and occasionally Sunfish can be seen getting cleaned close to the deeper pinnacles. If you pay attention to the reef, there are also many different species of nudibranchs, such as Dondice banyulensis, Felimare vilafranca or the famous “Swiss Cow” Nudibranch (Peltodoris Atromaculata). Appart from that, large Red Scorpionfish, Common Octopus and Dusky Groupers are common sights, along with huge schools of sardines passing by.
Platja d’es Caials
La Platja d’es Caials is a little protected bay facing South-East: its geographical position makes it a safe haven from the “Tramuntana”, the local Northern wind that can have blasts over 100km/h. This secluded bay is also a great dive site for underwater macro photographer: very easy shore dive, it slowly goes until -8m deep and then there is a little drop-off to -15m, where lay the rests of The Llanishen, a merchant English boat sank during World War I. A great variety of nudibranch can be found there, such as Tritonia nilsodhneri feeding on the White Gorgonians and more common nudibranchs such as Flabellina affinis, Felimare tricolor, Luisella babai and Cratena peregrina.
Heading North, the dive site goes deeper, easily reaching depths around -30m. In the crevasses can be found loads of Red Corals (Corallium rubrum), which unfornately used to be (and still is…) picked up to be used as ornaments on jewellery, making dive sites like Platja d’es Caials a great dive to see it. Common Octopus, Spiny Lobsters and Moray Eels are also a common sight.
The proximity of the dive site to the shore and easy parking spots, along with a very progressive dive site with many surprises make it a great place to practise underwater photography. Highly recommended!
La Massa d’Or
If you are diving in the Cap de Creus, there is one dive site you can not miss: La Massa d’Or. This tiny island located a the tip of the Cap de Creus is easily the best dive site in the area: thousands of Swallowtail Sea Perch (Anthias anthias) cover the reef, hundreds of European Barracudas (Sphyraena sphyraena) swim facing the current, huge blocks covered with Violescent Sea Whip and an incredible amount of nudibranchs all over the reef.
But the true highlight of this dive site are the Dusky Groupers (Epinephelus marginatus). Dozens of them can be sighted together, creating this huge “wall” of Groupers, an unusual fact because this fish tends to be more of a solitary nature. I have personally witnessed up to 70 together, most of them over a meter long and , a sight I am not ready to forget. As La Massa d’Or is a very popular dive site, they are used to divers and if you approach them slowly and steadily you can be at arm-reach from them.
This dive site can also offer some amazing sightings. A big school of Common Dentex, a 1m long fish that has been largely over fished in the area, goes and comes back between La Massa d’Or and Illa Encalladora. Sunfish and Tunas sometimes make a guest appearance with the cold currents and ocassionaly Common Stingray and Marbled Electric Rays can be spotted there.
Unfortunately, as amazing as this dive site is there are some downsides. As it is the best dive site in the area, it can get really crowded, and hundreds of scubadivers can be diving there at the same time, scaring most of the fish away. One big factor you should consider on this dive site is the current: working in the Maldives and diving in Komodo, I didn’t think I could get surprised by currents until diving la Massa d’Or: if you dive this dive site, make sure you go with a guide that knows how to dive there AND make sure that the current gets checked. On the other hand, currents attracts big fish, and they usually stay closer to each other, so you might be in for a treat.
Commercial fishing has been banned from the Natural Parc of Cap de Creus, and you can clearly see the effects it has done on the reefs: huge schools are thriving and there is a great variety of species and even bigger fish which were pretty much gone due to intense fishing. Despite the effort to protect the reefs, Game Fishing is allowed in La Massa d’Or, aiming mainly for Groupers and Barracudas: fishermen under estimate the weight and the strength of these animals (some them can weight over 40kg), easily breaking the lines but leaving them with open lips and broken jaws. Many of the Groupers there have lures, which makes them easily recognisable.
Overall, this dive site has to be in my “Top 5” of all the places I have been lucky to dive , due to unbelievable amount of life there, but it is a place that should benefit from the highest protection for it to stay close to prestine.
Illa Encalladora
The translation of “Illa Encalladora” is the “Beaching Island”: on the east side of this little island runs a line of very shallow rocks, hidden just beneath the surface, which, for centuries boat have been hitting this reef, beach and sometimes sink there. Despite it’s terrible reputation, this dive site is truly stunning: it’s proximity with La Massa d’Or and the fact that boat can’t get too close created a safe haven for all its inhabitants. Barracudas, big Dusky Groupers, Moray Eels and Octopus have called this place home, along with a very large school of Sea Breams at -8m, close to the mooring line. Rarer species of nudibranchs, such as Felimare orsinii or can be seen there also.
At the heading South-East and going deeper, stunning coral reefs teeming with life can be found from -25m, but if you head full South from the mooring line, you can find some Roman amphoras on the sandy bottom around -40m (some experts say they are over 2000 years old).
As well as Massa d’Or, strong currents can occur, but there is always a protected part for unexperienced divers.
Bau de Molins
Bau de Molins is a very different dive site from the rest of the mentioned: it is a big pinnacle separated from the coast, attracting a wide diversity of animals, big and small.
Starting at -5m and going to -40m, this long pinnacle is a great dive site for all levels. At around -15m, on the North-East part of the dive site can be found an impressive wall of this candy-like coral, Violescent Sea Whip. All around the pinnacle big Dusky Groupers hide in the crevasses, but will occasionally come out to check the divers and provide good opportunities for pictures and videos. There are high chances that a big school of resident barracuda maybe circling the pinnacle, and occasionally bigger fish such Tuna or Great Amberjack can be seen just passing by but you really have to keep an eye in the blue.
Current can sometimes be strong at this dive site, due to the fact that it is not protected by a reef, but this is also the reason why this dive site is teaming with life: if you give a closer look on the reef, lots of nudibranchs and flatworms got drifted there and are thriving due to the amount of coral, hydroids and sponges there.
Just come and see it by yourself!
Diving the Cap de Creus is, for me, a proof that if an area does a little bit of effort towards conservation, the effects will be seen in a close future. I have seen the biggest groupers I have ever seen in the Med thriving in numbers I thought were not possible to be seen anymore, corals reefs far more beautiful than the ones in the tropics and lots of big healthy schools of fish, of all sizes and species. And on top of that, if you are into macro critters, you will be more than served: I think there are around a 100 different species in the area.
I only mentioned 5 dive sites, there are many more! It is an area that I strongly recommend to European divers, as it is an easy area to reach, and has some decent diving, good food and loads of land activities like hiking or sightseeing.