Diving Around Barcelona?

[Peter_VisitingNY]

A great option would be to go to the Medes Islands, which are opposite to l'Estartit, where you could stay and organize the diving from. It's not far from Barcelona. There's some great diving there. The Medes Islands are an underwater sanctuary. A particular treat was the Dolphin Cave; you can pass through the cave, entering it from one side of the island and traversing underneath the island to exit at the other side (it's named after a little statue of a dolphin placed at the entrance to the cave). I've dived at various sites in the Mediterranean and the Medes islands are the best spot I've been to so far.

We did that trip last summer: also flew into Barcelona. Stayed there for a few days and then rented a car to go to l'Estartit.

There are a lot of dive operators with permissions to dive on the Medes Islands. Most of them have offices in the marina.

We were there in August and I think to remember that the water temperature was around 20 degrees Celcius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). I was comfortable in a single-7mm wetsuit.
Bringing dive lights is definately worth while as a lot of the marine life will be hiding out in the cracks and caves and dive lights tend to be relatively expensive to rent.
Operators may ask for a medical statement, but they didn't when we were there. DIN indeed no problem.

Have fun!
Peter

 

[Peter_VisitingNY]

This is a photo I took there. You'll have a hard time finding this type of color elsewhere along the Costa Brava / Cote d'Azur!!

http://www.duikeninbeeld.tv/index.php/?doc=foto_starter_mening&id=293

 

[Rainer]

A great option would be to go to the Medes Islands, which are opposite to l'Estartit, where you could stay and organize the diving from. It's not far from Barcelona. There's some great diving there. The Medes Islands are an underwater sanctuary. A particular treat was the Dolphin Cave; you can pass through the cave, entering it from one side of the island and traversing underneath the island to exit at the other side (it's named after a little statue of a dolphin placed at the entrance to the cave). I've dived at various sites in the Mediterranean and the Medes islands are the best spot I've been to so far.

We did that trip last summer: also flew into Barcelona. Stayed there for a few days and then rented a car to go to l'Estartit.

There are a lot of dive operators with permissions to dive on the Medes Islands. Most of them have offices in the marina.

We were there in September also, and I think to remember that the water temperature was around 20 degrees Celcius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). I was comfortable in a single-7mm wetsuit.
Bringing dive lights is definately worth while as a lot of the marine life will be hiding out in the cracks and caves and dive lights tend to be relatively expensive to rent.
Operators may ask for a medical statement, but they didn't when we were there. DIN indeed no problem.

Have fun!
Peter

Peter, that sounds like fun, unfortunately, we're going to be stuck in Barcelona proper (we're both attending a conference, and can only sneak away for a bit on two days). Any chance you did any diving in Barcelona proper? We'll bring lights. 7mm was fine? Hood and gloves? Thanks!

 

[Peter_VisitingNY]

Hey Rainer,

7mm was perfect (also for my girlfriend who's not a fan of the cold). We did not use gloves. We did have a hood, but just because it was on the rental wetsuit. Could have done without.

We didn't dive out of Barcelona.

(I don't know what you're schedule is like, but l'Estertit is about 100 miles or so from Barcelona; It took us less than 3 hours to get there including making our way through the heavy Barcelona city traffic... would be perfect for an overnighter ;-) )

 

[Peter_VisitingNY]

I remember seeing the possibility advertised to dive in the Barcelona Sea Aquarium with their sharks. If you like things like that...

 

[lyonsscuba]

Hi -

What's the water temp diving near Barcelona in July?

Thanks!