Diving in coastal Spain & Islands

[large_diver]

Anyone have any experience diving coastal Spain (Med. Sea) or her Balearic islands (Mallorca, Menora, Ibiza or Formentera)? For coastal Spain...we will probably focus on the Barcelona area/northern Med. coast since we'd be driving from Switzerland and want to include some time in Barcelona. In a perfect world, this would be a place where there would be some decent snorkeling for the kids too (10 & 12).

Travel time -- likely early October. Mallorca scares me a little, since I hear lots of stories of big party crowds....

And since we're on the topic of Spain...what about the Canary Islands?

Thanks.

Chris

 

[whalerock]

Hi Chris,
you can do dive and you also have good snorkeling here in Lanzarote, but if you come with your own car it will be a long trip, you need two days with the ferry to Gran Canaria and than another day to Lanzarote.
If you need specific imfprmation on Lanzarote, please contact me.
Thomas

 

[chrisch]

Check out Argeles sur Mer just on the French side of the border (http://www.divemania.fr/). There is some good diving there, its on the way to Barcelona from Switzerland. There are some nice beaches between the border and Barcelona (and the city beach itself) but I have always found the water a bit milky for snorkelling - perhaps it clears though in autumn so you might be lucky. The Iles Mendes are the best know dive site, near Estartit (http://www.rei-del-mar.com/index.html). Its a nature reserve and there are some very big fish.

I would be tempted to have a day or so in Marseille as well and then head north on the autoroute towards Lyon then over to Switzerland, the surrounding area offers some good snorkelling too. Depending on which part of Switzerland you are in the Mont Blanc tunnel or over the mountains via Cuneo and up through Italy is a fantastic drive back. Get back into Switzerland via Como (you can dive the lake there too..) or into Geneve if you want the quicker route. If you want to give the kids a treat go via Lake Garda (yes you can dive there too) and visit Gardaland (http://www.gardaland.it/it/home.php) then north to St Moritz and home.

Chris

 

[Redshift]

Not far from Barcelona you have a marine reserve, the Medes Islands:

http://mediambient.gencat.net/eng//el_medi/parcs_de_catalunya/medes/inici.jsp

 

[crambo]

Chris hi
i work for a dive centre in the Gran Canaria and the diving here is better than you would excepect pleasantly warm water and a large varity of fish angel sharks huge selection of morays wrass, parrot fish and in the north in the season you get mantas,"i know" anyway there some pics on the web site if you wanna look www.canary-diving.com oh yeah and almost forgot we have some amazing wrecks well worth the effort,

 

[Divingsteph]

Hello Large diver !!!

I would recommend Tenerife as a dive destination in the Canary Islands. There is great diving here with stunning underwater volcanic formations with a lot of marine life. Have a look at www.divetenerife.com and www.divetenerife-eng.blogspot.com

Anyway I guess trying to get you to dive with us in Tenerife does not answer your question. :shakehead

I don't know much about the diving in Spain main land but if you are driving from switzerland you should try some diving in Marseille and the surroundings. There are some really good dives there. Specially wreck diving.

Good luck to you.

 

[The Great Below]

I recommend Lanzarote for diving in the Canary Islands. Me and my partner work on the island, he's staff instructor and I'm a DM-Digital UW Photographer. We can organise all kind of diving including tech, accomodation and pick-up. If you decide to give it a go contact me through our myspace page (www.myspace.com/thegreatbelowdiving)

 

[seadive]

Hi Chris!!!
I´m the owner of a Dive center based in Tenerife.

the diving here is very easy and better than you would excepect (warm water, sun, great visibility and a large varity of fish, turtles and stingrays..)

If you need info aboau the island, hotel, dive points, .. OR ANYTHING ELSE..
PLEASE.. DON´T HESITATE... and ask us by email subcanaria@subcanaria.com

you can visit us too in www.subcanaria.com ... we will be grateful to meet you in a future!!!

Best regards!

 

[SteveDiver]

Hello,
We are sailing to Barcelona from Galvestion, Texas USA. We are setting sail on April 23rd and will arrive in Barcelona on May 6th. We will be flying back to Texas on May 10th. We would like to dive while in Barcelona on Tuesday May 8th. Any suggestions? This is our first time in Barcelona so we are not familiar with the area. My email is starr001@houston.rr.com

 

[chrisch]

There's a list of dive centres here:

http://www.bajoelagua.com/centros-buceo/barcelona.html

Chris