Diving South France

[dannyboy504]

Hi there,

I'd like to try diving in the south of France this August. Does anyone have recommendations for dive operators who do wreck dives (& locations)? Tried searching on Google but wasn't able to come up with very much. Any advice is most welcome, many thanks for your time.

Daniel

 

[jago]

There are many dive sites and dive center in the south of France. On the Atlantic ocean, I would suggest aquarius.underwater.free.fr/index_a.htm near Arcachon (approximately 70 km from Bordeaux). This is a tek center which can provide you deco stages.

On the Mediterranean sea, THE place is Cavalaire, plongeecavalaire.com/English/indexenglish.html has an excellent reputation. This is a tek center which can provide you deco stages. But there are many other centers.

Could-you indicate where exactly do you want to go ?

 

[dannyboy504]

Hello Jago,

Many thanks or your reply. I haven't actually fixed a destination in the south of France, holiday is still in the planning stage. Hence, I'd like to find out a bit more about what the different locations have to offer. I'm not a tec diver, so that may limit the sites I have access to. Will go check out the links you sent. Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

Daniel.

 

[WoodyLompoc]

I seem to recall a couple wrecks in the Arcachon Basin, but we are planning on doing the block houses there next month, not any wrecks. We have family (divers) who live there, so we will let them pick the operator for us.

For the Med (Collioure), we are diving with Sud Plongée Port Argelès - Centre de plongée Nitrox but we aren't doing wrecks with them either (concentrating on the reserve). You can see the wrecks they dive on their site.

If you want to cross another border, the Medes are suppose to be great. Then again, not wrecks.

 

[Scared Silly]

While living Antibes (20km west of Nice) I dove out of Juan Les Pins with what is now http://www.easydive.fr/index.htm. The local dive is around the light house. Good things to see there and at other sites near the Cap d'Atibes including a few WWII artifacts. I did dive out of Toulon one time on the wreck of the Donator (45m).

 

[jago]

In the Arcachon basin, aquarius is the only one which is specialized in the wrecks. For the wrecks closed to the surface (40 meters ~ 120 feet), I think it's possible to dive without a tek cert.

In France many wrecks are deeper than 40 meters ~120 feet, so maybe it would be interesting to pass a tek course (Extended range for example).

 

[jago]

Hello Jago,

Many thanks or your reply.

Please don't say "thanks" but click on the

button.

It's faster and the thanks are recorded in the profile.

 

[hg frogman]

There are two main areas of interest for wreck diving in the French mediterranean sea : Marseille, and the gulf of Hyères for which Hyères or Cavalaire, close to each other, are a good starting base.

In Marseille you have, for example, the St-Dominique (clipper), the Chaouen, the Dalton and the Liban (freighters). And some deeper ones eg the Drome (armed freighter).

Offshore Cavalaire or Hyères you have the Donator, the Grec, the Michel C (freighters), the Rubis (submarine), plus some others.

All these wrecks are good dives, many are nicely adorned with gorgonians, viz is usually 20 to 30 meters, but there is often current and they can get really crowded at times.

A problem can arise with your dive certifications (AOW) due to the French regulations about diving. If you were CMAS ** diver, you'd be allowed to dive on all the aforementioned wrecks with a guide (down to 45 meters). These are mostly deco dives, with typically 15-20 minutes of bottom time at 40 meters, and typically less than 15 minutes of total deco time. For these dive profiles, in France, one needs not to have tek training or certifications (apart from CMAS ** diver which is not a "tek" cert) unless one wants to do his deco on nitrox (most French divers dive air and do their deco on air for these dive profiles).

If you are not a CMAS ** or *** diver, your certifications (even AOW) will not be recognized in France and you'll be considered as a CMAS * diver (= PADI Open Water diver), limited to 20 meters and always guided. Most of the good wrecks are deeper than that (typically 30 to 40 meters). This will be frustrating.

You'll have two options in that case, if you want to dive these wrecks :
- become a CMAS ** diver in your country or in France (there is a crossover from AOW to CMAS**; for an AOW diver, CMAS** is mostly about bringing an unconscious diver from -20 meters back to the surface at the right ascent speed)
- provided you are experienced and your certification is high enough, and with some check dives, if you are OK underwater then the dive center has the right (but no obligation) to consider you as a CMAS** diver - but this "equivalence" of level will be valid only in this dive center, you'll get no C-card. And there is no guarantee, it really depends upon how you are underwater and how the dive center feels about you.

All this can make things a bit complicated for non-CMAS foreigner divers. So I suggest you google a few dive centers ("centres de plongée") in Marseille, Hyères or Cavalaire (there are many), check those who can teach in English, and see with them how you can do. A dive center that would be both CMAS and PADI will probably be the best choice because they know about PADI and the crossovers. Google also the names of the wrecks, you'll find lots of info (including videos) about them on the Net.

Apart from this, water in Marseille is cooler and rougher but there are more gorgonians and underwater formations (arches, coral caves) than around Hyères where there is more fish due to the national park of Port Cros.

 

[Air One]

I did dive out of Toulon one time on the wreck of the Donator (45m).

Yes, staying nearby Toulon seems to be the best option giving you opportunitys to go out to Marseille Hyeres, La Ciotat or Cavalaire.
When the wind blows, it's usualy much stronger on the west side ( Marseille), then you'd go diving on the east side ( Cavalaire, Frejus).
You don't have to book anything now except accomodations .

Enjoy

 

[jago]

A problem can arise with your dive certifications (AOW) due to the French regulations about diving. If you were CMAS ** diver, you'd be allowed to dive on all the aforementioned wrecks with a guide (down to 45 meters). These are mostly deco dives, with typically 15-20 minutes of bottom time at 40 meters, and typically less than 15 minutes of total deco time. For these dive profiles, in France, one needs not to have tek training or certifications (apart from CMAS ** diver which is not a "tek" cert) unless one wants to do his deco on nitrox (most French divers dive air and do their deco on air for these dive profiles).

If you are not a CMAS ** or *** diver, your certifications (even AOW) will not be recognized in France and you'll be considered as a CMAS * diver (= PADI Open Water diver), limited to 20 meters and always guided. Most of the good wrecks are deeper than that (typically 30 to 40 meters). This will be frustrating.

You'll have two options in that case, if you want to dive these wrecks :
- become a CMAS ** diver in your country or in France (there is a crossover from AOW to CMAS**; for an AOW diver, CMAS** is mostly about bringing an unconscious diver from -20 meters back to the surface at the right ascent speed)
- provided you are experienced and your certification is high enough, and with some check dives, if you are OK underwater then the dive center has the right (but no obligation) to consider you as a CMAS** diver - but this "equivalence" of level will be valid only in this dive center, you'll get no C-card. And there is no guarantee, it really depends upon how you are underwater and how the dive center feels about you.

All this can make things a bit complicated for non-CMAS foreigner divers. So I suggest you google a few dive centers ("centres de plongée") in Marseille, Hyères or Cavalaire (there are many), check those who can teach in English, and see with them how you can do. A dive center that would be both CMAS and PADI will probably be the best choice because they know about PADI and the crossovers. Google also the names of the wrecks, you'll find lots of info (including videos) about them on the Net.

That is no longer right, French law has changed yesterday, with a consequent logbook or certs, you can be allowed to dive in autonomy or supervised by a divemaster, without a check-dive. You just have to go to an open-minded center.