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The great atmosphere and water sport attracts individuals and families alike. You can enjoy fishing, windsurfing, scuba diving, snorkelling and great seafood, or just relax on the beautiful stretches of beach. All cliffs and islands as well as the reef with the drop off at Benidorm offer attractive diving opportunities.  Depending on your location along this coast you can find underwater caves and caverns, explore historic and more recent wrecks or participate in one of the many courses offered by the excellent local diving centres.

The courses are not overly arduous, are very reasonably priced and can easily be incorporated into a ‘normal’ family holiday. Underwater visibility varies with the weather conditions, usually averaging 7 to 30 metres / 26 to 98 feet but sometimes exceeding 39 metres / 130 feet. Water temperatures are quite comfortable ranging from 13° to 26° Celsius / 56° to 80° Fahrenheit. The weather in this region allows year-round dive activities.

Spain possesses assets to satisfy even the most demanding of divers. The sun, the sea, a history rich in tradition, striking geographical contrasts and superb landscapes partly account for the topside success of this country. The rest of the explanation lies in the diving itself: A fabulous underwater realm comparable to any other dive destination in the world.

The Costa Brava is 180 kilometres/112 miles of jagged cliffs covered with pines and shrubs that cling to its slopes, sheltered beaches and fishing villages. The sea and its laws rule life here. In general the sea is calm from May to October and offers unforgettable diving. La Massa de Oro, a small island off Cape Creus, is home to an incredible symphony of gorgonians swaying back and forth in the gentle sea.

To preserve its submarine heritage, the government of the province of Catalonia helped create model underwater preserves. As a result, the region is rich in marine life boasting more than 2000 species that include Mediterranean grouper, bream, octopus and lobster amid a breathtaking background of caves, tunnels and drop-offs. Areas like the Medes islands, the Cape Norfeu drop off, the Los Ullastres submarine peaks or Tamariu´s finger like canyons provide adventure enough for any diver. Natural wrecks like the Saint Prosper, artificial reefs like the Reggio Messina at 35 metres/115 feet or more modest wrecks like the Boreas, a 42-metre/135 foot tugboat, invite divers to explore the mysterious depths.

Depth varies from 30-40 metres/100-130 feet and visibility can range from poor to 60 metres/180 feet, depending on the currents. Summer water temperature is 21 degrees Celsius/70 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface and 18 degrees Celsius/65 degrees Fahrenheit at depth.

Just past Barcelona, the coastal scenery begins to change. Heading south, travelers will pass through the Costa Dorada, Costa del Azahar and less known for its diving but still worth visiting, Costa Blanca. Typical Mediterranean animal life is found in these areas in generally clear waters. Diving is centered in the towns of Calpe, Javea, Alicante and Murcia.

Further south, is the Almería region and the Costa del Sol. Here visitors can go hiking in the mountains, fishing or enjoy a pleasant dive anywhere along the area’s 600 kilometre/370 mile coastline. A key dive attraction here is in Cabo de Gata. Divers can see gigantic schools of barracuda, endless underwater meadows and centuries old ships’ anchors. Wrecks include a 100-metre/330 foot long merchant steam ship.

Dive depths average 18 metres/60 feet, visibility reaches 60 metres/180 feet and the water temperature is close to 26 degrees Celsius/80 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface. Further down the coast, travelers will enter the gates of Andalucia with its white villages and incredible blue sky. A little farther away are the mythical cities of Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba featuring houses endowed with shaded patios. The whole region moves to the sound of flamenco music while savoring typical Andalusian gazpacho, a chilled soup made with locally grown tomatoes, onions, green peppers and fresh herbs.

As a keen diver myself these Dive Clubs are highly recommended

Calpe / Moraira: Les Basetes Dive Centre in Calpe Scuba Diving around the area of Calpe is primarily focused around the Penon de Ifach – a towering rock stretching out into the Mediterranean Sea, which is visible from Benidorm to Moraira and for miles around. At the Penon de Ifach there are several dive sites from the shallow shore dive at Pebble Beach to the beautiful Arches at Los Arcos and all the sites in between. The temperature in the water ranges from 27ºC in the summer to 13ºC in the winter.

Fish life is abundant around the Calpe area as the Penon is a protected area. During the months of May through October we regularly see eagle rays, sting-rays, large schools of barracuda and sometimes if we are lucky the odd shaped Ocean Sunfish. Amongst the many other species, our all year round residents include octopus, moray and conger eels, Thornback rays, groupers, scorpion fish, large schools of cow bream and damselfish.

The area of Calpe enjoys good visibility within a range of 10m-40m with an average visibility of 20m. There are several dive sites within a 5-10 minute boat ride of the various ports around Calpe and double that amount within a 45 minute boat trip. All of the diving around the area is very scenic with wall dives, arches and swim-throughs as well as some impressive caves and caverns.

For those new to diving, or those who prefer the shallower, more relaxing dives we have a few shore dives including the tranquil bay and wall dive at Les Basetes port, maximum depth of 6m and various boat dives including Los Arcos and Flatrock.

The dive site at Los Arcos has evolved over hundreds of years to become the favourite that it is today. In the past boulders have fallen from the Penon de Ifach forming a maze of arches and swim-throughs encrusted with soft corals and anemones. At this site you will usually find large schools of the smaller local residents – damselfish, wrasse and sea-bream. If you look closely among the rocks you can find octopus, moray eels and scorpion fish.

The dive site of Flatrock runs along the shore line of the Southern side of the Penon and has a jumble of large rocks exploding with fish life. Anything from dive-bombing cow bream feeding from the plentiful Neptune grass to schools of stripped barracuda up to two or three hundred in number. This site starts at around 5m and drops down a slow sloping ledge to around 25m where the elusive Sunfish can sometimes be seen.

For the more experienced and adventurous divers there are many deeper dives around the Calpe area to a depth of 35m. At Toix, the headland South of Calpe there are some impressive cave and cavern dives and another cave dive at Cumbre Del Sol to the North of Moraira

At the tip of the Penon de Ifach there is a 30m dive – The Bowl. This site can only be dived when the sea is calm. The dive starts in a cave at the point of the Penon and continues through a swim through to an area of the rock carved out by the sea to form a perfect soup bowl into which 4 to 5 divers can fit. In this area lots of the larger fish congregate including wrasse, grouper and from time-to-time barracuda.

The south side of the Toix headland is very interesting with numerous caves and caverns – most can be entered with ease although this dive is recommended only for experienced divers. Torches are essential here as in some of the caves there is no natural light. As well as the caves, this site offers a wall dive with many swim throughs coated with soft corals.

Cumbre Del Sol is a popular cave dive. At the beginning of the dive you can swim through a wide, low cave opening and surface inside the open air cave. From there you dive back out of the cave entrance and follow the wall along until you reach a second cave. This is a very large entry which takes you into the cave where a fresh water river pours into the sea. As you surface in this cave you come up through salt water into the fresh water. This sits on top of the salt water forming a salicline and is like travelling through an underwater fog

Our thanks for this introduction to the underwater world of Calpe to Viv and Del Shearer of the Les Basetes Dive Centre in Calpe which appears in this photograph on the left and below.

Les Basetes Dive Centre
Puerto Les Basetes
Ctra Calpe-Moraira, Km2
Calpe, 03710
Alicante
Spain
Tel/Fax - 00 34 965 835 428

Les Basetes Moraira/Calpe   Les Basetes Dive Centre is situated just 2 km north of Calpe, and only 45 minutes drive north from Alicante on the beautiful coastline of Spain's Costa Blanca Here at Les Basetes Dive Centre we offer an efficient and friendly service – if you need anything, please just ask!  We offer a first class range of diving all around the Peñon de Ifach and further a field, boat trips, Try Dives, Night Dives, PADI training in English, Spanish, German, French and Dutch.  We run daily dives at 10am and 2pm and around the Peñon de Ifach we can offer dives from 5 to 35m with lots of swim-throughs, tunnels and arches, caves and caverns. Common sea life seen in the area includes moray and conger eels, octopus, scorpion fish, rays and barracuda. Sunfish and dolphins have also been seen here at various times.  As well as dives around the Peñon de Ifach, we can also offer dives around Javea, Moraira, Altea and Benidorm, opening up our list of sites to almost 40 sites. Visibility is usually around 20m but can be as good as 40m, we have a fantastic climate with surface temperatures of 18-35°C and and average sea temperatures of 27°C in the summer dropping to between 13 to 15°C during the winter.

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