Diving in Menorca

Known in diving circles as the ‘jewel of the Mediterranean’, Menorca is blessed with a diverse marine environment, plentiful caves and several fascinating wrecks that combine to constitute a veritable underwater extravaganza and ensure that diving in Menorca is a fantastic experience.

The Mediterranean’s crystal clear waters offer excellent visibility and mild ocean temperatures range between 19°C and 25°C during the diving season. This enables divers to stay underwater comfortably for as long as their oxygen tanks will allow. The island’s dive sites encompass a rich blend of oceanic fauna including moray and conger eels, cuttlefish, scorpion fish, grouper, squid, lobsters and barracuda.

There are over 15 diving centres on Menorca and a kaleidoscope of fabulous dive sites dotted along the coast; the most magnificent of these probably is Pont d’en Gil on the island’s northwestern shoreline. The dive starts in a long, semi-dry cave permeated with glittering stalactites and stalagmites, and continues through an underwater tunnel housing large, white limestone boulders and columns that have been sculpted smooth by the flow of the water.

Coral Galleries is a strikingly beautiful cave that can be accessed through any of its six entrances. Its fragile, coral-encrusted walls, abundant marine life and gorgeous light conditions make one of the most popular places to go diving in Menorca. Another interesting site is Malakoff wreck, a sunken ship that acts much like an artificial reef, having attracted a multitude of marine plants and animals. The aptly named ‘Swiss cheese’ is a shore dive site consisting of an enormous boulder located in the middle of a bay and pitted with holes and tunnels that harbour a plethora of marine life.