Mediterranean Dive Experiences Within The Illas Medes Marine Reserve
Above 1,345 different marine species have been recorded there since Jacques Cousteau went scuba diving there and the Medes Islands ecosystem is deservedly classified as the exemplary natural reserve in the western Mediterranean.
Custodianship of Illas Medes first began in 1983, and in 1990 the conservation was increased to the seabed flora and fauna, encouraging an amazing recovery of the natural marine life and making the area into a sanctuary for numerous species facing extinction. The ecosystems supporting marine seagrasses like Posidonia oceanica are exceptionally productive as they are the breeding habitats for many significant species.
The Medes Islands Protected Zone covers an area of 93,2 hectares with another protected 418 hectare area stretching up to the Montgri coast. A new Natural Park has been pledged by the Catalan Government to include the coast northward all the way to Cala Montgo, L'Escala.
Tunnels at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
The abundant tunnels and caves show that this limestone archipelago was attached to the Montgri Massif over ten thousand years ago. Today caves around the Medes Islands and up the Montgrí coast towards L'Escala provide exceptional opportunities for divers to experience (with a dive guide) the typical fauna that like to live in semi-darkness.
One of the most famous sites at Illas Medes is Dolphin Cave, given this name a statue at the southern entrance. Within is a refuge for large groupers, meagres and shoals of silvery bream. Along the reef outside divers glide through shoals of bream and clouds of anthias at the same time scanning out into the blue for cruising eagle rays and visiting sunfish and dolphins.
There's another cave system handy with its groupers, always ready to pose for photographs, illuminated by a towering funnel. Yellow cup corals deck the walls and camouflaged scorpionfish perch hidden on ledges. Mediterranean moray eels and congers live in cracks in the rocks. From here a further tunnel leads back through the island and out onto the reef again, past the most beautiful yellow and red gorgonian corals.
Scuba Diving at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
There are 10 buoyed dive sites, offering the opportunity for diving all year around. A variety of depths offers immersions for all levels, and even snorkelers can enjoy the amazing variety of subaqua marine life of the Medes Islands. In the shallow areas we can peer into a dense mantle of brightly lit seaweeds with over a hundred species hosting shoals of silvery bream, colourful wrasse, and delicate nudibranchs. Beneath 10-15 meters we find light-deprived algae and pretty pink sea perch, large predatory dentex, eagle rays, octopus, lobster and big, friendly groupers. Below 20 meters we enter an area of gorgonian corals inhabited by more than 600 species.
The Medes Islands Marine Reserve, with its 65,000 dives each year, is a model of good custodianship. During 2009 scuba divers took part in an assessment of the the Iles Medes ecosystems by answering questionnaires following their dives. Questions asked about the abundance of different species counted and the number of divers, snorkelers and boats present at the dives sites.
The results of the continuing evaluation of the Medes Islands Reserve will demonstrate the level of protection required to safeguard this small archipelago for future generations. An area of exceptional ecological value, all the underwater environments to be found in the Mediterranean are represented in the seabed around the Medes Islands, making the area one of the most captivating sites for Mediterranean scuba diving.