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Mediterranean Diving At The Illes Medes Marine Protected Area
Over 1,345 different marine species have been cataloged there since Jacques Cousteau went scuba diving there and the Medes Islands ecosystem is deservedly classified as the best natural reserve in the western Mediterranean.
Protection of the Medes Islands began in 1983, and in 1990 the conservation was increased to the seabed flora and fauna, encouraging a spectacular recovery of the natural marine life and changing the area into a sanctuary for numerous species in danger of extinction. The zones supporting marine seagrasses like Posidonia oceanica are particularly productive as they are the breeding habitats for many important species.
The Medes Islands Protected Zone covers an area of 93,2 hectares with an added protected 418 hectare area stretching up to the Montgri coast. A new Natural Park has been declared by the Catalan Government to include the coast northward all the way to Cala Montgo, L'Escala.
Tunnels at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
The numerous tunnels and caves evidence 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 outstanding opportunities for divers to experience (with a dive guide) the distinctive fauna that prefer to live in semi-darkness.
One of the most acclaimed sites at Illas Medes is Dolphin Cave, because of a statue at the southern entrance. Inside is a resting place for large groupers, meagres and shoals of silvery bream. Along the reef outside divers glide through shoals of bream and clouds of anthias whilst looking out into the blue for cruising eagle rays and visiting sunfish and dolphins.
There's a second cave system on one side with its groupers, always ready to pose for photographs, illuminated by a vast funnel. Yellow cup corals adorn the walls and camouflaged scorpionfish perch unseen on ledges. Mediterranean moray eels and congers live in cracks in the rocks. From here another tunnel leads back through the island and out onto the reef again, passing by the most beautiful yellow and red gorgonian corals.
Scuba Diving at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
There are 10 buoyed dive sites, providing diving all year around. A range of depths offers dives for all levels, and even snorkelers can enjoy the colourful spectacle of undersea marine life of the Medes Islands. In the shallow areas we can explore a dense mantle of brightly lit seaweeds with over a hundred species hosting shoals of silvery bream, colourful wrasse, and delicate nudibranchs. Below 10-15 meters we notice 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 over 600 species.
The Medes Islands Protected Zone, with its 65,000 annual dives, is an example of good management. During 2009 scuba divers participated in an assessment of the the Illas Medes ecosystems by completing questionnaires following their dives. Questions asked about the abundance of different species counted and the number of divers, snorkelers and boats seen at the dives sites.
The ongoing evaluation of the Medes Islands Reserve will inform the level of protection required to safeguard this little 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 fascinating sites for Mediterranean scuba diving.
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