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Mediterranean Diving In The Illes Medes Marine Protected Area
Upwards of 1,345 different marine species have been collated there since Jacques Cousteau went scuba diving there and the Medes Islands ecosystem is justly classified as the best natural reserve in the western Mediterranean.
Defence of Illas Medes began in 1983, and in 1990 the protection was extended to the seabed flora and fauna, encouraging a spectacular recovery of the ecosystems and turning the area into a refuge for numerous species in danger of extinction. The ecosystems supporting marine seagrasses like Posidonia oceanica are especially 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 additional 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 to the north all the way to Cala Montgo, L'Escala.
Caves at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
The plentiful tunnels and caves indicate 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 unforgetable opportunities for divers to experience (with a divemaster) the distinctive species that choose to live in semi-darkness.
One of the most famous sites at Iles Medes is Dolphin Cave, named after a statue at the southern entrance. Within 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 also watching out into the blue for cruising eagle rays and visiting sunfish and dolphins.
There's a second cave system close by with its groupers, always ready to pose for photographs, illuminated by a great funnel. Yellow cup corals cover the walls and camouflaged scorpionfish perch unnoticed on ledges. Mediterranean moray eels and congers live in crevices. From here a further 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, allowing diving during every season. A range of depths provides dives for all levels, and even snorkelers can enjoy the amazing variety of underwater marine life of the Medes Islands. In the shallow zones we can explore a dense blanket of brightly lit seaweeds with over a hundred species hosting shoals of silvery bream, colourful wrasse, and elegant nudibranchs. Below 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 upwards of 600 species.
The Medes Islands Protected Zone, with its 65,000 divers every year , is a model of good stewardship. During 2009 scuba divers assisted with an assessment of the the Iles Medes ecosystems by completing questionnaires following their dives. Questions asked about the abundance of different species seen and the number of divers, snorkelers and boats present at the dives sites.
This working assessment 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 significance, 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 exciting sites for Mediterranean scuba diving.
Mediterranean Diving In The Illes Medes Marine Protected Area
Did you know that Jacques Cousteau visited the Medes Islands in his marine research vessel Calypso back in 1955? He drew attention to the need to research, record and preserve the rich ecosystems that he found whilst scuba diving there.
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