Diving

Diving into the bay of Mazarrón means discovering a new dimension, articulated around the the Great Scarp of Mazarrón, a 2000 metres free fall submarine cliff, a great enticement for submarine life.

The bay of Mazarrón owns an extremely unique bottom of the sea, which attracts everyone that wants to learn how to dive or practice it.

The configuration of its coast and the mountains that surround the bay make this enclave a unique and privileged spot, where mild temperatures due to coast breezes guarantee an exceptional weather all year long.

Puerto de Mazarrón

For diving purposes, there is a delimited area of 10 miles around Puerto de Mazarrón. This radius allows immersions between 0 and 40 meters deep.

More than 25 immersions comprise diving courses in the area, where diverse Mediterranean flora and fauna can be seen, with a combination of immersions in vertical walls, low prices and caves.

Diving Centres: 

An interesting area due to wide posidonia meadows and wild life. Here we can also find cymodocea nodosa, plus a typical fauna, such a as morays, octopuses, sargos, pollocks and groupers, among others.

The depth of these pipes is variable; from 5 metres in the output to 23 metres deep at 700 metres from the coast; immersions take place among lime, stones and some stretches of oceanic posidonia.

Regarding fauna, we can say that is not especially rich, although there is some variety: Octopuses, morays, conger eels, sargos, rainbow wrasses, sea cucumbers, damselfishes, groupers and sea slugs.

42 meters deep immersion. Here we can find almost all the typical Mediterranean fauna, from several salpa shoals, sargos, damselfishes, etc. to morays, conger eels, octopuses, barracudas, teleost fishes and even ocean sunfishes!

Wild walls, almost vertical, with lots of caves and caverns at all levels, with several sizes and configurations for a large number of immersions.

The coast stretch surrounding cape Tiñoso is located in the southwestern sector of the Cordillera Bética mountains. Originated in the Triassic era and composed of phillites, quazites and limestones, it is present along the whole coastline, with heights up to 60 m.

Among the numerous submarine caves in the zone, some of them can be highlighted:

  • Cueva del Lago, CT-17 or Arco, CT-12 or Herradura, CT-11, Sistema Ovaza and Cueva de la Virgen.
  • In Puerto de Mazarrón, we can highlight Cueva de la Isla.

Another important feature is that caves are partly submerged and have a pronounced erosion and corrosion due to the relatively high temperatures and a high saline saturation in the air.

Dragaminas, M21-Patrullero P51. It is found in Mazarron bay, to the east of Bajo de Fuera in a sandy seabed and 35 m deep. The ship could be visited some time ago, thanks to its preservation, but there were some precautions to be taken back then.

In its inner part, it has several cabins, ceilings and aisles, where some parts like bathrooms and captain’s cabin could be seen, passing on to second and third ceilings and even access to the gates of the prow.

The bridge has an easy access. There, there were some lockers and shelves and even some rooms to access. Today, it is not recommended to visit the ship.

It was sinked to create an artificial reef on June 6th, 1999.

The Cueva de la Virgen (or Neptune), with a 12 meter deep entrance and an easy access to a communication vault to the surface and natural sunlight.

It is one of the most visited caves in the area, with an entrance of 12 meter deep and an easy access to a communication vault to the surface and natural sunlight where a fig tree and a dwarf palm grow.

The gate is at the foot of a cliff (around 3 meters deep). After 5 meters diving, the first spot appears, with some West-East directions.

The submerged spot of the huge vault has some submerged galleries with more than 50 meters length. At the West part of the lake there are some submerged galleries, some of them with lythogenic elements like tracks and stalactites submerged at 4 m with a salty lake in the inner part where immersions can take place, after a short walk from the interior of the cave.

Or Bajo de Emilio: there is a summit of an underwater mountain, from 14 to 30 m deep, with a unique ecosystem in the area where a rich fauna lives.

Today, the area is being completed with the controlled sinking of several wooden fishing boats.

One of the best coves for beginners, between 3 and 10 meters deep, to make some training and diving baptisms.

With a seabed of posidonia and sand, we foundi t  next the mountain to reach 10 m depth, in a rocky and posidonia area. Sargo shoals, salpas, corvinas and damselfishes can be observed there.

Or Adentro is located in front of Isla beach in Puerto de Mazarrón, ideal for diving baptism purposes. Up to 14 meters depth. There’s a little cave to visit.

In front of the entrance of the cave, in the seabed (12 m), there is also a memorial plaque in honor of Jacques Cousteau.

37 m depth. This immersion has several itineraries according to experience and degrees, to observe big marine animals.

It is easy to encounter strong currents, but it is worth the immersion to see a lot of fauna; with some luck, we will see rays, eels, goldfishes and barracudas hunting anchovies.

Bahía de Mazarrón

There are somme immersiones related to diving area in the bay of Mazarrón.

CT-17. The entrance is around 3 metres deep. Then, there is a 12 meter corridor that leads to air bubbles where stalactites and stalagmites can be seen.

CT-12. It has two accesses (-23 m and -15 m), both enjoyable and spectacular.

The first course is big and relatively easy, with a big entrance tunnel (-15 m) and a narrower exit (or an entrance) at -15 m.

As visitors advance the course, there are galleries with a length of 200 meters, 100 of them are narrower and difficult to access, only for expert divers.

Small caves connected along Cape Tiñoso. Ovaza system I, II and III have 3 different entrances linked to galleries.

Tiñoso Cape

The Marine reserve of Cape Tiñoso has one of the most well-preserved fauna and flora in the whole Mediterranean area. The wealth, beauty and diversity of the Seabeds of Cape Tiñoso had made this zone one of the most loved scuba spots in Spain.

Wild walls, almost vertical, with lots of spots up to 70 meters and rocky wall fall that generates impressive seabeds and guarantee a large number of immersions with a lot of typical Mediterranean flora and fauna with ample posidonia meadows, a lot of diversity and big reliefs with lots of caves.

Immersions on walls with several levels of difficulty and beauty depending on the spot, as well as several caves of different sizes and configuration, such as:

Shallow, cristaline water immersion; the ideal spot for diving baptism, with posidonia seabeds and river stones. Ideal for initiation purposes. Shallow with great visibility. It is also ideal for diving baptism.

The immersion takes place on eastern wall. Through steps, terraces and stone blocks from the cliff we were able to reach a 19 meters depth and observe lots of nudibranches.

The immersion starts at 7 m and we will find meadows of oceanic posidonia scattered along -14 and -18 depths. It is an interesting immersion with a spectacular orography that offers great light contrasts, where cristaline waters and sunlight create seabeads of extraordinary beauty.

It is some sort of refuge and, using the boat itself, we will reach 9 meters depth, straight to a seabed of shards, stones and caves surrounded by oceanic posidonia, almost omnipresent and leading to exceptional quality waters.

We can observe a variety of typical Mediterranean flora and fauna, as well as a great palette of colors from calcareous stone and wildlife.

14 meters deep with meadows of posidonia, a quality seal and a refuge for wildlife. Here some rare species can be seen, such as John Dory fishes and even seahorses.

All-level immersion on walls. Diving next to walls up to 30 meters depth among cliff rocks, we can find a great deal of flatworms, annelids and nudibranches.

An incredible spot where cristaline waters and sunlight create seabeads of extraordinary beauty.

With seabeds up to 14 meters, there are wide posidonia meadows that indicate excellent water quality, as well as a refuge and protection for the fauna. In the outer part, we will reach 30 meters depth.

On the western side (22 meters depth), we will observe a small sunken ship, where conger eels and morenas live. Following the side of the wall, there’s a big meadow with a rich fauna. Sometimes are big grouper can be seen there.

Shalllow immersion in a mixed seabed of rocks, sand, shards and a big meadow of posidonia with Pinna Nobilis scatttered. If we choose to go East, we will find walls and cannons up to 30 meters deep, where diving among rocks from cliffs, we will be able to observe typical flora and fauna.

Rocky slope immersion with outcroppings that go downhill until reaching seabeds. Here, rocky slopes with shards mix with deep slopes of small and medium rocks from the cliffs, and we can find species such as forkbeards, morays, conger eels and some groupers.

 

Immersion starts at -7 m up to -30 m. The immersion starts on 7 m and we will find meadows of oceanic posidonia scattered along -14 and -18 depths. It is an interesting immersion with a spectacular orography that offers great light contrasts.

It has a curious orography; underneath, a rocky mountain goes along perpendicularly to the cliff, entering the sea southwards. Under the stone arch there are 5-8 meters of depth, where Bajo begins.

Southwards from the wall, we go up to 4 m to enter again a downwards slop to seabed, up to 37 m.

Clean, aired waters with a beautiful sea life, diverse and abbundant in species in the zone. All-level immersion on walls, depending on the spot. Max. depth: 40 meters

It is a rocky mountain over Mazarrón Bay, a traditional resting and trading place since the break of dawn of western civilization. The spot of Azohía is 3 miles away, with majestic cliffs, to be admired.

It is, by definition, the cave area, with 5 entrance spots of a beautiful combination of fauna and flora. This area is know as Herrradura (CT12), lA Catedral (CT11) and Cueva de los Enamorados (CT17).

This spot conforms cape Tiñoso and offers an immersion next to the wall up to 30 meters deep. There are some currents here, something that has to be taken into account.