Mallorca · Spain · Wall
Cap de Formentor
Vertical walls to 50 m with barracuda schools and hunting amberjack
Photo: Bengt Nyman · CC BY 2.0
The wall dive at the northern tip of Mallorca, where the cape's vertical rock drops into blue water and the bottom is at 50 m. It is a boat dive for experienced divers, and the reason to go is the pelagic traffic: schools of barracuda, hunting amberjack and large grouper along the face, with the chance of tuna passing in open water.
Where it is and how deep
39.9619° N, 3.2145° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Cap de Formentor is the exposed end of the coast, and the diving matches it: vertical walls that fall straight into deep blue water, cut by large canyons, with the bottom at 50 m. You drop from the boat onto the top of the rock, check the plan and head down the face, and the depth you settle at decides everything about the dive, because the wall keeps going below you to 50 m and there is nothing to stop a careless descent.
The face is where the animals are. Schools of barracuda hold off the wall in the blue, amberjack hunt through them, and large grouper and dentex sit lower on the rock with big moray eels in the crevices. Octopus and lobster live in the holes, and with a little luck tuna pass through in open water. Work along the wall at your chosen depth, keep one eye on the blue and one on your gauge, then step up the rock in stages for the ascent. Tramuntana Diving pitches the site as the place to do a deep diving specialty, which is a fair description of what it demands.
Marine life and season
- Barracuda
- Trevally & jacks
- Groupers
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Tuna
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Mallorca: May to October is the season, with boats out daily; the Alcúdia centre dives all year. Water peaks at 26°C in August and falls to 14–15°C in February and March; winter is wet and windy.
Know before you go
- The wall bottoms out at 50 m, past recreational limits; set a hard maximum before the dive and watch the gauge on the descent, because the rock gives no floor to stop you.
Photos from Cap de Formentor
H. Zell · CC BY-SA 3.0
Denise Zanardi · CC BY-SA 3.0
Questions divers ask
How deep is Cap de Formentor?+
The bottom is at 50 m. Both operators describe it as a site for experienced divers, and Tramuntana Diving suggests it as the dive on which to do a deep diving specialty.
What do you see at Cap de Formentor?+
Schools of barracuda and hunting amberjack off the wall, large grouper, dentex and moray eels on the rock, octopus and lobster in the holes, and with luck tuna passing in the blue.
Sources
- Cap de Formentor — Scubago
- Cap de Formentor Dive Site — Tramuntana Diving
Photo credits
- Steep limestone cliffs of Cap de Formentor dropping straight into deep blue water by Bengt Nyman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Formentor lighthouse with its glass lantern room framed by cliffside scrub by H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aerial view of Cap de Formentor's rocky point with the lighthouse perched at its tip by Denise Zanardi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Mallorca
Wreck
The Ghost Ship: an intact 20 m motor-sailboat on sand at 38 m
Drop-off to 40 m with boulders and swim-throughs on an exposed cape
Cave & cavern
Surface inside a stalactite-hung air chamber reached through a gallery
Cave & cavern
Narrow swim-throughs and a small air pocket inside the rock, 18 m max
Cave & cavern
Vertical chimneys with sunbeams in a 12 m shore-entry cavern
A long arch descending the wall next to the Formentor islet
An arch and a cave with barracuda schools, over sand and posidonia
Seahorses, cuttlefish and rays in the sand and posidonia at 12 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Two dives in one: an easier south side to 35 m, a deep north side past 40 m
A north-south drop-off from a 5 m rock head into 45 m
A yellow-daisy wall at 20–30 m with groupers and barracuda over it
Barracuda shoal at 15–25 m on a wall dropping to 50 m