
Mallorca · Spain · Cave & cavern · Wall
Swiss Cheese
A cavern with multiple entrances at 4 m and a deep-water tunnel below
Area photo: Bengt Nyman · CC BY 3.0
A cavern honeycombed with entrances, tunnels and exits at about 4 m, which gives the site its name and its light show, next to a wall and a deep-water tunnel for divers who want more depth. SCUBANEO's advanced route reaches 27 m and Scuba Mallorca lists 32 m as the maximum. Nudibranchs, octopus, morays and amberjack are the regulars.
Where it is and how deep
39.8921° N, 3.1912° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The cavern is the reason for the name: a block of rock at about 4 m with entrances, tunnels and exits running through it in several directions, so that light enters from more than one side at once and the inside is lit from all around. You go in from the boat, drop onto the structure and work through it, choosing openings and coming out where the light leads. It is shallow enough that this part of the dive can take as long as you like.
Next to the platform the rock becomes a wall, and there is a deep-water tunnel for divers who want to go further. SCUBANEO runs three routes, Scuba Diver to 12 m, Open Water to 18 m and advanced to 27 m, and Scuba Mallorca gives 32 m as the site maximum, so the deeper option is to do the wall and the deep tunnel first and finish back in the cavern at 4 m. Octopus, moray eels, amberjack, wrasse and monkfish are listed at the site, and SCUBANEO adds barracuda, grouper, scorpionfish, lobsters, crawfish, gilt-head bream, sargo and nudibranchs.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Trevally & jacks
- Barracuda
- Groupers
- Nudibranchs
| 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
- Overhead: the cavern has multiple entrances and exits, so pick a route with the guide and keep an opening in sight; the deep-water tunnel belongs to the advanced route.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Swiss Cheese?+
The cavern structure is at about 4 m. SCUBANEO's advanced route reaches 27 m at most and Scuba Mallorca lists 32 m as the site maximum, so the depth depends on the route you choose.
Sources
- Swiss Cheese — Scubago
- Swiss Cheese Dive Site — SCUBANEO
- The Dives — Scuba Mallorca
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
Vertical walls to 50 m with barracuda schools and hunting amberjack
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Narrow swim-throughs and a small air pocket inside the rock, 18 m max
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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
Similar dives elsewhere
An 80 m rock tunnel and a collapsed sea cave, both entered on foot
Three caves, the deepest at 30–35 m ringed with red coral
A cave below the Eden Roc hotel, wide enough to swim through
A drop-off to 45 m and an air pocket from 14 m to 3 m







