Cabo de Gata-Níjar

A day here starts from one of two bases about 25 km apart on the same protected coast. In the west, centres in San José, Las Negras, La Isleta del Moro and Agua Amarga run daily guided shore and boat dives when conditions allow, working the coves and points around their own villages. In the east, the Carboneras centre sits beside its embarkation point, so groups board and cross the 400 m to Isla de San Andrés without further travel. Diving in the reserve happens under authorisation from the Andalusian environmental authority, and the integral-reserve zones at the park's headlands are closed to divers outright.

The terrain is volcanic. Western sites run corridors of white sand between rock walls carpeted in sponges and corals, past caves inhabited by giant groupers and small underwater mounts where barracuda and tuna gather to hunt. Off Carboneras, the Cráter de San Andrés is a submarine mountain with a large crater-like cavity; its western slope drops through a valley of gorgonians between 22 and 29 m, and an old engine wreck on the outer crater shelters large moray and conger eels. Ordinary depths stay modest on both sides, roughly 7-22 m, with El Vapor — the wreck of the steamer Arna off the lighthouse — the celebrated exception.

The park suits new and mid-level divers: most western sites are rated for all divers or Open Water, and on the San Andrés side Cañones and El Arrecife are used for first dives and refreshers, with try-dives run from the shallow anchorage of Acuario 2. Divers after depth, big pelagics or protected seamounts will do better at Cabo de Palos further up the Spanish coast. Wind matters — the Las Negras boats go out only when conditions permit — and spearfishing with tanks is banned throughout the park.