Cap d'Agde · France · Artificial reef
Récif'Lab
A 6 m structure on a 21 m bottom, sunk in 2022
Area photo: Christian Ferrer · CC BY-SA 3.0
Récif'Lab is Cap d'Agde's artificial reef, put down in 2022 by the marine protected area to move the impact of diving off the natural sites. A main structure 6 m high stands on a 21 m bottom with small concrete reef modules scattered around it, and the dive runs 13–21 m. Lobsters and congers took it over quickly, and the catalogue reports it getting richer every year.
Also known as Récif'Lab "La Sagrada".
Where it is and how deep
43.2449° N, 3.4884° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The main structure is 6 m high and stands on a 21 m bottom, so it comes into view as soon as you are down to it, with small concrete reef modules scattered on the sand around it. The dive runs 13–21 m. You circle the main structure first and then work outwards over the modules, which is where the design of the place shows: it was built to be dived, rather than found.
It went in during 2022 and has been colonising since. Lobsters are the obvious residents, into every angle of the concrete, with congers in the deeper gaps and fish over the top of the structure. It is a useful dive for photographs of animals that normally sit deep inside coralligenous cracks, because here they are on open concrete at a height you can work with.
Background
The reef went down in 2022 with a stated job: shift the impact of scuba diving away from the natural dive sites and onto a structure built for it. Scubago's catalogue, which records that purpose, also reports the reef getting richer every year as lobsters, congers and fish colonise the concrete.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Cap d'Agde: Abyss Plongée opens March to December; the sea averages 12 °C in February and 22 °C in August, and the Tramontane or Mistral can stop the boats in any month.
Sources
- Récif'Lab "La Sagrada" — Scubago (SSI MyDiveGuide)
- Sites de plongée — Abyss Plongée
More dive sites in Cap d'Agde
Wreck
A 25 m cod boat lost in a storm in 1913, on 12 m of sand
Reef
White gorgonian at 35–40 m, dived on technical setups
Reef
A sheltered 7 m dive beside the Deux Frères rocks
Reef
Two 2 m blocks where a dive can count fifty spiny lobsters
Reef
Coralligenous rocks at 18–19 m west of the Brescou rock
Reef
Faults and overhangs in two coralligenous blocks at 21 m
Reef
Nine coralligenous reefs at 20–24 m, linked by guide wires
A run of coralligenous rock on a 21 m bottom
Similar dives elsewhere
A 2.5 m bronze Christ standing on the seabed at 17 m
Sheltered from the mistral, so it dives when the wind is up
Concrete corridors at 14 m, minutes from the Port of Tarragona
Three dumped rock mounds on a bottom of 14 m