Cap de Creus · Spain · Reef · Wall
Forallons de Culip
Canyons, rifts and drop-offs between 10 and 30 m
Area photo: Alan Mattingly · CC0
A rock-formation dive off Cala Culip, the cove on the north side of the Cap de Creus headland, where canyons, rifts and drop-offs run through depths of roughly 10 to 30 m. Groupers, moray eels and lobsters live in the structure rather than above it, and the moderate depth band lets an intermediate team work the site slowly.
Where it is and how deep
42.3252° N, 3.3127° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site is all structure. Canyons cut between the rock formations, rifts split them further, and drop-offs fall away from their outer edges, so the dive becomes a matter of following one line of rock until it hands you to the next. Depths generally vary between 10 and 30 m, which means a team can take in the shallow rifts and the deeper drop-offs on a single profile without pushing anything.
Life sits inside the rock rather than out in the open. Groupers hold station in the wider gaps and under the overhangs, moray eels occupy the narrow ones, and lobsters back into the deeper recesses, alongside the variety of other Mediterranean species the catalogue records here. The site is rated for intermediate to advanced divers, which reflects the depth range more than any one hard section of the dive.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Cap de Creus: Jun–Sep is warmest and calmest; the Tramuntana blows hardest in winter and spring and regularly cancels boats for days at a time.
Sources
- Forallons de Culip — Scubago (SSI MyDiveGuide) — Scubago / SSI
More dive sites in Cap de Creus
Reef
A giant anchor and its chain links lying at 21 m
Sand, coralligenous and rock between 12 and 30 m
Seamount
The park's only offshore seamount, 8 m to 60 m
Circle the reef from 18 to 32 m, with the Phedon's remains on it
Seamount
Seamount rock from 5 m to past 40 m, gorgonians throughout
A marine-reserve cove under the Cap de Creus lighthouse
The park's best-known walls, and a cave with an air pocket
Reef
A 40 m canyon at the end of a 5 to 20 m drop-off
Similar dives elsewhere
A cove sheltered from wind and swell, 10 m to 30 m
The sheltered fallback dive when the Tramontane blows
A drop-off from about 10 m to 33 m, then a seagrass bed
Two dives in one cove: 20 m to the west, canyons to the east