Cap de Creus, the area around La Reparada

Cap de Creus · Spain · Wall · Reef

La Reparada

Drop-off from 27 to 40 m, then scree at 20 m

Area photo: Alan Mattingly · CC0

A boat dive that puts you straight onto a drop-off starting at 27 m, follows it between 27 and 40 m, then climbs back to a field of large rocky scree at 20 m. The deep-first, shallow-second shape is the whole plan, and the rock along the way carries gorgonian sea fans, grouper and lobster, with sunfish occasionally out in the blue.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of La Reparada: typical dive 20–40 m (66–130 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit20 m40 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 50 m (164 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

42.2523° N, 3.2754° EPublished position for this site.

The dive

Anchoring the boat puts you directly over the feature, and the drop-off begins at 27 m, so the dive is deep from the first minutes rather than building towards it. The first part follows that drop-off between 27 and 40 metres, tracking the face rather than hanging off it, which is where the gorgonian sea fans stand out from the rock and where grouper work the face.

Then it is time to head back up to the 20-metre zone to find some large rocky scree, and that shallower ground is where the rest of the dive is spent recovering no-decompression time while there is still plenty to look at. Moray eels and lobster take the gaps between the blocks, skate and mullet cross the open patches, and flabellina nudibranchs and cerianthus anemones reward a slow pass. Sunfish turn up off the drop-off from time to time.

Marine life and season

  • Groupers
  • Mola mola
  • Macro critters
Month-by-month season rating for La Reparada
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
FairFairFairGoodGoodPrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodFairFair

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.

Know before you go

  • The dive starts at 27 m and works to 40 m before the shallow section, so no-stop time is short at the beginning: set turn pressure and depth before the descent.

Sources

  1. La Reparada — Scubago (SSI MyDiveGuide) — Scubago / SSI

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Clot del Boc

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