Mediterranean · France
Corsica — Lavezzi & Bonifacio
At Mérouville, habituated dusky groupers stay with divers all dive
Photo: Reustli · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Lavezzi archipelago is a scatter of rounded granite islets in the strait between Corsica and Sardinia, protected as a nature reserve and shaped underwater into boulder fields, arches and sand-floored corridors. Its best-known dive is Mérouville — grouper city — where a colony of dusky groupers habituated over decades will swim up to and stay with divers for an entire dive. The strait's current keeps the water exceptionally clear, and the granite makes for bright, easy navigation.
About diving in Corsica — Lavezzi & Bonifacio
Diving here is a crossing as much as a dive. Boats leave Bonifacio, run out of the inlet into the strait, and the sea state decides the rest: on a calm morning the exposed rocks are on, and when the wind funnels through the Bouches everyone falls back to the sheltered coves on the Lavezzi side, Cala di Grecu among them. Plans change at the quayside rather than the night before, so keep the week loose and allow more days than you need dives.
A typical dive works a moderate profile across the rock — start deep on the outside of a boulder field, climb through the gaps, and finish the last stretch over sand in the shallows where the light is strongest. Granite weathers smooth instead of splitting into the cracked ledges limestone gives you, so life concentrates in the seams and undercuts. That is worth slowing down for, because the wide-angle scenery will otherwise pull you straight past it.
Mérouville is why most people book, and the dive is unusual in shape: the plan is to settle on the plateau at around 25 m and stay put for most of the bottom time rather than to cover ground, which is not what a reef dive normally asks of you. Le Sec du Toro is the opposite, a submerged rock rising to within about 5 m of the surface with real current across it, taken only when conditions allow. Between the two, the area suits confident Open Water divers happy to spend a whole dive watching one thing closely.
Best time to dive Corsica — Lavezzi & Bonifacio
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Off-season | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
| Sea surface | 14°C57°F | 14°C57°F | 14°C57°F | 15°C59°F | 18°C64°F | 22°C72°F | 25°C77°F | 26°C79°F | 24°C75°F | 22°C72°F | 19°C66°F | 16°C61°F |
| Daytime high | 16°C61°F | 16°C61°F | 17°C63°F | 20°C68°F | 24°C75°F | 29°C84°F | 32°C90°F | 32°C90°F | 28°C82°F | 24°C75°F | 21°C70°F | 17°C63°F |
| Rain | 65 mm2.6 in | 59 mm2.3 in | 61 mm2.4 in | 46 mm1.8 in | 43 mm1.7 in | 19 mm0.7 in | 10 mm0.4 in | 13 mm0.5 in | 46 mm1.8 in | 65 mm2.6 in | 94 mm3.7 in | 65 mm2.6 in |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime |
| Sea surface | |||||
| 14°C57°F | 14°C57°F | 14°C57°F | 15°C59°F | 18°C64°F | 22°C72°F |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 16°C61°F | 16°C61°F | 17°C63°F | 20°C68°F | 24°C75°F | 29°C84°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 65 mm2.6 in | 59 mm2.3 in | 61 mm2.4 in | 46 mm1.8 in | 43 mm1.7 in | 19 mm0.7 in |
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
| Sea surface | |||||
| 25°C77°F | 26°C79°F | 24°C75°F | 22°C72°F | 19°C66°F | 16°C61°F |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 32°C90°F | 32°C90°F | 28°C82°F | 24°C75°F | 21°C70°F | 17°C63°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 10 mm0.4 in | 13 mm0.5 in | 46 mm1.8 in | 65 mm2.6 in | 94 mm3.7 in | 65 mm2.6 in |
2011–2025 averages. Sea surface: NOAA Coral Reef Watch, measured at the surface, so deeper water can run colder. Daytime high and rain: NASA POWER.
Operators run Apr–Oct with July and August warmest; the Bouches de Bonifacio funnel wind and can close the crossing at short notice.
Best months: June, July, August, September
Bonifacio, Corsica water temperature and weather by month
The sea surface runs from 14 °C (57 °F) in February to 26 °C (79 °F) in August. It is 24 °C (75 °F) or warmer from July to September. Most rain falls from October to March, peaking at about 90 mm (3.5 in) in November; June to August are the driest. Daytime highs reach 32 °C (90 °F) in August and drop to 16 °C (61 °F) in January. The coldest water here is about 14 °C (57 °F), so pack a 7 mm suit with a hood, or a semi-dry.
Dive types & marine life
The groupers are resident and reliable whenever boats run, roughly April to October, and most approachable through the prime months of June to September, when barracuda and reef-fish shoals are also at their thickest. Octopus, cuttlefish and nudibranchs live in the boulder cracks, and stingrays sit on the sand corridors between them.
- Reef
- Wall
- Cave & cavern
- Drift
- Groupers
- Barracuda
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Nudibranchs
- Reef fish swarms
- Stingrays
Best dive sites in Corsica — Lavezzi & Bonifacio
Rock formations and faults on ground from 5 to 30 metres
Sand slope
A sandbar edge from 3 m to 15 m, used for courses
A 3 m to 15 m nursery plateau in an island reserve
Stepped plateaus at 6 to 20 metres off a bird-sanctuary island
Wreck
A 45 m cement ship on sand, deck at 6 m
Catalogued from 10 to 30 metres on the Chiappa cape
Catalogued from 15 m down to 40 m off Porto-Vecchio
Sand slope
Sand bank, seagrass and rock under the Chiappa light
Pinnacle
Two rock plateaus at 3 m with 36 m of water around them
Pinnacle
An arc of rock off Vacca, on a 13 m to 28 m seabed
Cave & cavern
Natural rock arches on a 10 m to 30 m band
Pinnacle
The sec du Pelu, renamed for the groupers that hold on it
A protected islet dived end to end, 3 to 25 metres
Île Cavallo
Northern islet with granite boulder fields and sandy corridors.
Cala di Grecu
Sheltered Lavezzi cove used for check dives and in rough weather.
How to get to Corsica — Lavezzi & Bonifacio
Figari-Sud Corse is the nearest airport to Bonifacio; ferries cross from Santa Teresa Gallura in Sardinia, and longer routes reach Ajaccio, Bastia and Porto-Vecchio from the French mainland. Bonifacio and Porto-Vecchio are the practical bases, and every dive is day-boat: the islets are a reserve with no facilities.
Photos from Corsica — Lavezzi & Bonifacio
Olivier Dugornay · CC BY 4.0
Dive videos
Plongée sous marine aux iles Lavezzi, en Corse du sud vers Bonifacio. Plongée profonde et vie marine · Luc Taupin - Plongée sous marine on YouTube
Une plongeuse découvre Mérou ville ( Mérou Brun) Epinephelus marginatu) Corse Lavezzi Bonifacio · dibrem on YouTube
Photo credits
- White limestone cliffs of Bonifacio above turquoise water and rocky shallows by Reustli, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Red-and-white Lavezzi lighthouse on rounded granite boulders at the shoreline by Olivier Dugornay, CC BY 4.0, via Openverse
Embed
Run a dive centre, club or blog? Embed this map of 12 dive sites near Bonifacio, Corsica on your own page.
Similar destinations
Red-gorgonian rock towers rising from 50 m to just under the surface
A hot spring vents into the sea off Karaada's caves
Schist walls, tunnels and red gorgonian fans at the Pyrenees' end
Granite seamounts rising to the surface off Sardinia's south-east corner