Costa Blanca — Calpe, Moraira & Jávea, the area around Big Mushroom

Costa Blanca · Spain · Cave & cavern · Reef

Big Mushroom

A 50 m training cavern at 17 m, 15 minutes from Moraira port

Area photo: diego_cue · CC BY-SA 3.0

The cavern-training site of the Moraira coast, 15 minutes by boat from the port. Big Mushroom is a 17 m dive with a small cavern system about 50 m long that the local centre uses for cavern and cave training, with slipper lobsters, spiny lobsters and shrimp living inside and around it.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Big Mushroom: typical dive to 17 m (to 56 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit17 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

38.7229° N, 0.1891° EPublished position for this site.

The dive

Big Mushroom is a 17 m dive about 15 minutes out from Moraira port, and the reason to dive it is the cavern. The system is small, about 50 m long, which is what makes it the local choice for cavern and cave courses: a real overhead to practise in, with open water close at hand. Divers without overhead training stay on the rock outside and at the entrance; the cavern itself is for those in training or already certified.

The crustaceans are the marine life. Slipper lobsters, spiny lobsters and many kinds of shrimp live inside the cavern and around its mouth, so a torch along the walls and ceiling is worth carrying even on the outside part of the dive. With a maximum depth of 17 m there is time to search the rock properly, and the dive ends back in open water at the cavern mouth.

Marine life and season

  • Macro critters
Month-by-month season rating for Big Mushroom
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Season follows Costa Blanca: Dived all year, but the water sits near 14 °C from January to March and the season is treated as starting in spring; peak-season boat traffic closes some cave surfacing.

Know before you go

  • The 50 m cavern is an overhead environment used for training: go in only with the appropriate certification or as part of a course, with a guide who knows the line.

Questions divers ask

How long is the cavern at Big Mushroom?+

The cavern system is about 50 m long at a site with a maximum depth of 17 m, which is why it is used for cavern and cave training.

How far is Big Mushroom from Moraira?+

About 15 minutes by boat from the port of Moraira.

Sources

  1. Big Mushroom - Scubago — Scubago

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