Costa Brava — Blanes, Lloret & Tossa, the area around Bolets

Costa Brava · Spain · Reef

Bolets

23 m at the top, 35 m at the bottom, deep ticket required

Area photo: Xavigivax · CC BY-SA 3.0

Bolets is the deep boat dive of this coast: a rock site whose shallowest point is 23 metres and whose bottom reaches 35, gated by the catalogue on a deep-diving certification. Crustaceans, nudibranchs and octopus work the rock, rays and morays sit on the ground, and schools of anchovies and the occasional sunfish come through.

Also known as Els Bolets.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Bolets: typical dive 23–30 m (75–100 ft), deepest point 35 m (115 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit23 m30 m35 m maxtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

41.7052° N, 2.9143° EPublished position for this site.

The dive

This is a dive with no shallow half. The minimum depth on the site is 23 metres, so you are at working depth from the moment the descent finishes and gas planning, not navigation, sets the length of the dive. Blanes-Sub works it to 30 metres and the catalogue puts the bottom at 35, which is why the site carries a deep-diving certification requirement rather than being offered to any certified diver.

The rock is the point. Crustaceans of a good many species are in the cracks and under the ledges, nudibranchs are on the faces, octopus sit out in the open, and morays and rays use the ground between the blocks. Depth keeps the colour out of the rock unless you carry a light, and it is worth taking one for that reason alone.

Look off the rock as well as at it. Schools of anchovies come through the site often enough for the catalogue to list them, and sunfish are recorded here too. Neither is guaranteed, so plan the dive around the rock and treat the open water as a bonus. With a 23 m ceiling and a 35 m floor, this is a dive that ends on the computer rather than on the plan.

Marine life and season

  • Macro critters
  • Nudibranchs
  • Octopus & cuttlefish
  • Reef fish swarms
  • Mola mola
Month-by-month season rating for Bolets
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
FairFairFairFairGoodPrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodFairFair

Season follows Costa Brava: Water holds above 20 °C from June to October and tops out around 25–26 °C in August; winter dives run at 12–14 °C.

Questions divers ask

What certification do you need for Bolets?+

A deep-diving certification. The catalogue gates the site on one because the maximum depth is 35 metres and the shallowest point on the dive is already 23 metres, so there is no shallow section to fall back on.

Sources

  1. Bolets - Scubago — Scubago
  2. Blanes-Sub dive sites — Blanes-Sub

More dive sites in Costa Brava

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Low granite at 30 m, half a mile off Sa Palomera

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Pinnacle

Underwater mountain five minutes out of Blanes port

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Pre-coralligenous rock from 17 to 30 m, dived day and night

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