Banyuls-sur-Mer & the Côte Vermeille

Diving is from boats out of Banyuls-sur-Mer, Port-Vendres and Collioure, and runs are short: the Banyuls centres put the reserve at five minutes by boat, Cap Béar sits at the mouth of Port-Vendres, and the reserve’s capes lie along 6.5 km of coast between Banyuls and Cerbère. The Tramontane, the cold northerly wind of the Gulf of Lion, decides the day: when it blows, boats work the sheltered water at Cap Béar; when it drops, the reserve and the wrecks off Port-Vendres are open. Three centres sit on Banyuls harbour, Rédéris, Aquablue and Plongée Bleue, with a fourth at Collioure. From June to September the reserve marks out a free 250 m snorkel trail from Peyrefite beach.

The Pyrenees run straight into the sea here, so the bottom is rock: boulders, faults, overhangs and small caves at Sec de Valenti and Cap Nègre, drop-offs and caves to 40 m at Les Chambres. Cap Gros runs from Posidonia meadow across rock and drop-off to coralligenous crust at 30 m in one dive. The Posidonia lies between 15 and 30 m and shelters fish, octopus and sponges. Anse de la Mauresque carries white gorgonians, nudibranchs and lobsters at 18–20 m, the Jardin aux Gorgones holds purple gorgonians at 26–36 m, and schools of sar and bream are common at Les Tinyes. On the reserve’s sites, Les 3 Moines, Cap l’Abeille and Le Dôme, the centres list grouper, barracuda, dentex and brown meagre.

The reserve has two zones and the difference matters. In the 65 ha zone de protection renforcée off the Rédéris headland all diving, scuba and freediving alike, is banned, as is mooring. In the other 585 ha diving needs an annual authorisation from the reserve: the centres and clubs hold their own, and a diver with a private boat must apply to the Département by 31 March. Boats moor only on the buoys at Cap l’Abeille and Peyrefite, at 3 knots there, 5 knots within 300 m of shore and 8 knots beyond; touching the rock and feeding fish are banned, and night dives are notified before 17:00. Prefectoral orders closed the Alice Robert for ordnance clearance in June 2020 and October 2022.

The area suits divers who want a Mediterranean reserve with rock, caves, gorgonians and grouper at ordinary depths, and it has entry-level ground at Pytheas and Cap Peyrefite. The wrecks are the exception: Le Saumur and L'Astrée bottom out at 47–48 m and the base of the Alice Robert is at 50 m, all planned dives for holders of PE40 or an equivalent deep qualification. Divers who want the Cap de Creus reserve across the border can reach it on the Banyuls centres' own boats; anyone who wants reef diving without a permit regime or Tramontane cancellations should look elsewhere on the Gulf of Lion or along the Côte d'Azur.