
Golfe de Valinco · France · Reef
Plage du Mancinu
Protected training water at the dive centre's own beach
Area photo: Valinco Drone · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Plage du Mancinu is the beach at the foot of Propriano Plongée's base, and the Scubago entry gives 100 m² of protected water off it with a maximum depth of 9 m. Octopus, oblade and wrasse hide in the rocks and in the posidonia, which makes it a first dive or a skills dive rather than a site anyone travels to for the terrain.
Where it is and how deep
41.6772° N, 8.9083° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
You walk in from the beach below the club. The protected water off it covers about 100 m² and bottoms out at 9 m, so the dive is a matter of working the rocks and the posidonia rather than following a route — which is what makes it a first sea dive or a place to practise skills rather than a site with a profile to plan.
Look into the rock and under the edges of the seagrass: octopus sit in the holes, oblade pass over the top and wrasse work the posidonia. Nine metres and no boat means there is no time pressure on the dive, so it is also the place to sort out weighting or a new piece of kit before going out to the rock heads in the middle of the gulf.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Golfe de Valinco: Both centres run April to November and close for the winter; the water is 18 °C at the edges of that season and 23 °C at its height.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the dive at Plage du Mancinu?+
The Scubago entry gives a maximum depth of 9 m over 100 m² of protected water at the foot of the Propriano diving club — shallow enough for a first sea dive or a skills dive from the beach.
Sources
- Plage du Mancinu — Scubago (SSI)
- OpenStreetMap - Mancinu locality — OpenStreetMap
More dive sites in Golfe de Valinco
Wall
A north-south drop-off from a 5 m rock head into 45 m
Pinnacle
A rock head at 13 m dropping abruptly to sand at 45 m
A 10 m plateau over rock peaks standing off 56 m
Pinnacle
A boulder mass from 35 m to 9 m, thick with large grouper
Reef
Red gorgonians that read blue at 30 to 45 m
Wall
A rare Corsican black-coral branch in the 35 m zone
Pinnacle
Rock spires off a 45 m plateau, the tallest topping out at 9 m
Pinnacle
Rock towers rising from 50 m to 6 m below the surface
Similar dives elsewhere
Small octopus on the anchorage rock at 5 m
A sheltered 7 m dive beside the Deux Frères rocks
Shallow slabs at 7 m, a site for navigation practice
A plateau of faults and posidonia beside a white-sand valley



