Ibiza & Formentera

Almost all the diving is boat work from a harbour. Centres sit around Ibiza Town, San Antonio and Cala Vadella on Ibiza, and around the port of La Savina on Formentera, and sites are rarely more than an hour's ride out; several of the Formentera reserve dives are ten minutes from the dock. The two islands are run as one destination rather than two: Ibiza centres take boats down to the Formentera reserve and Formentera centres come the other way, across a strait about six kilometres wide. Shore diving is the exception, with Cala Moli one of the few entries made comfortably from the beach.

The rock is limestone, eroded into walls, arches, tunnels and cavern mouths. Isla de Sa Galera starts on a platform at 5 m and drops down a wall to 30 m, Punta Jaime falls to 38 m in stepped rock barriers, and La Bota rises from 50 m to within centimetres of the surface a mile northwest of Es Vedrà. Between the headlands, Posidonia meadows carpet the seabed and filter the water, which is why visibility can run past 30 m on the best days, though the logged monthly averages sit nearer 20. The exposed pinnacles off Es Vedrà carry sponges and gorgonian fans and take real current; the sheltered coast has almost none.

The spread suits mixed-ability groups. Newly qualified divers have the shallow reserve sites, El Arco off Formentera and La Esponja in Es Freus, where the itinerary can be cut to the level and current is mild to non-existent through the year, and Punta Galera on the north coast runs anywhere between 12 and 40 m. Advanced or deep certification opens the Don Pedro, La Catedral off the Moscarter lighthouse and The Needle at Es Vedrà, which rises from 36 m; cavern training opens Cuevas de la Luz and the Cala Llonga cave, entered through a mouth between 4 and 9 m.

The limits are the calendar and the shape of the operation. Logged diving collapses from December to March on both islands, with a few dozen dives a month against several thousand in August. Ibiza has centres spread along its 200 km of coast, but Formentera's are concentrated at La Savina and dive resorts there are uncommon. Divers who want a Mediterranean base that keeps running through winter should plan elsewhere, and anyone whose priority is dense, tame fish over terrain will do better in a long-established reserve such as the Medes Islands.