Ibiza & Formentera · Spain · Reef
La Esponja
A reserve dive to 28 m, with the route cut to fit the group
Area photo: Fabian Hurst · CC BY-SA 4.0
A dive inside the Es Freus marine reserve, where the plan is cut to the group rather than the other way round: the site bottoms out at 28 metres but is dived at every level. Groups of barracuda and small tuna hunt over it, often on shoals of smaller fish, while moray eels, conger eels, lobsters, crabs and nudibranchs hold the rock.
Where it is and how deep
38.8740° N, 1.4263° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
La Esponja sits inside the Es Freus marine reserve. Its maximum depth is 28 metres, but that is a ceiling rather than a plan: the itinerary is chosen depending on the level of the divers, so the same site gives a shallow, long dive to one group and a deeper, shorter one to the next, and the depth you end up at is a decision made on the boat.
The dive is as much about the hunting as the rock. Groups of barracuda and small tuna work over the site, often on shoals of smaller fish, and when that is happening the dive is spent watching rather than swimming. In the rock itself there are moray eels and conger eels, different types of lobster and crab, and several kinds of nudibranch and anemone for anyone looking closely.
Marine life and season
- Barracuda
- Tuna
- Macro critters
- Nudibranchs
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Ibiza & Formentera: Logged dives climb from April, peak in July and August and fall away through November; December to March activity is negligible on both islands.
Sources
- La Esponja - Scubago — Scubago
More dive sites in Ibiza & Formentera
Pinnacle
A shoal from 24 m of sand up to 3 m below the surface
Cave & cavern
A wide 4-9 m entrance into a chamber with an air pocket
Three passes cut clean through the islet wall
Wall
A reserve wall to 20 m with a small arch full of life
Pinnacle
A cone of rock offshore, circled between 10 and 28 m
A holed wall from a 5 m platform down to 30 m
Seamount
A seamount from 50 m to centimetres under the surface
A sunken fish farm hanging at an angle from 12 m to 35 m
Similar dives elsewhere
A cove sheltered from wind and swell, 10 m to 30 m
Canyons and a swim-through that fill with nudibranchs late in the season
Pre-coralligenous rock from 17 to 30 m, dived day and night
A reef from 1.5 to 30 m with a wreck at 40 m beyond, dived day and night