Marseille & the Calanques · France · Reef
Les Fromages
Rock stacks shaped like wheels of cheese
Area photo: Karim saari · CC BY 4.0
Rock formations shaped like wheels of cheese, near the island of Tiboulen de Maïre off Marseille, lying between 7 and 22 metres. The shallow end and the easy profile make it one of the few offshore sites here that takes divers of every level on the same dive.
Where it is and how deep
43.2102° N, 5.3403° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site is named for its rock, and the rock is the dive: rounded formations that look like stacked wheels of cheese, sitting near the island of Tiboulen de Maïre. The site runs from 7 metres at the shallow end down to 22 at the deep one, and the usual order is to drop to the deep side first, then circle the rock and let the profile shallow out as you go.
That range is what makes the site useful. A newly certified diver can stay high on the formations for the whole dive while more experienced buddies work the base, and everybody surfaces together — the catalogue puts it as open to divers of all levels, from beginner to advanced. It is a boat dive out of Marseille, and one of the shallower ones in a set of sites that mostly run past 25 metres.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Marseille & the Calanques: Jun–Sep is the main season; the mistral funnels down the Rhône valley and closes the offshore islands in any month.
Questions divers ask
Is Les Fromages suitable for beginners?+
Yes. The site lies between 7 and 22 metres and is described as open to divers of all levels, from beginner to advanced. A newly certified diver can spend the dive on the shallower part of the rock formations while more experienced buddies work the base.
Sources
- Les Fromages — Scubago
More dive sites in Marseille & the Calanques
Cave & cavern
A cave named for the colours the sunlight throws
Cave & cavern
A cave-cathedral above a wall that drops to 40 m
Cave & cavern
A cave mouth 10 metres high and 10 metres wide
A plateau off Grand Congloué that ends in a beak
Wreck
Deep-certified only: the 1903 liner Liban off Île Maïre
A shallow orange freighter, a 1928 steamer and a Bf 109
One rock, from 35 metres up to a 5-metre finish
Wreck
A 70 m sailing ship on the bottom since 1897
Similar dives elsewhere
Try-dive shallows at 3-5 m, groupers on the way to 16 m
One of the area's dive highlights, and an ideal night dive
A seabed installation of lost boat anchors, 18 m maximum
White gorgonians, nudibranchs and lobsters in the faults at 18 to 20 m