Marseille & the Calanques · France · Wall · Cave & cavern
Tiboulen de Maïre
A drop-off to 25 m and a tunnel at 8 to 4 metres
Area photo: Karim saari · CC BY 4.0
A drop-off at the rock stack off Île Maïre that falls to 25 metres, with a field of boulders along it between 16 and 20 metres and a shallow tunnel near the end of the dive. Boats work it from a cove on the west side that stays sheltered when the easterly is up.
Where it is and how deep
43.2139° N, 5.3253° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Entry is off the boat in the cove west of the stack, and the dive starts by dropping down the face. The drop-off runs to 25 metres, which is as deep as the site goes, and the first part of the dive is spent along it. Between 16 and 20 metres the wall gives way to a field of boulders, and following that band along the rock is the main body of the dive.
The climb back up the structure brings you into the shallows, where a tunnel cuts through the rock between 8 and 4 metres. It is the one feature the site's description singles out, but it only goes when the sea is calm; in any swell the guides leave it and finish along the shallow rock instead. Either way the last stretch is shallow enough that the safety stop happens more or less where the dive ends.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Marseille & the Calanques: Boats run all year; the sea averages 13 °C (55 °F) in February and feels cold.
Know before you go
- The tunnel between 8 and 4 metres is passable only in calm seas. In swell the surge runs through it and guides skip it, finishing the dive on the open rock instead.
Sources
- Tiboulen de Maire — 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
Reef
Rock stacks shaped like wheels of cheese
One rock, from 35 metres up to a 5-metre finish
Similar dives elsewhere
Wall
Canyon
Lefkada & Meganisi · Greece
A small cave at 9 m, a haven for large anemones and cardinal fish
A cavern shaped like a three-aisled building
Gullies at 30 m over a ledge past 50 m, with a cave entered by a siphon at 18 m
A cavern at around 25 m on the islet's northern wall