Menorca · Spain · Seamount · Wall
Illa de Bledes
A seamount circled at the edge of the northern reserve
Area photo: Alejandro Muñoz Cabrisas · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bledes is a submarine mountain off the Illa de ses Bledes on the north coast of Menorca, dived as a circuit rather than a line: the walls around it drop to 30 metres and the route follows them round. It is one of the furthest sites from Fornells and the closest to the North Menorca integral marine reserve, and the fish count shows it.
Where it is and how deep
40.0695° N, 4.0332° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat anchors over the submarine mountain next to the Illa de ses Bledes and the dive is a circuit of it: down onto the rock, then round the walls, which drop to 30 metres. The shape of the mount does the navigating, and the holes worked into the rock, and the life sheltering in them, are what the route is planned around rather than any single depth.
The walls are drilled with holes and that is where the detail sits: moray eels back in the cracks, octopus, and nudibranchs on the rock for anyone slowing down. Out from the face there are barracuda, groupers, seabream, dentex and damselfish over the mount, and rays are seen here too. Being the nearest dive to the integral reserve at the north of Menorca is the plain reason for the numbers here.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Barracuda
- Stingrays
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Nudibranchs
| 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 Menorca: Menorca's tourist season runs May to October; June to September holds the warmest water, near 25–27°C in August, while February and March fall to about 12–14°C.
Sources
- Illa de Bledes — Scubago
More dive sites in Menorca
Wall
Three finger reefs from 4 m down to 30 m, minutes from shore
Wreck
A 45 m fishing boat on sand at 47 metres off Punta de Rafalet
Wreck
A Second World War Ju 88 on open sand at 45 to 47 metres
Wall
A wall corner on the north coast where the big groupers sit
Cave & cavern
A 200 m gallery under the cliff, entered through a 12 m crack
Cave & cavern
An 80 m guideline into the rock, and the light on the way out
A south-facing canyon to 35 m with an old anchor at its base
Wreck
A 110 m steamship with her deck at 30 m and the sand at 40
Similar dives elsewhere
Gorgonian walls from 25 m down to a 53 m bottom
A rock needle to 3 m, with a conger cave at 22 m on its east side
A submerged mountain from 55 m to 3 m, four hulls on its flanks
A ridge crest at 14 m with a statue on the seabed below