Tarragona · Spain · Wreck · Artificial reef
Dragonera
Tarragona's signature wreck dive, an 18 m ship a few minutes from the quay
Area photo: User:Vmenkov · CC BY-SA 3.0
A sunken ship at 18 m off Tarragona's harbour breakwater, part of the underwater park the Societat d'Exploracions Submarines (SES) set up there in 1995. The wreck works as an artificial reef: conger and moray eels hold up inside the structure, octopus and schools of fish work the outside, and the metalwork carries nudibranchs and small crustaceans.
Also known as La Dragonera, Dragonera (SES), El Dragonera.
Where it is and how deep
41.0892° N, 1.2300° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat ride is short — Mar de Hielo's schedule allows a 50-minute dive with only about 20 minutes of transfers in total — so most of the outing is spent underwater. You descend onto the wreck at 18 m, the maximum depth of the dive, and the whole site sits at roughly one level, which makes for a relaxed, unhurried circuit of the hull rather than a staged profile.
The ship has become a reef in its own right. Conger eels and moray eels hold up inside the structure, octopus are commonly seen hunting over it, and schools of fish hang above the wreck. The structure itself repays a slow pass: nudibranchs and small crustaceans live on the metalwork, so keep your eyes close to the surfaces between the bigger residents before turning the dive and making your ascent.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Dragonera
- Type
- Ship (vessel type not published in any site source)
- Cause
- Not recorded in the published site descriptions
- Lies
- On the seabed at 18 m off the Tarragona breakwater
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Nudibranchs
- Reef fish swarms
- Macro critters
| 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 Tarragona: Sea temperature falls below 14 °C from December to March and passes 24 °C from June to September, the practical shoulder of the local season.
Sources
- Scubago — La Dragonera — Scubago
- Mar de Hielo — Tarragona dive booking site — Club de Buceo Mar de Hielo
- Wannadive — El Dragonera — Wannadive
More dive sites in Tarragona
Small caves and walls at 9 m off the Salou headland
Wreck
A Luftwaffe He 111 bomber at 30 m, with a resident conger named Sam
Wall
A 10-to-26 m vertical wall at the tip of the port breakwater
Wreck
A burned wooden steamer on sand at 16–17 m, dived at Open Water level
Reef
A cathedral-shaped rock at 22–24 m where the groupers are always around
Pinnacle
A lone rock pinnacle on sand, circled by seabream and salema
Artificial reef
Concrete corridors at 14 m, minutes from the Port of Tarragona
Similar dives elsewhere
A hollow 12 m cistern alone on the sand at 11 m
A small wreck at 22 m reached over rock clusters full of macro
A sunken fish farm hanging at an angle from 12 m to 35 m
A tugboat scuttled at 16 m and opened up for divers