Porto Cristo, Balearic Islands, Spain

Cuevas del Drac (Mallorca)

The dive site Cuevas del Drac, not to be confused with the famous tourist show cave inland, is the network of sea caves cut by waves and old karst into the limestone cliffs north of Porto Cristo on Mallorca's east coast. The dive enters from a boat into a series of half-submerged chambers, swim-throughs and short tunnels with the deepest cuts at 25 metres. The combination of bright cliffs above water and dimly lit chambers below creates the classic Mediterranean cave light show. Resident inhabitants include dense shoals of cardinalfish, the Mediterranean lobster, slipper lobster, conger eels, painted comber and several large dusky groupers in the outer entrance. The walls outside the caves host yellow encrusting anemone, red coral on the ceilings and small gorgonia. Currents are normally negligible and visibility consistent above 20 metres, making this an ideal cave-introduction dive. The Balearic archipelago sits in the western Mediterranean and is the only Spanish region to combine four distinct marine reserves with the largest single Posidonia oceanica meadow in the world, the UNESCO-listed prairie between Ibiza and Formentera. Water temperature ranges from 13 C in February to 26 C in August, and the islands are served by year-round dive centres in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.