Calvia, Balearic Islands, Spain

El Toro Marine Reserve

El Toro is a small uninhabited islet about 1.5 kilometres off the southwest coast of Mallorca near Calvia, and its surrounding waters were declared a marine reserve in 2004. The dive sites around the islet are typically intermediate, with rocky shoulders descending from 8 metres on the inshore boulders to walls and ledges at 35 metres on the outer face. After two decades of protection, the fish biomass is striking: dusky groupers and brown meagre approach divers, schools of dentex and saddled seabream patrol the wall, dense shoals of damselfish and salema fill the upper boulders, and barracuda and amberjack pass through in summer. Octopus, scorpionfish and moray eels are easy to spot. The walls themselves carry the typical Mediterranean coralligenous community with red and yellow gorgonia colonies, encrusting sponges and red coral on the deeper overhangs. Conditions are usually mild and visibility consistent at 25 metres. 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.