Deep Blue Diving

A typical Mediterranean underwater vista with Gorgonian fans, Anthias and sponges

British instructor Alex Diamond, founder of an established local dive school  (www.diamonddiving.net) has been plunging into Riviera waters for over five years and has noticed positive changes in the local ecosystem. He says, “on countless occassions whilst diving last year I marvelled at the richness of the marine life down here. The view of South of France diving as being barren and devoid of life is an old stereotype that is way out of date.  There are dense schools of barracuda, oblades and dentex, eagle rays, tuna and huge jackfish."

And it’s not only divers that are finding the region attractive. The barracuda is a classic example of a species that did not exist in these waters over ten years ago and is now prospering.  Some of these species arrive on the hulls of boats and others via the Straits of Gibraltar or via the very northern extremeties of the Red Sea and the Suez Canal (by airborne transfer of eggs for example).  Other examples are triggerfish, trumpetfish, and sunfish (that often rest on the surface - if you see a tall narrow fin flopping around on the surafce, it’s not a shark!

 Diving on this coast is a lot more reasonable than people think. A half-day try dive costs just 50 euros including all gear,  an instructor, and a place on the boat. So what’s your excuse?                        

JMG