Above 1,345 different marine species have been listed there since Jacques Cousteau went scuba diving there and the Medes Islands ecosystem is deservedly classified as the exemplary natural reserve in the western Mediterranean.
Defence of the Medes Islands began in 1983, and in 1990 the preservation was expanded to the seabed flora and fauna, encouraging a spectacular recovery of the indigenous species and changing the area into a niche for numerous species facing extinction. The ecosystems supporting marine seagrasses like Posidonia oceanica are exceptionally productive as they are the breeding habitats for many important species.
The Medes Islands Protected Zone covers an area of 93,2 hectares with a supplementary protected 418 hectare area stretching up to the Montgri coast. A new Natural Park has been proclaimed by the Catalan Government to include the coast north all the way to Cala Montgo, L'Escala.
Tunnels at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
The abundant tunnels and caves make clear that this limestone archipelago was attached to the Montgri Massif over ten thousand years ago. Today caves around the Medes Islands and up the Montgrí coast towards L'Escala provide unforgetable opportunities for divers to experience (with a dive leader) the distinctive fauna that like to live in semi-darkness.
One of the most acclaimed sites at the Medes Islands is Dolphin Cave, because of a statue at the southern entrance. Inside is a home for large groupers, meagres and shoals of silvery bream. Along the reef outside divers glide through shoals of bream and clouds of anthias whilst also scanning out into the blue for cruising eagle rays and visiting sunfish and dolphins.
There's a second cave system handy with its groupers, always ready to pose for photographs, illuminated by a towering funnel. Yellow cup corals adorn the walls and camouflaged scorpionfish perch concealed on ledges. Mediterranean moray eels and congers live in cracks in the rocks. From here another tunnel leads back through the island and out onto the reef again, past the most beautiful yellow and red gorgonian corals.
Scuba Diving at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
There are 10 buoyed dive sites, allowing diving during the whole year. A range of depths allows immersions for all levels, and even snorkelers can enjoy the colourful array of undersea marine life of the Medes Islands. In the shallow areas we can peer into a dense blanket of brightly lit seaweeds with over a hundred species hosting shoals of silvery bream, colourful wrasse, and delicate nudibranchs. Below 10-15 meters we see light-deprived algae and pretty pink sea perch, large predatory dentex, eagle rays, octopus, lobster and big, friendly groupers. Below 20 meters we enter an area of gorgonian corals inhabited by more than 600 species.
The Medes Islands Protected Zone, with its 65,000 dives per annum, is an example of good custodianship. Throughout 2009 scuba divers assisted with an assessment of the the Medes Islands ecosystems by completing questionnaires following their dives. Questions asked about the abundance of different species present and the number of divers, snorkelers and boats observed at the dives sites.
The continuing analysis of the Medes Islands Reserve will direct the level of control required to safeguard this small archipelago for future generations. An area of exceptional ecological importance, all the underwater environments to be found in the Mediterranean are represented in the seabed around the Medes Islands, making the area one of the most captivating sites for Mediterranean scuba diving.
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