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 best natural reserve in the western Mediterranean.
Protection of Illas Medes began in 1983, and in 1990 the conservation was expanded to the seabed flora and fauna, encouraging a remarkable recovery of the indigenous species and making the area into a sanctuary for numerous species in danger of extinction. The zones supporting marine seagrasses like Posidonia oceanica are especially productive as they are the breeding habitats for many important species.
The Medes Islands Protected Zone covers an area of 93,2 hectares with an additional protected 418 hectare area stretching up to the Montgri coast. A new Natural Park has been proclaimed by the Government of Catalunya to include the coast north all the way to Cala Montgo, L'Escala.
Caverns at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
The numerous tunnels and caves evidence 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 outstanding opportunities for divers to experience (with a divemaster) the distinctive species that like to live in semi-darkness.
One of the most talked-of sites at the Medes Islands is Dolphin Cave, given this name a statue at the southern entrance. Inside is a resting place for large groupers, meagres and shoals of silvery bream. Along the reef outside divers glide through shoals of bream and clouds of anthias whilst watching out into the blue for cruising eagle rays and visiting sunfish and dolphins.
There's a second cave system to the side with its groupers, always ready to pose for photographs, illuminated by a towering funnel. Yellow cup corals deck 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, passing by the most beautiful yellow and red gorgonian corals.
Scuba Diving at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
There are 10 buoyed dive sites, providing diving during every season. A range of depths offers immersions for every level of diver, and even snorkelers can enjoy the colourful array of subaqua marine life of the Medes Islands. In the shallow areas we can explore a dense mantle of brightly lit seaweeds with over a hundred species hosting shoals of silvery bream, colourful wrasse, and elegant nudibranchs. Below 10-15 meters we observe 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 Illas Medes Protected Area, with its 65,000 dives per annum, is an example of good management. During 2009 scuba divers participated in an assessment of the the Iles Medes ecosystems by completing questionnaires following their dives. Questions asked about the abundance of different species seen and the number of divers, snorkelers and boats observed at the dives sites.
The findings of the continuing analysis of the Medes Islands Reserve will inform the level of protection required to safeguard this little archipelago for future generations. An area of exceptional ecological significance, 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 engaging sites for Mediterranean scuba diving.
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