L'Estartit
Exactly a mile from the Medes Islands Marine Reserve, L’Estartit is its main port base. Up to 13 diving centres operate in the reserve and just a few minutes’ boat ride will take you to some of the best diving spots on the Costa Brava. The nearby Montgrí coast, while less well-known than the islands nonetheless has fantastic hidden corners and coves to offer the diving enthusiast. In fact, L’Estartit can be considered as a diving capital, attracting scuba divers from all over the world for 10 months of the year, catering for both individuals and groups and providing specialist services and a wide range of experiences designed by divers, for divers.
For the beginners
If you decide that your first diving experience will be in L’Estartit, you are choosing the most well-known place on the Costa Brava among divers from all over the world. The centres that operate in L’Estartit offer a wide range of first-time experiences guaranteed to be one-off and unforgettable. You can also snorkel in the Medes Islands reserve, a true open sea aquarium where the amount and variety of fish you can see from the surface make it an exceptional site to do this activity.
For scuba divers
Vaca, Dofí, Pota de Llop and Cavall Bernat, to name just a few, are all incredible diving spots in the Medes Islands, just one mile from L’Estartit. Around the islands at depths of between 12 and 40 metres you can discover wide, illuminated open spaces covered with spectacular gorgonians and incredible fauna from majestic groupers to colourful nudibranchs. Along the Montgrí coast you can enjoy a dive down to the shipwrecked ferry Reggio Messina, in addition to other well-known dives such as Pedrosa Cove, Puig de la Sardina and Negre del Falaguer.
And after your dive
L’Estartit is a town clearly dedicated to family, sporting and nature tourism. Its hugely attractive tourist offer includes nautical activities in a natural environment for both children and adults. Be it on foot or on the tourist train, or by bike, boat or horse, discovering its natural surroundings is a must. And don’t forget to make time for a visit to Torroella de Montgrí, just a few kilometres away, to see the walled area and the Mediterranean Museum, or to walk up to the emblematic Montgrí Castle, which can be seen from all over Empordà.