Upwards of 1,345 different marine species have been collated 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.

Protection of Illas Medes first began in 1983, and in 1990 the preservation was enlarged to the seabed flora and fauna, encouraging a spectacular recovery of the ecosystems and turning the area into a sanctuary for numerous species on the brink of extinction. The zones supporting marine seagrasses like Posidonia oceanica are exceptionally productive as they are the breeding habitats for many significant 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 declared by the Catalan Government to include the coast to the north all the way to Cala Montgo, L'Escala.

Caves at Medes Islands Marine Reserve
The numerous tunnels and caves show 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 dive leader) the typical fauna that elect to live in semi-darkness.

One of the most famous sites at Iles Medes is Dolphin Cave, named after 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 scanning out into the blue for cruising eagle rays and visiting sunfish and dolphins.

There's an often overlooked cave system handy with its groupers, always ready to pose for photographs, illuminated by a vast funnel. Yellow cup corals cover the walls and camouflaged scorpionfish perch unnoticed on ledges. Mediterranean moray eels and congers live in crevices. 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, providing diving during the whole year. A variety of depths allows dives for all levels, and even snorkelers can enjoy the amazing variety of underwater marine life of the Medes Islands. In the shallow areas we can peer into a dense mantle of brightly lit seaweeds with over a hundred species hosting shoals of silvery bream, colourful wrasse, and elegant nudibranchs. Under 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 over 600 species.

The Medes Islands Protected Zone, with its 65,000 divers every year , is a model of good management. Throughout 2009 scuba divers participated in an assessment of the the Medes Islands ecosystems by answering questionnaires following their dives. Questions asked about the abundance of different species present and the number of divers, snorkelers and boats seen at the dives sites.

This working appraisal of the Medes Islands Reserve will inform the level of control required to safeguard this little archipelago for future generations. An area of exceptional ecological importance, all the underwater environments to be found in the Mediterranean are represented in the sea around the Medes Islands, making the area one of the most enchanting sites for Mediterranean scuba diving.

Mediterranean Recreational Diving Inside The Illas Medes Nature Reserve
Did you know that Jacques Cousteau visited the Medes Islands in his marine research vessel Calypso back in 1955? He drew attention to the need to research, record and preserve the rich ecosystems that he found whilst scuba diving there.

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