Diving in Mallorca

Mallorca's diving grew from two starting points. In the north-east, a local diver explored the caves around Cala Ratjada between 1967 and 1969, and that coast has been cave country since. In the south-west, the 2004 declaration of El Toro and the Malgrats as marine reserves ended decades of fishing pressure; at Isla del Toro, dusky grouper biomass has reached up to 52 times its 2004 level and brown meagre 284 times.1 A 2022 decree merged the two reserves and enlarged them roughly thirteen-fold to almost 3,000 ha, and in 2025 the Govern re-established the reserve as the Islas del Ponent de Mallorca, keeping the separate regime of the two special diving zones.

El Toro is the dive that organises a trip: a 5 m platform, a slope at 15 to 20 m where groupers, morays and octopus gather, and a wall beyond 35 m, run from six buoyed points. The Malgrats islands add a wall from about 10 to 36 m and schooling barracuda. Across the channel, Sa Dragonera is a protected island of steep walls, boulders and tunnels, and an operator there recommends Advanced level for its reserve dives. Palma Bay holds a cluster of modern wrecks at 28 to 35 m, and Isla del Sec has a plateau, a sloping wall and three small wrecks.

The north and north-east are about caves and rock. Pollença bay has Cave of Jeronimo, with stalactites and blue light, and Formentor, with a swim-through arch where barracuda and octopus gather. Around Cala Ratjada, the Cathedral and its neighbouring caves sit beside the rocky landscape of Cap des Freu and the La Mula pinnacle. In the south-east, Cala Egos is a boulder slope to about 24 m where lobsters, stingrays and cuttlefish live. Morays and congers favour the caves and wrecks across the island, and the life is abundant by Mediterranean standards, modest against the tropics.

Palma de Mallorca airport (PMI) is the gateway, and every zone is reachable by road: El Toro lies around 40 minutes from the airport, and Cala Ratjada about 70 km north-east of Palma. Most diving is from boats with 5 to 15 minutes to the site, and shore options exist at Illetes, The Bridge and the south-east calas. German, English, Dutch, French and Spanish are commonly spoken on the boats.

Every reserve dive needs a personal Balearic authorisation, which requires a valid certification and insurance;2 centres commonly arrange it and fold it into the dive price, though that varies, so ask when you book. The two special zones run on a daily quota with no night diving, so book those dives through a centre in advance. The Cala Ratjada sites, including Bajo de La Mula, sit inside the Levante-Cala Rajada reserve with its own cap on daily dives, and its daily authorisation is valid only in autonomic waters.3 Sites outside every reserve perimeter need no reserve permit.

Match the site to the level. Training platforms, calas and The Bridge suit newly certified divers; the deep walls and the wrecks call for Advanced. September and October give the clearest water, and a drysuit or a 7 mm suit with a hood carries a diver through the winter months.