Diving in Menorca

Menorca's best-known dive is a cavern you can surface inside. Pont d'en Gil, off the west coast near Cala'n Bosch, is sold by the centre that runs it for a wide entrance, submerged stalactites and an air dome where divers come up under the rock. It sets the island's tone: caverns, tunnels and halocline caves cut into limestone that has been dissolving for millennia, with the passages beyond the daylight zone left to divers who hold cave training.

The south-east coast adds more of the same rock. Cap d'en Font is a multi-chamber cave system that local centres keep for experienced divers, the Moon Pool at Pozo de la Luna is a cave dive with a 17 m entry cavern and a freshwater halocline, and Es Caragol, a whitewater reef a kilometre offshore, gives Open Water divers grottos, chimneys and arches at 16 to 21 m. On the north-east coast Swiss Cheese is a shore dive through perforated rock at Arenal d'en Castell.

Depth comes from one wreck. The Malakoff sank in 1929 and lies upright on sand at 38 to 40 m off the south-west cape, with gorgonians on the hull, barracuda in the water above and groupers and morays in the structure. It is a boat dive from the marina at Cala'n Bosch.

Two marine reserves frame the rest. North Menorca, declared in 1999, covers 5,085 ha of the Tramuntana coast from Fornells west past Cap de Cavalleria, and holds Sa Nitja's posidonia reef. The Illa de l'Aire reserve, created in April 2019 at the far south-east tip, covers about 719 ha, 454 of them a special diving zone, and its submerged zone has been a Cultural Heritage Site since 2010, with sunken wrecks and anchors among its archaeological remains. Groupers and barracuda are what the reserves are known for; moray eels, congers, octopus and lobsters fill out the reef.

The island has several dive bases, not one: Cala'n Bosch and Ciutadella on the west, S'Algar and Cala Torret on the south-east, Son Bou on the south coast and Fornells in the north. Each centre dives the water closest to its own port, so choose the base by the dive you want and name it when you book; a rental car makes more than one base workable. Fly into Menorca Airport (MAH), near Maó.

Diving inside either reserve needs a personal, non-transferable authorisation from the Govern de les Illes Balears, issued online against your certification and insurance. It is sold by the day, fortnight or year, and an annual one is valid in both Menorca reserves. In the North reserve each Cap de Cavalleria sector is capped, and Sa Nitja takes only two dives a day with prior authorisation from the reserve's managing body, so those dives are fixed ahead of your trip. The reserves close cave interiors to recreational divers entirely. Under the 2026 order on group diving, designated points in each reserve carry buoys reserved for authorised centres, installed in April and removed in October.

The west coast, with Pont d'en Gil and the Malakoff, lies far from both reserves, which sit on the north coast and the far south-east tip. The wreck lies past Advanced Open Water depth and its operator asks for Deep Diver training, the cave sites are advanced dives, and Es Caragol and Swiss Cheese are the gentler options. May to October is the main season, and the Tramuntana is the weather to plan a spare day around in the north.