Cala fornells

Enter from the beach at Cala Fornells and the dive settles into an easy reef tour: clear, turquoise water over coarse sand and rock, with the south-facing cove wall to work at 5-20m. Moray eels sit in the crevices along the wall; seabream, wrasse and octopus move over the sand and rock below; the occasional barracuda crosses the midwater above. The standard cove circuit is unhurried and accessible. The S-shaped tunnel is optional — and it changes the nature of the dive entirely.

The tunnel runs about 10-15m through the rock. At the exit, a left turn leads into a small cave where divers can break the surface inside an air pocket. The navigation matters here: the turn is not intuitive, and pushing to the very back of the cave risks snagging a tank in the confined space. Trim and controlled buoyancy through the tunnel walls keep the passage clean. A torch is essential for the cave section. Divers who skip the tunnel keep the dive a relaxed, beginner-friendly reef tour. Those who take it add a genuine overhead experience to what would otherwise be an ordinary cove.

Cala Fornells is a shore dive with two characters in the same water. The open cove is as accessible and calm as any beach entry on the SW Mallorca coast — suitable for snorkellers, first-time divers and practice sessions, with nothing demanding about the approach or the conditions. Behind the south wall, the same cove holds an S-shaped tunnel that leads to a cave with its own air pocket. That combination of easy open-water reef and a distinctive overhead feature in one shore-entry site is uncommon on this coast. Most of the equivalent sites here are boat-only reserve dives. Cala Fornells requires neither a boat nor a reserve permit, and the cave is there for divers who want it without committing the whole group to it.

No reserve permit is required for this cove — it operates under general Spanish diving law. A torch is essential for the tunnel and cave; do not attempt the overhead section without one. The turn from the tunnel exit into the cave is not obvious on a first visit: turn left at the end of the tunnel, find the cave opening, and do not push to the very back. Water shoes help on the mixed sand and stone beach entry. Best conditions are calm, wind-free days for the 20-25m visibility the cove can produce; occasional current can reduce clarity. The dive is accessible year-round, though June-September gives the warmest water for the shallow cove profile.