El Gat

Two shelves anchor El Gat's profile: rock platforms at 5 to 8 metres near the tip of Cap Norfeu, and the main wall that carries the Open Water-friendly section down to about 18 metres. From there the route continues onto the gorgonian wall proper, in the 20 to 30 metre band most operators actually dive, moving from the white gorgonian growth into the deeper red gorgonian field that defines the site. Divers with a deep certification can keep going, since the wall carries on falling into a 40 to 45 metre band beyond the recreational route. The plateau side of the rock is the macro half of the dive: octopuses work the sandy patches, and lobster, moray and conger sit in the holes along its base. The wall side is the wide-angle half, gorgonian cover with a chance of a resident grouper hanging in open water. Current decides more of this dive than the topography does: on a hard day it can flip direction partway through, and the boat may call a calmer route on the same rock instead of pushing on. Dives run 35 to 50 minutes, shorter on the deeper pushes, and summer brings a thermocline sharp enough to plan for, not just the depth.

One wall does two things at El Gat: the shallow band runs white, the deep band runs red. Eunicella singularis, the white gorgonian, covers the rock from the platforms through the Open Water band; below it, dense stands of red gorgonian, Paramuricea clavata, take over for the deeper half of the dive. Most walls in this stretch of the park favour one colour or the other; here the sequence runs through both on a single tank, which is why area centres keep El Gat in the boat schedule ahead of quieter neighbours when conditions allow. The rock takes its name from the same silhouette that produces the view: two raised points on the skyline that read, from the water, like a cat's ears, El Gat being Catalan for the cat. Local divers group it with two other pinnacles along this stretch of coast as the sites most likely to turn a good day into a hard one, current being the deciding factor each time. That range in one profile, an accessible platform down to 18 metres and a demanding wall beyond it, is what lets a centre run a mixed-experience group here on a good day.

Current is the hazard that matters most here: it is often present, can run hard, and has changed direction mid-dive on more than one account. Stay close to the reference line on the ascent and expect the boat crew to call an early finish or switch faces if it turns against you. The wall keeps going well past the recreational band, to around 45 metres, so agree a maximum depth at the surface instead of deciding it against the rock. Summer brings a sharp thermocline near 15 metres: water above it sits in the low twenties, and it settles closer to the high teens below, so plan your exposure protection for what you meet below it, not the surface reading. A Tramontana blow from the north can close the site for days at a time regardless of season, and it is the reason the rock's sheltered north face exists as a standing alternative to the exposed eastern tip. If you are diving independently instead of through a centre, notify the park in advance and keep to its cap, six dives a day, thirty a week, applied per boat, not per diver. Boats reach El Gat from four ports, Roses, Cadaqués, Cala Montjoi and Cala Jòncols; ask your centre which face of the rock they are running before you commit to the day.