El Tabal

A typical descent puts divers on the upper plateau of the central rock at 21-23 m, where the dive briefly reads like any other Costa Brava pinnacle — a few sea bream, scorpionfish wedged on the ledges, the briefing-rock orientation. Most teams swing east. The eastern face peels almost vertically into blue water, and from this point the route is committed to the wall: small red Paramuricea clavata interleaved with yellow Eunicella cavolini cover the rock face, with anthias and damselfish working the column above the gorgonians. By 30-38 m the wall meets sand. From the sand line the route follows the rock-sand interface to the deepest seaward point near 40-44 m, well outside the recreational ceiling — most centre profiles turn the dive here. The ascent traces the western side, which is a different dive: the slope is gentler, the rock is full of holes, and the day's marine-life list — moray eel, octopus, lobster, conger, scorpionfish — comes from looking into the rock rather than out into the blue. The third smaller pinnacle east of the central rock is the alternative target on a second dive or for nitrox profiles wanting more gorgonian wall time.

Within the Palamós inventory El Tabal occupies a specific niche: a deep boat dive built around one circumnavigable rock with two faces that read as different dives. The eastern wall is the gorgonian-density side and the photographic headline; the western coralligenic slope is the slow observation side. Centres do not push El Tabal as a thrill dive — there is no penetration, no signature pelagic, no current reputation in the Furió Fitó or Canons de Tamariu league. What it offers is a dedicated wall dive at a depth and exposure level that doesn't repeat Boreas or Ullastres. The site sits between two port towns — divers are picked up from Palamós, Llafranc, or Tamariu and the boat run is 20-30 minutes either way — which makes it an option from any of the central Costa Brava centres rather than a Palamós-only or Llafranc-only dive. For divers who already have the headline Costa Brava sites on log and want a less-trafficked deep wall, this is the answer between Cap de Sant Sebastià and Cap de Begur.

The dive runs deep all the way through. The seaward slope crosses the 40 m Spanish recreational limit and there is no shallow corner of the central rock to retreat to — the plateau itself starts at 21 m. Plan a maximum and set the alarm before descending. Nitrox is the right call at this site for the 23-38 m gorgonian band. Bring a wide-angle lens for the eastern wall and a torch for the western coralligenic holes. Expect a sharp thermocline below roughly 15-20 m from May to October; the wall at 35 m runs materially colder than the surface even in August, so plan exposure protection for the bottom. Cap de Sant Sebastià is exposed to N/NE winds — when the Tramuntana is up, El Tabal closes fast and centres switch to a sheltered alternative such as Llosa de Palamós or Canons de Tamariu.