Congrios

The descent is a vertical drop through open water on the anchor line, with nothing to follow but the line itself. The wreck comes up out of the blue onto sand at 33 to 36 m, in the middle of the channel between Sa Dragonera and Sant Elm, and no part of the dive is shallower. Little of the hull survives, so the bottom stage is a slow pass along the remains before the line back up. Time at depth is short, and at this depth standard EANx32 sits at or past its maximum operating depth, so the gas plan is set before the boat leaves.

The eels are the reason for the dive and the reason for the name: Pecio Congrios means the wreck of the conger eels. Large morays and congers pack the remains, congers reaching about 2 m, with dusky groupers, common lobsters and scorpionfish around the hull. A worn wreck with little structure left asks for patience rather than penetration, and the eels settle into the gaps the hull has opened.

Boats for the Dragonera dives have worked from Sant Elm and Port d'Andratx. The strait is open to the weather and the site is dived on calm days. The wreck sits below the thermocline, so the bottom is 14 to 16 C even when the surface reaches 25 to 27 C: a 7 mm suit with a hood is the summer choice, and visibility runs 15 to 25 m. The anchor line is the sole reference on the way down and up, and losing it means a blue-water search at depth. Keep the line in view on both legs and carry a surface marker buoy.