Roca de Santa Anna

The anchor line drops into blue water and the rock materialises below: a dark pyramid rising from sand at 34-36 m. The top sits at 25-26 m. Most divers orbit at 28-32 m, working the holes and crevices that pepper the formation. Conger eels wedge into gaps, some large enough that local divers call them monstrous. Spiny lobsters back into the deeper holes. A small rocky ridge extends from the north side towards the east, worth a detour before completing the circuit. The route around the rock is compact. Twenty minutes at 32 m is about all a single tank on air allows before decompression obligations take over. The ascent follows the anchor line, with stops that stretch total dive time to around 44 minutes.

Two things set Roca de Santa Anna apart from everything else in Tossa. It is the deepest standard dive in the area. Where other sites top out between 15 and 25 m, this one starts at 25 m. The depth attracts a different crowd: experienced divers who arrive at dawn with twin-sets and stages, planning deco profiles rather than sightseeing routes. The second draw is the sunfish. The pinnacle functions as a cleaning station for Mola mola, active broadly from March to October with a summer peak. Few sites on the Costa Brava offer a documented cleaning station. Encounters depend on season and luck, but the site's reputation among Tossa's diving community rests on those summer mornings when a sunfish glides in to be cleaned.

Air management is everything. At 32 m, consumption climbs and bottom time shrinks fast. Nitrox is worth it. Some centres hang a spare bottle with three second stages at the mooring as a safety measure during deco stops. Bring a torch for the crevices. Visibility is unpredictable: 15-20 m on a good day, under 5 m on a bad one. The boat ride is one of the longer ones from Tossa port, and tramontana wind cancels the trip. Below the thermocline, bottom water drops to 16-20 C in summer. A 5 mm wetsuit is borderline for extended bottom time at this depth. Pack a hood.