Ullastres I

Ten metres down the mooring line, the summit opens into a wide flat platform — wider than the steep starts at Ullastres II or III, and that difference shapes the whole dive. From the top at 10-11m, divers push outward to the broad base platform around 12m, where large scattered rocks form a maze of holes and crevices. This is where the dive happens. Most groups potter slowly across the platform, torch into every crack: a scorpionfish wedged inside, a moray's head working at the entrance, an octopus pulling shell debris over its lair. The seamount then slopes down to walls at 28-32m on the seaward sides, and air and certification permitting, divers swing along the base at depth before turning back shallower for the off-gassing leg. The north face carries the most gorgonian coverage. Ascent is back up the buoy line, often with a safety stop in the water column above the seamount where damselfish and small wrasse cloud the line.

Ullastres II has its towers. III has its wall. This pinnacle has hiding places. Within the Palamós offshore set — Boreas at 18-32m, Furió Fitó into a 13-56m massif, Ullastres III plunging to 54m — Ullastres I is the slot a centre books when a guest still wants the full pinnacle experience but does not want to go deep. The buoy line drops into open water, life is concentrated by the seamount effect, and the diver has the security of a 12m base platform and the option to stay above 20m the whole dive. The character is the opposite of deep-wall drama: hands-and-eyes diving, torch into the cracks, scan the holes for snouts. Divers sum up the trade-off cleanly: less coral than Ullastres III, less current than the bigger brother, lots of fish.

The macro angle is the specific draw beyond the initiation framing. Rock holes shelter scorpionfish, morays, congers, octopus, nudibranchs, and small crustaceans like Scyllarus arctus and Galathea strigosa, at depths and light levels that suit close-up work. Bring a torch and a macro lens. Most of the photographable terrain sits comfortably above 20m, which keeps colour and ambient light on the diver's side. The north face offers wider compositions on red and yellow gorgonians for mixing angles inside one dive, though the colonies are smaller and less dense than at Ullastres III. Ullastres I is also flagged locally as a night dive, which transforms the crevice-resident encounters entirely.

Bring a torch. The crevice residents that define this pinnacle are invisible without one, and scorpionfish blend completely into rock under ambient light. Plan to move slowly rather than cover ground. Watch for boat traffic during ascent and deploy an SMB. From Palamós the boat is about 20 minutes; from Llafranc it is shorter. Centres in Palamós, Llafranc, Calella de Palafrugell, and Tamariu run trips to the Ullastres, with single boat dives around 40-41 EUR including tank.