Ullastres II

The mooring buoy puts divers on a 6-9m summit broad enough for a small group to gather before the dive splits by certification. From the rim, the south route runs gradually downslope into the 20-30m band, picking through isolated rocks that form small caves and arches: a torch into a hole for a scorpionfish, a scan of the larger crevices for moray and conger, octopus and the occasional resting ray on the gravel. Partway down the south side, a single fissure cuts into the seabed; guides flag the entrance and a beam usually picks out spiny lobster in the back. The east and north routes change the rhythm. The bottom drops more abruptly to 30-32m, and the 20-25m rock towers are best seen from below looking up, with red gorgonian filling the frame. Anthias swarm the gorgonian tops, and barracuda often hold in open water off the wall, summer-skewed from July through September. For AOW divers with adequate gas, the classic extension is the transit to Ullastres III, where the gap between the pinnacles is deeper than either summit and depth and time have to be managed for the return. The dive almost always finishes on a safety stop on the buoy line, damselfish and small wrasse clouding the line above the seamount.

Ullastres I is the shallow initiation pinnacle. Ullastres III is the deep wall. This pinnacle is the one a centre books when those two are too far at either end and a guide wants flexibility for a mixed group. Three concrete things recur in centre descriptions. The asymmetric profile is the practical one: an OW diver staying above 18m on the south slope and an AOW diver dropping the east face to the gorgonian band at 30m are on the same dive, off the same buoy. The 25m rock towers are the visual one — the densest stack of upright gorgonian-cloaked towers among the three pinnacles, all in the 20-30m band. The south-face fissure is the third, the landmark guides reach for in the briefing and the torch-find guests remember. Around the pinnacle, the picture is consistent: moray eel is the most reliable sighting and red gorgonian is the constant backdrop. The site does not have the deeper-water reverence Ullastres III gets in trip reports; it generates returning regulars who come back for the mix.

The two faces serve two different lenses on the same dive. The east and north are the wide-angle aspect: descend into the gorgonian band at 25-30m, angle up under the 25m towers, and let the red Paramuricea clavata and the anthias clouds carry the frame. In summer the barracuda schools work the open water column off the wall, with the heaviest activity from July through September. The south face is the macro aspect: torch into the crevices among the base rocks for scorpionfish and conger, watch the entrance of the fissure for spiny lobster, and scan the rock surfaces for nudibranchs. A torch is the difference between seeing the fissure residents and missing them. Red flash filters help with blue-water colour correction on the deeper east-and-north shots — standard practice at depth on this aspect.

Bring a torch for the fissure and the south-face caves and passages. Nitrox is recommended for the deeper east-and-north faces and for the transit to Ullastres III, and is available at local centres for around 8 EUR. The south slope is gentle enough that 40m arrives without warning — plan a maximum, set a depth alarm, and turn the dive at the planned cota. The boat ride is roughly 20-25 minutes from Palamós port or 5-10 minutes from Llafranc, with the mooring buoy fixed at the summit. South-westerly garbí can produce a surface chop even when the port looks calm; conditions at depth usually settle by 10-15m. Triton Diving in Llafranc requires OW divers to hire a guide per person at this pinnacle, and Spanish regulations require all recreational divers to carry accident-and-civil-liability insurance and, for divers over 12, a doctor's diving-fitness certificate. Centres apply the standard 12 to 18 hour post-dive flight rule.