TECHNICAL DIVING COSTA BLANCA SPAIN

Wreckdiving / Deepdiving

Divers visiting the area, and particularly those well qualified in deeper or technical diving can expect to dive at least 15 wrecks in depths of 50 to 100 metres, and with new sites being uncovered and identified each year, the technical diving in the area just gets better.

Just some of the deep wrecks along Costa Blanca (Villajoyosa-Calpe-Islas Hormigas)

the Isla Gomera (or Naranjito) max. depth 42 metres (cargo vessel)
the Prudenza max. depth 73 metres (cargo liner)
the Caprera max. depth 80 metres (armed merchant cruiser)
the Turia max. depth 35 metres (destroyer) the Nalon, Ulla and Turia were sunken by Spanish navy divers a couple of years ago for training purposes, and to create artificial reefs
the Mardinian max. depth 56 metres (armed merchant steamer)
the Standfield max. depth 60 metres (cargo steamer)
the Sirio max. depth 60 metres (Italian emigrant ship) a permit must be obtained to dive "the Titanic of the Mediterranean", more than 500 lives were lost in this wreck.
the Kasenga max. depth 50 metres (armed cargo steamer)
the Thordisa (carbonero or coal miner) max. depth 45 metres (cargo vessel)
the German U-boat U-77 max. depth 80 metres
Useful Links: Costa Wrecka (Divernet) - It's closer than you think(Divernet)

Cave/Cavern Diving

For those intending to go really deep
If you are planning to go diving far off the coast and in deep water you may experience some strong currents. These density-driven currents are typical around Costa Blanca and are not caused by wind but by differences in density, generated by variations in the warm upper layers and cold deeper layers of the sea. Below 55 metres the visibility can locally drop to a metre or less due to fishing boats who stir up the sea with their trawl nets. This condition hardly calms down, especially during the season.

BUEX (DIR España)
La Sociedad de Buceo Técnico y de Exploración (BUEX). BUEX is a non-profit organization run totally by dedicated divers who donate their time and talents to the promotion of safe technical diving through education, conservation, service and exploration. They believe that the safest and most effective method to achieve this goal is to follow the DIR (Doing It Right) philosophy of diving originated by George Irvine and Jarrod Jablonski, and taught through Global Underwater Explorers.

MORAIG, the lost river of the Phoenicians. Imagine diving one of the largest underwater caves on the Iberian peninsula. In a vast labyrinth of caves beneath the mountains of Costa Blanca scientists and divers are exploring and sampling the water in an effort to find the origin of this freshwater spring.

Moraig, an underground river that enters the sea, was initially explored to attempt to provide a source of freshwater to the surrounding population. The earliest investigation started in 1974 and was led by speleologist Eloy Parra. Since then a large number of dives to map the cave have been performed and the deepest penetration of the system came in 2000 when Rick Stanton ventured approximately 1500 metres into the cave.

Over the years, it has claimed many lives and is considered to be an “unfriendly cave” by local divers. Even today, there are many kilometres of cave passages that have still not been mapped. Future explorers diving beyond the present limit of exploration will be dependent entirely on themselves and their technology for survival.

Cueva del Moraig is located between Moraira and Javea, near a small village called Benitachell.

Generate the GPS position

Useful Links:

The Sirio

The Sirio once known as the titanic of the Mediterranean, was a 4141 gross ton ocean going liner. In 1906 she struck Bajo de Fuera off Cabo de Palos on the Spanish coast. Like the titanic there were hundreds of casualties. Since then, divers have visited the ship numerous times to excavate items that survived the wreck. In 1995 a permit system was introduced to limit diving on the Sirio. Today she lies in 60 metres of water… waiting

Conclusion

To see the best of Costa Blanca’s wrecks and caves, divers must pass the 39 metre / 130 ft “recreational limit” suggested by most training agencies and dive operations, and may find themselves involved in stage decompression stops of moderate duration.

This does not mean that all the wrecks or caves are limited to hard-core tech divers.

Drysuits, stages, D18's, explorer reels, argon, trimix and backups to your backups are not always required at Costa Blanca. In years gone by, local divemaster 'Pete' Esser toured some of these sites with a single 12 litre and a hand-me-down regulator. On the other hand, these wrecks and caves are not the place for the newly certified diver with a couple of Caribbean reef excursions in the logbook.

Divers who lack the experience, attitude and aptitude needed to extend their personal diving capabilities need not apply. If your willingness to learn the basics of deep diving and stage decompression is backed up by solid water skills and a reasonable base of advanced diving skills, you may consider Costa Blanca the perfect place to take that “next step” into truly advanced diving.

GUE Diver Training

Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) is generally recognized as the best technical dive training agency in the world. We highly encourage Spanish clubs, dive centres or individuals who might be interested in organizing or participating in a GUE course to check out the online forum DIREXPLORERS. Among its members are nearly all of the practising European GUE instructors. GUE instructors are travelling extensively, offering on-site instruction world-wide. Over the last years, courses were held in Madrid, Granada, Malaga, Ibiza and Mallorca.