Come and enjoy our snorkelling routes with an oceanographer as your guide.
Our snorkelling activities always start with a short talk about marine biology for about fifteen minutes. You will learn all about the sea ecosystems at l’Ametlla de Mar and the species we might see. Now’s the time to ask all those questions you’ve always wanted to ask about the sea. After this, we will give you all the gear you need: the wetsuit, snorkelling tube and mask, and water shoes. We’ll then stroll down to the Cala Vidre cove or Sant Jordi beach (both in l’Ametlla de Mar) and swim out from there. Once we’re in the water we will check the equipment again, adjust the diving mask and give you some handy tips in case you’ve never used a snorkelling tube before.
We will find an underwater world of small treasures as we swim and dive for approximately sixty minutes. The route is about three hundred metres long, with a maximum depth of five metres, and runs parallel to the shore.
Every day and every outing is different; the fish, octupuses, starfish… they all behave differently every day, as they move places, come out to feed… and our expert biologist and oceanographer guides will make sure you miss nothing and explain all kinds of interesting facts about the animals and plants you’ll see.
Price: €20 adults and €17 for children and youngsters (6 to 15 years). This includes all the gear (wetsuit – for warmth and comfort, water shoes, and a mask and tube). We also have snorkelling life vests to help children and adults if necessary.
What should I bring? A swimming costume (for men the best style are close-fitting trunks), a towel, and your desire to have a good time!
Languages we do the activity in: Catalan, Spanish, English, and French
Dates: from Easter to 31 October. Bookings necessary.
Our routes
During the summer we offer three different routes every day:
North Cala Vidre cove: heading northwards from Cala Vidre, we swim alongside the Sant Jordi headland. We will see a spectacular Neptune seagrass meadow beside the rocky outcrop which spreads out underwater. When we set out, the water is shallow enough to stand in. The maximum depth of water we’ll swim in is about five metres deep.
South Cala Vidre cove + La dormidera: this route heads south from Cala Vidre, following the rocks. Here in some places we can see a kind of algae which is not usually found in Catalonia – the Cystoseira sp. It looks like a small tree with waves breaking over it. Be careful not to step on it! The route continues following sandy and rocky areas as far as a point where we once found a large group of sand smelt fish resting! For this reason we call this point the “sleeping area (la dormidera)”! We’ll swim out a little here too but only as far as five-metre-deep waters.
Sant Jordi: the sea breeze is a little stronger in the afternoons and that’s when it’s better to snorkel in the calmer waters of the Sant Jordi bay. We follow the rocks southwards keeping an eye open for morays, anemones, and other species which we don’t see so easily at the Cala Vidre cove.
Depending on customer demand we can organize other snorkelling routes and locations during non-summer (July/August) months such as:
- Cala Calafató cove (L’Ametlla de Mar)
- Cala Llobeta cove (L’Ametlla de Mar)
- The L’Illot islet(L’Ametlla de Mar)
- L’Estany Podrit beach (L’Ametlla de Mar)
- Seagrass meadow at l’Arenal (L’Hospitalet de l’Infant)
- Many other small coves in l’Ametlla de Mar!
