Cabrera

The Cabrera archipelago has been a maritime and terrestrial national park since 1991, and what it protects is exactly what people come to see: a group of limestone islands with seabird colonies, endemic species and some of the best preserved seabeds on the whole Spanish coast.

Diving here is not like diving anywhere else in Mallorca, and it is worth knowing that before you book. The park limits diving to two boats a day across the entire archipelago, and to two authorised sites only: Cap de Llebeig and Cala Galiota, a small cove a little beyond the cape. Depths stay within the recreational range, around 30 m at most.

In return for those restrictions, the bottom delivers. Decades without fishing pressure show in the size and the boldness of the fish, with large groupers, dense shoals and Posidonia seagrass meadows in excellent condition over rock and pale sand. Visibility is usually among the best in the Balearics.

It is a full-day trip from Colònia de Sant Jordi or from Palma: a long crossing, two dives and a stop ashore. It is always run by a centre with a park permit, which is who arranges the quota; you cannot turn up in a private boat and simply start diving.