Sa Dragonera

Sa Dragonera is the island that closes Mallorca off to the south-west, opposite Sant Elm. It has been a natural park since 1995 and its marine strip has been protected since 2016, which explains the difference from the rest of the coast: here the bottom has structure and it has big fish.

What defines diving on the island is the walls. The rock falls away vertically and in places disappears to 50 m, with open blue on one side and a carpeted wall on the other. It is a landscape of sheer verticality, with overhangs, cracks and shadows where groupers and conger eels shelter, and where large pelagics pass through the blue now and then.

Among the classic routes is the window cave, a cavity with an air pocket inside that you can surface into. Like any overhead dive, it is done with a guide, in a small group and without stirring the bottom.

The depth and the walls call for experienced divers: this is not a place for first dives. Trips go by boat from Sant Elm, Andratx or Santa Ponsa, and depend heavily on the weather window, because the north and west faces are very exposed.