August in S'Algar

[Ian@1904]

Firstly many thanks to Dave for his words of wisdom on Menorca and the S'Algar dive centre.

If you want a series of bimble dives seeing standard Med wildlife then this place will suit you. With bit of effort I found rays, stonefish, lots of moray eels, and swam with barracuda.

S'Algardive kit is (mostly) well maintained (it is a bit scary to see seven divers on a boat all wearing exactly the same suits and kit setup)
Air fills are pretty good-no nitrox though
Dive centre is well organised and boats leave on time

Downsides
There are a lot of very newly qualified divers on the boats. So many divers play follow the leader
Take your own spares....Unless your kit is Cressi
Many divers required a helping hand on bouyancy control-at times I felt as if I was assisting on the dive and should have been given a discount or refund. I have dived with similar centres in the past, but the quality of many of the divers was not good (but I don't know for sure that S'Algar trained them)
I never managed to dive the caverns I had discussed this in advance with the dive centre, agreed that I was suitably qualified and experienced. I made polite enquires every day but always ended up on the hardboat and never the RIB. I was not alone in this, a PADI DM felt like he was being used as DM wheras he was a paying guest. (Diving the caverns was actually the purpose of diving in S'Algar-my wife was very upset/annoyed for me)

Advice
Menorca is a lovely island to visit. We had lovely weather, encountered many friendly people, came home relaxed, browner, and wider around the middle(that or all my clothes have shrunk)
You will need a hire car. S'Algar in particular has limited restaurants, but there are great food places in nearby Sant Luis, Es Castell, and Mahon
If you want to do good quality diving have a chat with DCrampt (I have added to your rep)

I met a lot of people who were returning to Menorca for the umpteenth time. It was good but not that good for me. Well we might go back in a couple of years time.

[MattS]

Just an adjunct to Ian's report

I have been visiting Menorca semi-regularly since 96 and I am back out there next month.

If you want to avoid the crowds at S'Algar I can recommend these people
http://www.bluewaterscuba.co.uk/
I better fess up that Blue Water Scuba is run by two good friends of mine. They are a small outfit but have a great deal of experience diving around Menorca. Martin is a stickler for details which is good as he runs the diving. Kirsten is very much a people person with the patience of a saint when it comes to sorting out divers. The emphasis is on a tailored service, so if you let them know in advance, they will try to make sure you get the diving, (the accomodation, hire car, restaurants, evening entertainment) you want.

As Ian says most of the diving is not particularly challenging. There are lots of scenic bimbles around 20m. The seascape is dramatic and the sea life is more prolific than anywhere else I have visited in the Med (Cyprus, Malta, SFrance). For the most part the diving is easy and fairly rewarding.

Personally I think the top 3 dives around Menorca are;
1. The Malakoff. More of a reef than a wreck. Attracts large groups of Barracuda. What is left, of what was a very large ship, is mainly just the hull. Some of the structure is still recognisable particularly around the stern. Many uprights are still standing giving the impression of a petrified forest. She lies at 42m and rises to 32m. Most of the interest is on the top at around 37m, but the vis is generally clearer down the sides of the hull and you might even find a ray lurking in the debris field. Ideal Nitrox territory.

2. The Francisquitta. Sits intact and upright in 48m. I had a 'Blue Planet' moment last time I dived her. We were last in and having cleared the shot we watched the last of the paying customers depart for the surface. All of a sudden the fish soup over the wreck just descended into the weed and a group of a hundred or so barracuda came swimming in looping over our heads, like someone playing with a ribbon tied to a stick. I just sat there agog trying not to lose the reg as my jaw dropped! Still counts as one of my top diving moments.

3. Pont d'en gil. Nice little cave with some very impressive rock formations. The way in is through a small blow hole which can be a squeeze. You have no clear surface for 10m to 20m but you can surface after that. Usually you go in along the bottom of the passageway, so it feels like a cave dive. You then surface and just float back towards the sea admiring the rock formations. Dipping down you exit through a large blue window into the open ocean and then swim back into the bay.

[Dave Crampton]

I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday Ian. This year I dived with Torret Diving about four miles to the west of Salgar round the coast. It was low season, May and I found that I was the only paying guest on most of the dives. They allowed me to explore where ever I wanted, and with it being just down the road from my accomodation I could leave the car to my family.

Matts, Thanks for the advice about Bluewater scuba. I think next time I'm there I'll give them a call. I'm working my way round the islands dive centres to get an impression on them all.

Dave C
http://www.menorca-net.co.uk