Tabarca inner waters (Escull Negre, artificial reef, La Galera, Escull Roig) – marine reserve (permit)
Inner-water dive zones of the Tabarca marine reserve around the inhabited island, about 3 miles from Santa Pola: Escull Negre, the Tabarca artificial reef, Islote de la Galera, Escull Roig and a free inner-waters zone, each with daily dive and boat quotas. The Generalitat page gives the seabed as varying between 0 and 40 m in the reserve, with posidonia seagrass, white sand clearings and hard bottoms, and mentions dusky grouper, lobster and moray eel; Santa Pola centres report dives from about 8 to 56 m around the island, including WWI wrecks. We could not locate the individual zones from verified sources, so the position is a point just south of the island, for orientation only. Permit required.
Facts
- Region: Spain – Valencia coast (Columbretes, Costa Blanca, Tabarca)
- Area: Tabarca – Santa Pola
- Depth: 0–40 m
- Level: intermediate
- Current: moderate
- Type: reef, bay
- Coordinates: 38.16, -0.477 (approximate)
- Highlights: Spain's oldest marine reserve (1986), about 1,400-1,800 ha, posidonia meadows and white sand clearings, dusky grouper, lobster and moray
- Permit: Tabarca is Spain's oldest marine reserve (1986). Scuba diving needs a prior permit; no night dives, no shore entries from land, and boats must use the assigned mooring buoy and fly the diver-down flag. In the inner waters (Escull Negre, the artificial reef, Islote de la Galera, Escull Roig) the permit is handled by the Generalitat Valenciana (Alicante provincial services of the agriculture and fisheries department), applications 5-15 working days ahead with a dive certificate, accident and liability insurance and ID, within daily quotas per zone; in the outer waters it is granted by the Government Sub-delegation in Alicante (Agriculture and Fisheries unit) under the 2000 ministerial order. Centres in Santa Pola usually arrange this. (Sources: BOE order of 24 July 2000; Papelea procedure summary dated 2019 – confirm the current procedure)
- Issuer / contact: Subdelegación del Gobierno en Alicante – Agricultura y Pesca (outer waters) / Generalitat Valenciana agriculture & fisheries services in Alicante (inner waters)
- Website: https://boe.es/boe/dias/2000/08/02/pdfs/A27815-27816.pdf
- No phone/e-mail verified from an official page; see the BOE order for the issuing bodies.
- Tips: Permit applications 5-15 working days ahead in the inner waters; no night dives and no entry from land. Santa Pola centres (Scuba Elx, Dive Academy) arrange Tabarca trips.