Carall Bernat — The One Everyone Talks About

If you ask anyone who's dived the Illes Medes which site to do first, they'll say Carall Bernat. It's the signature dive of the most popular marine reserve in the western Mediterranean. A rocky pinnacle sticking 72 meters out of the sea, with walls dropping straight down into blue water, covered in gorgonians and surrounded by groupers that have zero interest in getting out of your way.

It's also the kind of dive where the reputation could easily outpace reality. It doesn't.

What you're looking at

Carall Bernat is a single rock — an islet, technically — sitting at the southern end of the Medes archipelago, near the Tasco Gros and Tasco Petit. Above water, it's a tall narrow spike of limestone. Below water, it's a roughly 20-meter-diameter pinnacle with vertical walls, arches, crevices, and platforms at the base.

The dive is a circumnavigation. You drop in, pick a direction, and follow the wall around the rock. The walls are covered in blue and yellow gorgonians — the violescent sea-whip, Paramuricea clavata — and between the fans there are crevices sheltering everything from nudibranchs to spiny lobster.

The base of the rock opens up into platforms and small canyons where the bigger fish tend to hang out. And they do hang out. The groupers at Carall Bernat are not shy.

Depth and route options

Sources vary on the maximum depth — anywhere from 40 to 50 meters depending on who you ask. The seabed at the base of the pinnacle is probably around 45-50 meters, but that doesn't mean you need to go there. There are two sensible ways to dive this site:

The circumnavigation (deeper route): Circle the entire pinnacle at around 25-30 meters. This is where you get the full picture — gorgonian walls on all sides, pelagic species passing in the blue, groupers at the base. You'll want decent air management and comfort at depth. An Advanced Open Water or equivalent certification is a good idea.

The wall dive (shallower route): Stay on one side of the rock at 15-18 meters. Less dramatic but still excellent, and you get more bottom time. You'll still see groupers, gorgonians, and plenty of life. This is the route when conditions aren't ideal or if you're not yet comfortable at 30 meters.

Your dive center will decide which route based on conditions, your certification, and the group. Trust them — they dive this site every day.

Nitrox 32% is recommended if available. With depths touching 30 meters on the deeper route, the extra no-deco time is welcome.

The groupers

This is what people come for, and the site delivers. Groupers are at Carall Bernat year-round, but sighting data shows July and August as the peak months. They're genuinely large — some well over a meter — and they are completely unafraid of divers. Forty years of protection means these fish have never been threatened by a human, and they act like it.

There's a legendary individual known among local divers as "El Abuelo" — The Grandfather. Described in online diving forums as being "like a Seat 600" — that's a small car, for the non-Spanish readers. I can't confirm if El Abuelo is still around, but the grouper population at Medes is healthy and growing, so there's always someone impressively large.

The groupers aren't background scenery. They come up to you. They follow you along the wall. They hover at arm's length and stare at your camera. It's the kind of encounter that doesn't happen at most dive sites, and it doesn't get old even after multiple dives here.

What else you'll see

Beyond groupers, a typical dive at Carall Bernat includes:

The residents:

Moray eels — in the crevices along the wall. Common on every dive.
Octopus — look in the holes and under ledges
Barracuda — schools passing around the rock, especially in summer
Dentex — the big silver predators, usually in pairs or small groups
Nudibranchs — the orange ones on the gorgonian fans are easy to spot if you slow down and look
Spiny lobster — in the deeper crevices
Scorpionfish — camouflaged on the rock. You'll walk past three before you notice one.

The seasonal visitors:

Eagle rays — almost exclusively July and August. When they show up, they tend to come from the blue side, and you need to be looking outward to catch them. Worth the neck strain.
Sunfish (Mola mola) — occasional. Not reliable, but when one appears it's unforgettable.
Tuna and bonito — pelagics passing through, usually when there's current running

The shallow area between Carall Bernat and the Tascons — only about 5 meters deep — is surprisingly full of life. Nudibranchs, small groupers, anemones. Worth spending your safety stop here if the dive plan allows it.

Conditions

Carall Bernat is an exposed site on the southern edge of the archipelago. This means two things: it gets current, and it's weather-dependent.

Currents are the main variable. Sometimes there's nothing and the dive is relaxed. Sometimes the current picks up and you're working harder than expected, especially on the ascent. Carry a signaling buoy — it's not optional here. Your center may require it.

The upside of currents: they bring pelagic species. The eagle rays, tuna, and barracuda tend to appear when there's water movement. So a dive with some current is often a better dive for marine life, even if it's more demanding.

Visibility is generally good — clear blue water on the best days. But this is the Mediterranean, not the tropics, and the occasional green-water day happens. The dive is excellent regardless because the marine life is so close to the wall.

Water temperature follows the area pattern: roughly 14 degrees in early spring building to 24 degrees in August. A 5mm wetsuit is the minimum for most of the season, and some divers go 7mm in spring and autumn. I tend to run cold — Finnish blood apparently doesn't help with that — so I won't judge you for wearing a hood in June.

The practical bit

Carall Bernat is a boat dive from L'Estartit, like all Medes dives. The Illes Medes are a marine reserve — you need a permit, your dive center handles it, but book in advance because daily diver numbers are limited. This is especially true in summer.

The permit is 5.15 euros per person (usually included in your dive price). A dive at Medes with full equipment rental runs around 80-85 euros. Your center will give you an ecobriefing before the dive: don't touch anything, stay 1.5 meters from the walls and bottom, no feeding the fish. Listen to it even if you've heard it before.

There are about eight dive centers in L'Estartit. All of them dive Carall Bernat regularly. If you specifically want this site, mention it when booking — they rotate through multiple sites per day based on conditions and group levels.

Who is this dive for?

Technically, it's rated for all levels in good conditions. Practically, I'd say it depends.

If the sea is calm and there's no current, a competent Open Water diver with a good guide can enjoy the shallower route and have an excellent time. The wall is vertical and the marine life is right there — you don't need to be deep to see the show.

With current, it becomes an advanced dive. The circumnavigation route at 30 meters in moving water requires good buoyancy, solid air management, and comfort with the fact that you're on an exposed pinnacle in open water. Not dangerous with a competent guide, but not a relaxed potter along a reef either.

If you're newer to diving: go with a center, tell them your experience level honestly, and let them put you on the right route. There's no shame in the shallower option. You'll still see groupers the size of your torso.

The bottom line

Carall Bernat has a reputation as the best dive at the best marine reserve on the Costa Brava. Having dived a fair number of sites around Catalunya and the Mediterranean, I think the reputation is earned. The combination of the dramatic pinnacle wall, the gorgonian coverage, and the absurdly tame groupers is genuinely hard to match.

It's not a wilderness experience — you'll probably share the site with other groups, and in August the Medes can feel busy. But the marine life doesn't seem to mind the company. The groupers have been here for decades and they've seen a lot of neoprene.

If you're planning a dive trip to the Costa Brava: Carall Bernat is the one to make sure you don't miss.