Marseille & the Calanques

Almost all the diving here is boat-based, run as two-tank mornings out of Marseille's own harbours or from Cassis, with the offshore islands rather than the inlets themselves as the target. The limestone carries on below the waterline as vertical faces, arches and detached rock stacks, so profiles tend to run deep first: down the wall to the gorgonians, which take over the rock below about 25 m on the Riou stacks, then a long shallow finish over boulder and broken rock on the way back to the boat.

The wreck and archaeology list is unusually varied for one stretch of coast. Le Liban is the serious one, a passenger liner sunk in 1903 and lying broken between 26 and 36 m off Maïre, dived on a strict plan and needing deep certification. The wrecks ringing Le Planier, the freighter Le Chaouen among them, sit shallower and are easier to read as ships. At Le Grand Congloué, where Cousteau's team ran the first proper underwater excavation in 1952, amphora fragments are still visible at around 30 m, and nothing may be lifted. Centres brief all of it in detail.

Conditions decide the day more than anything else. The mistral funnels down the Rhône valley and can close the offshore islands in any month, and boats then fall back on the inshore reefs, which are pleasant but not why you travelled. The water runs roughly 13–25°C across the year and a thermocline usually sits somewhere on a deep profile even in summer, so a thick semi-dry or a drysuit earns its place. The area suits divers who like structure and history rather than big animals, and who are comfortable planning a deep dive properly.