Hyeres Islands Porquerolles

Hyeres · Var, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur · France

Porquerolles is the largest of the Iles d'Hyeres, the trio of islands the French call the Golden Islands that hang off the Var coast like fragments of perfected Mediterranean landscape. Since 2012, the waters around the island have been incorporated into the Port-Cros National Park, extending Europe's oldest marine protected area to encompass some of the finest diving on the French Riviera. The island itself is a place of pine forests, vineyards, and sandy beaches reached by a short ferry crossing from the Giens Peninsula. But the real treasure lies below the waterline. I dived multiple sites around Porquerolles across a week in June, and the consistency of marine life was remarkable. The decades of protection have created what the Mediterranean should look like everywhere but rarely does. Le Sec du Langoustier, a rocky pinnacle off the island's western point, was my favourite dive. The top of the reef sits at 8 metres, dropping to 35 metres on the seaward side, and groupers patrol every level. I counted fourteen dusky groupers on this single dive, several large enough to be clearly aged at twenty years or more. They approach with the relaxed confidence of animals that have never been hunted, and underwater photographers can spend an entire dive at this one site without exhausting the subjects. The Posidonia meadows surrounding Porquerolles are among the most extensive and healthy in the Mediterranean, recognised as a UNESCO biosphere reserve. Diving through these underwater prairies, you witness the nursery function in action: clouds of juvenile fish darting between the blades, cuttlefish hiding in the canopy, and octopuses using the meadow edges as hunting territory. For wreck divers, the Donator between Porquerolles and Port-Cros is a highlight. This 78-metre cargo ship, mined in 1945, sits upright at 40 metres, its superstructure colonised by eight decades of Mediterranean growth. The bridge area hosts resident groupers that have become almost tame, and barracuda schools circle the masts above. The depth makes it an advanced dive, but the condition and atmosphere of the wreck make the decompression obligation worthwhile.