Diving in Sardinia

Sardinia is a large island located on off the west coast of the Italian peninsula. It is the second largest island in the Mediterranean and some say it has the best diving in Italy. Here you won’t just explore rugged caves and fascinating wrecks, you can also enjoy quite technical dives, while beginners will love trying out the array of shore dives available. Sardinia is located between two different parts of the Mediterranean, the Tyrrhenian Sea is on the east side of the island and the Sea of Sardinia is on the west. The island has three different protected marine areas in the surrounding waters. They are, Protected Marine Area La Maddalena, Area Marina Protteta di Tavolara, and Area Marina Protteta di Capo Carbonara. Here you can expect clear waters and plentiful marine life as well as water temperatures of up to 26C (79F) in the summer months, which is when you are more likely to see underwater life. Strict rules in areas such as Tavolara mean you can still enjoy pristine scenery and wonderful biodiversity, seemingly unchanged for decades. The island also boasts over 100 beaches that come in all different shapes and sizes, perfect for relaxing after your dive.

Featured places to go in Sardinia

Marine Protected Area La Maddalena

The Archipelago of La Maddalena contains a number of mostly unpopulated islands and islets and has over 30 dive sites in this area.

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Area Marina Protetta di Tavolara

Tavolara marine protected area is an incredibly fertile ecosystem with a great variance of marine life.

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Area Marina Protetta di Capo Carbonara

The Capo Carbonara Marine Protected Area includes great coral formations and many caves with the marine life that goes along with both.

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Aquatic Life in Sardinia

With all the protected marine life in this area, you will see a lot of great and undisturbed life underwater here. There are interesting mammals like the monk seal and larger deep-sea creatures like octopus and jellyfish. The area is known for other types of species as well such as dusky grouper, moray eels, sponges, congers, barracudas, corb, and porgies. There is a lot of very small sea life as well which is one of the reasons that this area can sustain so much underwater life to begin with.