For summer, there’s nothing quite like spending your holidays on the beautiful, warm, and oh-so-pleasant French coastline.
Especially when, once again, we’re focusing on the marine environment! It’s true that we never tire of the incredible biodiversity of the Mediterranean.
But first, let’s talk about the places where you can discover this underwater flora and fauna. You can dive with the clubs we discovered and described last summer (see last year’s article), but also with the Armand Ferrand Diving Center, which we discovered this year.
The boat
Located near Cannes, in the town of Mandelieu-la-Napoule, the club is very well organized. The meeting point is at the small port of La Rague.
That’s where the equipment and tanks are taken care of before being loaded onto the boat. The equipment is transported using trolleys, so there’s no need to carry anything too heavy. Armand, the club manager, organizes the dive groups even before bringing the equipment to the boat, named Le D’Artagnan.
The atmosphere is very pleasant, and drinks are regularly served on board. Alexandre Ferrand will take this opportunity to introduce you to his famous cocktail: the Rosé-Coke! An inventive recipe, certainly, but also very refreshing! Every Sunday, a special dive is planned: longer excursions and exceptional sites… Once a season, an excursion is organized to Île d’Or, just off the Dramont headland, an hour’s sail from the port. On this island stands a large tower that inspired Hergé in the Tintin comic strip episode “The Black Island.” Along the way, you’ll have a splendid view of the Bay of Cannes, the Esterel Massif, and the charming little coves of Théoul.
L’île noire par Hergé
Île d’or view (Golden island) is a private island located east of Saint-Raphaël, near Cap du Dramont.
You will be able to discover sites such as La Vaquette, the Vengeur drop-off or the magnificent dive at Cap Roux, rich in its many (and large!) groupers, moray eels, enormous scorpionfish, conger eels and other corbs.
