Our day trips to the National Park of Port-Cros are legendary. Dive at La Gabinière with hundreds of barracudas and countless giant groupers and enjoy French lifestyle during lunch at Port-Cros harbor.

Our day trip to the National Park of Port-Cros takes place once a week. We leave by boat from the Pampelonne beach at Kin Tiki directly at the dive center. On the way we pass Cap Camarat, Cap Taillat and Cap Larier, before we see the little town of Cavalaire-sur-Mer at the edge of the bay of the same name. After we pass the first of the islands of Hyères, the Îles d'Hyères, the Île du Levant, we arrive at our dive sites of Port-Cros.

Mostly we dive between 10 and 30 meters depth at the small island south of Port-Cros, the l'îlot de la Gabinière. On the rocky slope, in addition to countless giant groupers between and on the rocks and hundreds of barracudas in the open water, mostly about us divers, also nudibranchs and many other fish are observed. We have also seen moonfish here.

The leisurely lunch break is spent in Port-Cros harbor. There are no disturbing cars, there are only a few footpaths between the houses and the fortress on the edge of the harbor, which can be explored while waiting for lunch. The delicious lunch is in menu form and served directly on the harbor overlooking the bay and the sea.

Our dive tanks will be refilled during the lunch break and there is nothing in the way of the second spectacular dive in the National Park in the afternoon on the way back to the beach of Pampelonne.

Bring along

• Changing clothes and beach shoes for the lunch break
• Some cash for lunch (special menus also available for vegetarians) and souvenirs you might want to buy

Did you know?

• You do not dive and just want to go boating and go to Port-Cros? No problem, it's definitely worth it!