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Discovering the marine flora and fauna of the Côte Vermeille Palm hikes in Argelès-sur-Mer

Much more than just an aquatic exploration, we invite you to dive into the heart of the rich, unspoilt marine environment that is the Mediterranean.

Open your eyes wide in the mask and enjoy the diversity of flora and fauna, with Marine, the naturalist guide who knows our pretty coves like the back of her hand!

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Want to get away from the beach and warm sand? Come with us and see what’s going on underwater!

To get the full experience, we’ve arranged to meet Marine, our guide for the morning. She’s a naturalist guide, so we’re dealing with an expert! But above all, Marine is passionate about sharing her knowledge with curious people of all ages.

The morning begins with a presentation of the Mediterranean, its biodiversity, and the eco-responsible behaviors we can adopt to preserve this environment. Our guide captivates her audience by illustrating her talk with models, maps and illustrated cards.

Marine introduces us to the safety signs so we can communicate with her once we’re in the water. 👌👋

Then it’s on to the equipment. The equipment is adapted to each of us: we pick up a wetsuit, mask, snorkel and a pair of fins. We load the gear, board the beautifully decorated minibus and set off for our dive destination.

Journey time 10-35 min

Today we’re off to the Plage de l’Oli between Collioure and Port-Vendres.
But this is just one of the many beaches between Argelès-sur-Mer and Cerbère that our guide is used to visiting.

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Once we’ve parked the van and loaded up with our gear, we take a short path down to the beach.
Settling in at the water’s edge, Marine gives us invaluable advice on putting on our wetsuits, then spends the time necessary to ensure that we all feel at ease in this new aquatic universe.

Even the most anxious of us were quickly reassured, as floating on the surface required little technique or effort – just put on our wetsuits and float! This tour is accessible to all, regardless of swimming ability or age.
And if you’re still a little apprehensive, you can always hang on to the buoy towed by our guide during the ride.

Here we are, immersed in a whole new world. Visibility is perfect, and we can already see the first fish. At first, we stayed in a circle close to our guide, who showed us a starfish here, a small octopus there and other colorful fish. Then, little by little, we open our eyes wide to observe the marine flora and fauna for ourselves: pearly shellfish, shrimps, hermit crabs, sea tomatoes, anemones, Posidonia meadows, shoals of silver fish…

The spectacle of underwater life is marvellous! What a privilege to be able to swim among all these species.

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Did you know?

The marine world represents 70% of our planet

Debriefing user-friendly

We’d like to stay for hours and hours to enjoy this fascinating world, but we have to get back to dry land, and we can’t wait to talk about this unforgettable experience.

Once back on land, we rinse off our gear and sit down to take a closer look at the species we’ve observed underwater.
With the help of photos, we identify everything we’ve seen, learning more about protected, regulated and endemic species (present only in this geographical area).

At the end of our snorkelling tour, we were awarded a ‘diploma for snorkellers who respect the marine environment’.
We’re proud to hang it on our desk!

We leave with stars (of the sea) in our eyes, happy to have had this unforgettable experience.