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Font Estramar

Roussillon and Aude · about 19 km from Perpignan

Font Estramar

Closed to divers

Private land; since 2018 a municipal decree bans access to the underwater galleries. Only explorers with special authorisation dive here.

  • Max depth312 m
  • CertificationFull cave
  • SpecialExperienced divers
Directions

Diving and fills

Dive here with

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Fills nearby

  • Fill stationCAP Port-Vendres (Centre d'Activité Plongée)~61 min drive (estimate)Air, nitrox 32/40/50, oxygen, trimix and CCR fills up to 300 bar (surcharge above 230 bar); custom blends too (O₂ and helium per m³)Route ↗
  • Fill stationCAP Port-Vendres (Centre d'Activité Plongée)~62 min drive (estimate)Air, nitrox 32/40/50, oxygen, trimix; up to 300 bar (surcharge above 230 bar); CCR fill packageRoute ↗
  • Fill stationPlongée Bleue (Banyuls-sur-Mer)~68 min drive (estimate)Air, nitrox (membrane) and oxygen (B50 cylinders, booster for CCR) up to 300 bar; trimix not listed — askRoute ↗
All fill stations and places to stay ↓

Now at Font Estramar

Status
Closed

What it looks like

All 6 videos and posts

Videos and posts

From other divers, via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. They only load when you click; after that, Google's or Meta's privacy rules apply.

Search for more onYouTube ↗Instagram ↗Facebook ↗

Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.

The dive

Font Estramar is one of the major karst springs around the Mediterranean. You dive in brackish water (~4 g/l salt) that is 17–18 °C year-round.

1 earlier accident or incident has been reported at this cave. Read what happened ↓

Profile and sections

Font Estramar is one of the major karst springs around the Mediterranean. You dive in brackish water (~4 g/l salt) that is 17–18 °C year-round. Visibility is usually good, but the spring reacts to rain within hours: in flood visibility is poor, and it recovers slowly.

The spring is the main outlet of the eastern Corbières and, with Font Dame, feeds the Salses-Leucate lagoon, at 2.11 m³/s on average. Since 1991 the ARFE (Association de Recherches de Font Estramar) has surveyed the cave; volunteers maintain the lines. The -308 m dive lasted ~7 hours (419 min), ~400 min of it deco.

Practical: the pool is private; according to plongeesout the underground network belongs to the municipality.

Depth and profile
Fully flooded; galleries average around -40 m, a vertical shaft goes beyond -180 m; -312 m reached in January 2024 (earlier -164 m in 1997, -184 m 2006, -248 m 2014, -286 m 2019, -308 m 2023); 2,900 m of passage; bottom not reached
Configuration
Not applicable for visiting teams: authorised explorations only. The -308 m dive (2023) used two side-mounted CCRs on trimix 4/89 and two scooters.
DPV: Not DPV-suitable (estimate)
Not applicable: closed. Scooters were used on the record dives.
Who can dive where
  • CaveAt least Full cave
  • Whole caveConfigurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
  • Whole caveConfiguration unknown — research beforehand · doesn't decide who may dive
  • Whole caveGoes down to 312 m (trimix or deco may be needed) · doesn't decide who may dive
  • Whole caveExperienced divers only · doesn't decide who may dive
Experienced diversDepends on water level or swellPermission needed

This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.

Cave map

How to get there

Spring pool at the foot of a small cliff next to the A9 motorway, on private land with fences and warning signs. No access without the owner's consent; a municipal decree bans entry to the underwater galleries.

Plan your route ↗

Around Font Estramar

Fills3 fill stations · nearest 40 km

  • CAP Port-Vendres (Centre d'Activité Plongée)

    ~61 min drive (estimate)

    Anse Gerbal (ancienne criée), 66660 Port-Vendres

    Air, nitrox 32/40/50, oxygen, trimix and CCR fills up to 300 bar (surcharge above 230 bar); custom blends too (O₂ and helium per m³)

    Not listed — ask

    Dive centre at Port-Vendres harbour (Côte Vermeille). Also fills cylinders for visitors who do not dive with the centre; CCR fill package for 1.5–3 l cylinders. Website prices include helium €90/m³ and O₂ €40/m³. ~1 h 20 from Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet and ~35 min from Perpignan (estimates). Sorb (sofnolime): ask.

    Website ↗Navigate ↗

  • CAP Port-Vendres (Centre d'Activité Plongée)

    ~62 min drive (estimate)

    Anse Gerbal (ancienne criée), 66660 Port-Vendres

    Air, nitrox 32/40/50, oxygen, trimix; up to 300 bar (surcharge above 230 bar); CCR fill package

    Not listed — ask

    Dive centre at Port-Vendres harbour (Côte Vermeille); also fills walk-in customers' cylinders. Far from Ganges (~2 h 45, estimate). Sofnolime: ask.

    Website ↗Navigate ↗

  • Plongée Bleue (Banyuls-sur-Mer)

    ~68 min drive (estimate)

    Port de plaisance, 10 quai George Petit, 66650 Banyuls-sur-Mer

    Air, nitrox (membrane) and oxygen (B50 cylinders, booster for CCR) up to 300 bar; trimix not listed — ask

    Not listed — ask

    Dive centre with two compressors (58 m³/h) and eight 80 l buffer tanks; runs rebreather courses. Whether walk-in fills for visitors are possible is not stated on the site — ask. ~1 h 30 from Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet (estimate).

    Website ↗Navigate ↗
Caves nearby6 within 56 km

News

All (2)

Nearby

Articles about cave diving that name a place within 25 km of this site, but no cave by name. They're not necessarily about this site.

Accidents and incidents

What happened at this cave before, with the sources. No names are given; read it as a lesson for your own planning.

Access and rules change: check what applies locally right before your trip. Source: GDELT Project and the news feeds of diving magazines. Search for more news ↗ Searched automatically, last on 13 Nov 2026.

More of the latest in Roussillon and Aude (France): conditions, closures and news →

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Sources, sharing and disclaimer

Sources

Current conditions

Visibility, flow and water levels change quickly. Right before your dive, check what other divers report:

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Certification requirements, configurations and trimix depths are estimates for planning. Always check them locally and dive within your training. Compiled from web research (the FFS plongeesout.ffspeleo.fr site pages per département and accident list, FFESSM Occitanie Pyrénées Méditerranée reports 2011–2026, Wikipedia, Grottomap, Made in Perpignan, Francis Le Guen's blog, club reports by the Entente Spéléologique du Roussillon and Les Trogloxènes, Agence de l'eau Rhône-Méditerranée, Côte Indigo, Spéléo Secours Français, Medsubhyp, sante.fr and dive-centre websites; Sept 2026). Pins from plongeesout (GPS, checked against converted Lambert coordinates) and Grottomap; ~ = estimate (drive times too). Most site data are old (1970–2008). Rules change — check locally.