South of France, end of May

[kimmajimma]

I'll be visiting friends in Grenoble, France at the end of May on vacation.

We'll be making a short trip to the coast and I'm hoping to get one dive in.

The plans are not yet set so can anyone recommend a good dive shop? We'll likely plan the trip to the coast around the dive...

Also, what will conditions be like that time of year? Temp, visibility, what can we expect to see? What wetsuit to use etc...

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated...

Thanks!
KJ

 

[plongeursousmarin]

What part of the Mediterranean Coast are you thinking about? The diving's good from the Spanish border to the Italian border, with some stretches that's not so great in the Herault region (Montpellier, etc. because of high winds and sand). That's a lot of real estate to cover. I'm from Cannes and therefore kind of partial to that area, also it would almost be a straight shot from Grenoble. Shops in France do not really organize dive trips. Dive trips are generally organized by charter boats and schools/clubs. In Cannes, you could contact the Plongée Club de Cannes (http://www.plongee-sylpa.com/). Air temperatures should be warm (they are already apparently), water temperatures should be in the low 70s. A 5 mil wetsuit with hood should work if you're like me (you may get cold at the end, as I do). There are plenty of other clubs east (towards Antibes, Juan les Pins, Villefranche and Nice) or west (Théoule, Agay, Saint-Raphaël and so on, all the way to Marseille) of Cannes. PM me with questions if you'd like more info on Cannes and surrounding areas. Don't expect whale sharks or anything, but lots of interesting underwater landscape, such as walls, pinnacles, sometimes caves. Lots of octopus hiding, moray eels, conger eels, schools of Mediterranean barracuda, groupers.