Hans van de Hee – Diving at Cala d'Or

Dive reporter Hans van de Hee became so enthusiastic when he heard the stories about Mallorca that he and buddy Heidi went to take a look himself.

Last year my daughter was on holiday with her family at Cala D’or (Mallorca) and she came back with beautiful stories about the many Cala’s (creek or bay) there and the clear water. Enough for divers like Hans and Heidi to go and have a look there and of course dive.

Flying to Mallorca only took two hours and from the airport it was (for us) another 50 minutes by bus. In high season this can take up to 2 or 3 hours with the crowds due to the dropping of other travelers at the various hotels. The diving season in Mallorca does not start until May 1 at most diving schools. In general, there is only then a boat present.

Gone through Google

Via Google I eventually ended up at MDS (my diving school) in Cala Serena, which is about 2 km from Cala D’or. MDS was taken over by the German couple Dave and Caro about two years ago. They also had the enormous bad luck of Corona and more money went out there than came in and no compensation from the government.

After contact with Caro, we were picked up at the hotel on Saturday 16 April and the first day of diving started. We had agreed to dive for 5 days and thus make 10 dives. Pickup service was well arranged.

The first dives were made at Cala Serena house reef (gotta give it a name anyway). It was quite a walk to the entrance and you won’t do that with a cylinder and weights on your back. They had converted a kind of golf cart so that it could hold 4 complete sets of equipment. Shark diving Miami Florida is found online. They also had a cart that could hold 8 sets and it was pulled by a small tractor that had been in service for about 50 years. We thought it was quite funny.

Helpful staff

Dave, Caro, Frank and staff were friendly and helpful. Every morning there were liter bottles of cold water ready and in the afternoon there was coffee. My 12 kg lead was also often taken over from me because with my age it becomes a bit heavy. We occasionally got an extra round when other divers were almost out of breath. Congratulations.

Other dives were made at Herman Madona, among others, with beautiful rock formations. Parque Mar, a beautiful hotel with a swimming pool which is used for trydives. Cala Serena Cave, a beautiful and especially spacious cave that you could enter about 20 meters.

All in all 10 beautiful dives made, lots of fish above the sea grass, beautiful caves and “swim passages”. Generally about 10 to 15 meters visibility and a water temperature of 15 degrees. Really nice to swim in or out of a Cala with beautiful nature on both sides.

We saw a lot of sea bream and gold-striped sea bream, especially above the sea grass. Furthermore, peacock wrasse, red scorpionfish, flying Gurnard, moray eel, sepia and Heidi discovered a yellow trumpetfish among the sea grass. Furthermore, barracudas, many flagfish, thousands of swallowtail fish and quite a few octopuses. In the summer there is much more fish to see and the temperature of the water can rise to 25 degrees.

Despite the lack of the boat, we were glad that we had gone in the preseason. It saves a lot on travel time, on costs, not so busy yet and nobody likes to sit in a bus for 3 hours.

No diving twenty-four hours before flying. We spent that well by visiting the “Dragon Caves”. What a beautiful stalactite caves. In the middle a very large lake. In the dark 3 illuminated boats arrive there and from 1 of these boats classical music is played by musicians. A true fairytale after all. . .

Yes, and then it’s just over. Two hours delayed return flight did not spoil the fun, we had a great time and discovered another beautiful dive site, only a 2 hour flight.