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A large dusky grouper, with a dark white-spotted body and a golden belly, swims left along a rock wall lined with white gorgonians, with two Mediterranean chromis in the blue.

Mérouville (Lavezzi Islands)

FranceFrench Mediterranean: Riviera, Provence and CorsicaReefAdvanced

Mérouville is a granite shoal southeast of the Lavezzi Islands, in the Bouches de Bonifacio reserve, between 17 and 36 m, where resident dusky groupers, some over 30 kg, come to hover one or two meters from divers. It is Corsica's number 1 dive, leaving from Bonifacio.

Why dive Mérouville?

  • A group of resident dusky groupers, some over 30 kg, in an archipelago protected since 1982
  • A 17 to 36 m rocky shoal rated Level 2 and easy, number 1 in a top 20 of Corsican dives
  • Water at 24 or 25 °C in August, among the warmest in metropolitan France
  • Two dives per morning on the Lavezzi sites, with drift dives, arches and caverns

The dive site on the map

Base: Bonifacio, 10 km as the crow flies.

See nearby dive sites on the map

Mérouville in pictures

Close-up of the head of a dusky grouper with thick lips and a dark white-spotted body, resting on a rock covered in red algae under an overhang carpeted with small orange corals, in deep blue water.
View from the coastal scrub onto a long, low island of pale granite boulders on a dark blue sea, with a sailboat at its foot and bluish mountains on the horizon.
A jumble of large, rounded gray granite boulders hollowed by erosion and stained with orange lichen, around a short lawn where a path lined with a wooden fence runs toward the sea, under an overcast sky.

What will you see at Mérouville?

Mérouville, or Grouper Town, lives up to its name: on the Pelu shoal lives a group of resident dusky groupers, numerous and good-sized, some over 30 kg, that come out to meet dive groups. Protected at the Lavezzi Islands since 1982, they have no reason to flee and let you approach to within a meter, as long as no one touches or feeds them. Around them is the reserve's life of granite rocks and Posidonia meadows: hunting dentex, brown meagre in the crevices, white seabream, rainbow wrasse and starfish on the sand. On the nearby drift dive at the south beacon, dive centers come across rays, dentex and leerfish. The groupers are there all year; summer is also when the species gathers to spawn at specific sites, and when the big males show themselves most.

Sighting calendar
SpeciesJFMAMJJASONDNote
Dusky grouperpossiblepossiblepossiblepossiblepeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpossiblepossiblea group of residents on the shoal, some over 30 kg
Common dentexpossiblepossiblepossiblepossiblepeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpossiblepossiblehunting above the boulders, with leerfish
Brown meagrepeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonin the granite crevices
White seabreampeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonpeak seasonall over the rock, with rainbow wrasse

peak seasonpossiblerare

What is diving like at Mérouville?

The shoal drops from 17 to 36 m, and most of the dive takes place between 20 and 30 m, around the granite boulders where the groupers stay. The site is rated Level 2 and easy, number 1 in a top 20 of Corsican dives; Bonifacio Plongée opens it to guided divers from Level 1 or Open Water, who then stay above 20 m. Current is common in the strait and you need to be comfortable with it: you descend along the mooring line, the group stays together and you send up a DSMB, an inflatable buoy that marks the divers at the surface. To dive independently, the dive center requires the PA40, the French qualification for independent diving to 40 m, or the Rescue certification, plus a dive computer. Wear a 5 mm wetsuit in summer and 7 mm in May and October: both rent for €10 per morning. Keep a reserve for the ascent: the shoal is offshore and summer shuttle traffic is heavy at the surface.

When to dive Mérouville?

idealgoodnot recommended

You dive from May to October. Surface water in Bonifacio is 13 or 14 °C in February and March, 15 °C in April, 18 °C in May, 21 to 22 °C in June, 23 to 25 °C in July and August, 23 to 24 °C in September, 21 °C in October, 19 °C in November and 16 °C in December: among the warmest waters in metropolitan France in summer. June to September is high season. May and October, with water at 18 and 21 °C, are quieter and cheaper, and Bonifacio Plongée then sells its try dives for €80 instead of €90. The dive center is closed on Sundays. The Strait of Bonifacio is a twelve-kilometer channel between Corsica and Sardinia, strewn with reefs and swept by violent winds: in strong westerly weather, the trip is canceled.

How to get to Mérouville?

By boat from Bonifacio harbor, about ten kilometers from the Lavezzi Islands. Bonifacio Plongée, based at the harbor, runs a two-dive morning trip: meet at 8 a.m., back between noon and 12:30 p.m., two Lavezzi sites, drink and snack on board. The guided morning, open to Level 1, Level 2, Open Water and Advanced divers, costs €124, €236 for two mornings and €540 for five; diving independently, it is €102 per morning and €430 for five. Full gear rents for €36 per morning, a computer for €6; a two-dive refresher at the Lavezzi Islands, gear included, costs €180. Kalliste Plongée, in Porto-Vecchio, also dives the Lavezzi Islands in partnership with Bonifacio Plongée. Figari airport is the closest to Bonifacio, and ferries from Marseille, Toulon and Nice serve Corsica. Plan two or three mornings to combine Mérouville with the other sites in the archipelago. There is no entry fee for the reserve.

Stay in Bonifacio

Where to stay near Mérouville?

Hotels, apartments and rooms around Bonifacio, with current prices.

How does the 80,000-hectare Bonifacio reserve protect the groupers?

The Strait of Bonifacio is a twelve-kilometer channel that separates Corsica from Sardinia, with its reefs, violent winds and strong currents. On one side are the limestone cliffs of Bonifacio, on the other the granite chaos of the Lavezzi Islands. The Lavezzi Islands have been protected since 1982; the Bouches de Bonifacio Nature Reserve, created by decree on September 23, 1999 over about 80,000 hectares and managed by the Office de l'environnement de la Corse, includes them. Diving is unrestricted within the strict protection areas, and spearfishing for any grouper is banned there. In Corsica, the moratorium on fishing grouper and brown meagre, in force since the 1980s, was renewed for ten years by two orders of December 22, 2023.

What can you see on the Mérouville shoal?

The Pelu shoal is a pile of granite boulders that rises to 17 m and drops back to 36. The groupers hold the crevices and overhangs between 20 and 30 m; as soon as the group arrives, the biggest ones come out and settle one or two meters from the divers. This is the dive where you photograph a whole dusky grouper, head-on, without a zoom: hover in the blue above the boulders, let them come, and do not shine your light in their eyes. Around them, dentex and leerfish hunt above the shoal, brown meagre keep to the shade, and white seabream and rainbow wrasse cover the rock. The ancient wreck of the Lavezzi reef, between 38 and 42 m, is visited on the Beccu drift dive, for Level 3 divers.

What other dive sites are there in the Lavezzi Islands?

The second dive of the morning is on another site in the archipelago. Bonifacio Plongée lists a dozen: Cap de Pertusato, the Crique à Kiki, Beccu and the Chameau, where barracuda pass, the south beacon and the Lavezzi reef as drift dives, with rays, dentex and leerfish, the Tête d'Homme, the Cloches, the Arche de l'Éléphant, the Cormorans at Cala di Ghjuncu, the Caverne and the Grande Balise de Perduto, and the Tête de Cheval. The arches and caverns in the granite make light-filled dives for photographers; the drift dives at the south beacon call for the same composure as Mérouville.

Our tip

Ask for a guided dive if the current worries you: it is common in the strait. Stay still, at a distance from the groupers: they come to you on their own.

Other dive sites nearby

Stay in Bonifacio

Image credits

Photos under free licenses, credited to their author; the link leads to the source.