Reading time: 3 min

On Saturday 24 October we are getting back in the water. Marina Palamós is holding a new Neteja del fons del port, our second seabed clean-up of 2026, organised together with H2O Diving Center, Projecte Silmar and Ocean4You. We meet at 9:00 am at H2O Diving Center, inside the marina.

What ends up in the sea does not disappear: it sinks. Bottles, packaging, ropes, nets, tyres and batteries settle on the bottom, out of sight of anyone walking along the quay, and stay there for decades. Over time, plastics break down into ever smaller particles that enter the food chain, and lost fishing gear keeps trapping marine life long after it has been abandoned.

A harbour is a busy place and, for that very reason, somewhere this build-up never stops. One clean-up a year is not enough. Repeating it in spring and autumn lets us remove what the high season leaves behind, see how the seabed changes from one edition to the next and work in Cala Morro del Vedell, right next to the marina, as well.

There is a second reason, less visible and just as important. Anyone who has pulled a tyre or a tangle of fishing line out of the water with their own hands never looks at the sea in the same way again. Each clean-up brings together divers, volunteers, clubs and companies who then carry that message home.

Programme

  • 9:00 – 9:30 am. Participants arrive at H2O Diving Center, Marina Palamós.
  • 9:30 – 9:45 am. Diving equipment is handed out, followed by a briefing on the areas to be cleaned and the safety rules. Tanks are free of charge for divers taking part in the clean-up.
  • 9:45 – 10:00 am. Group photo.
  • 10:00 – 10:30 am. Talk by Thalassa Project: the underwater heritage of Palamós.
  • 10:30 am – 12:30 pm. Dive groups are assigned and the seabed of Marina Palamós and Morro del Vedell is cleaned.
  • 12:30 – 1:00 pm. Equipment is collected and group photos are taken.
  • 1:00 pm. End of the morning activity.
  • 6:00 pm. Thalassa Project screening, “Derelictes submarins de Catalunya” (Shipwrecks of Catalonia), at Hotel & Events Mas Ribas. Please confirm attendance.

Neteja del fons del port, 24 October 2026 at Marina Palamós

This edition also looks at the past the seabed holds. Thalassa Project, which works on underwater heritage, opens the morning with a talk on the submerged heritage of Palamós and closes the day with a screening about the shipwrecks of the Catalan coast. Cleaning the seabed and knowing what it preserves are part of the same job.

How to sign up

Registration is handled by the two diving centres:

The Neteja del fons del port is organised by H2O Diving Center, Marina Palamós, Projecte Silmar and Ocean4You, with the support of Loginplast, Thalassa Project, Mas Ribas Hotel & Events, Dive Center Palamós, Aquafilm Service, Amics de les Illes Formigues, Palamós Town Council, Blue Oceans, Dynamic Nord, Scuba Mobula and Ocean52.

See you in the water on Saturday 24 October.