Access to the sea

The wealth of marine life

It is very easy to observe the flora and fauna of the rocks. Little sheltered coves, rock pools left behind by the sea, no need to have a mask or snorkel to be filled with wonder.
Green, brown, red seaweed, posidonia gently wafted by the waves offer shelter and a cool place for the rock fish. In the crevices you can see a few different kinds of shellfish, here and there on the sandy bottoms there are strange sea cucumbers holotury, a cousin to sea-urchins that cannot be fished from April to October.
Take your time, as your arrival will not go unnoticed, and then you will see shrimps, little fish and if you are lucky, an octopus, coming out from all the little holes.
A few yards from the shore, when the se ais calm, you can watch the posidonia seagrass bed. This field, typically Mediterranean, (posidonia is a plant with flowers and not seaweed), real lungs for the sea, harbours a wealth of life that you wouldnt know was there.
You can finish your tour of discovery by visiting the fish market. They will be able to tell you the names of all the fish you have spotted, and will tell you how to cook the fish they caught that morning.
(source: office tourisme st Raphael).