Practice
Descend, explore, live diving: the gateway to the world below.
The project
Here, the sea is not a backdrop. It’s a living heritage.
In Banyuls-sur-Mer, France’s first marine reserve has protected the seabed since 1974, a scientific observatory has studied it since 1882, and seventeen structures keep diving alive eight months a year. Only one thing was missing: a gathering that brings this whole world together. That’s MERveille.
Editorial
Why MERveille
Nathalie Jolent, Project initiator. Marketing, Promotion & Development Assistant, L’Indépendant
The Côte Vermeille is magnificent. We say it, we repeat it. But we only talk about it in summer. Come September, we file it away like a postcard, yet there it is, alive, all year round.
And beneath the surface lies a whole world. Diving, the seabed, the creatures of the deep: an entire imaginary realm, worthy of Captain Nemo, just metres from the shore.
One day, at the Paris Diving Show, I looked for the Côte Vermeille among the stands. It wasn’t there. Where everyone talks only of diving, the most beautiful coastline we have had no one to show it.
Here, in the Pyrénées-Orientales, water runs through all our events. The one that tells what lies beneath was missing.
MERveille is that idea. A first edition devoted to the marine world, worthy of the Côte Vermeille. Three days to bring to the surface what we hold most precious, and to make people see the sea differently.
To practise the sea, understand its depths, share its culture. All year round, not just in summer.
Practice, protect, share
Protect
Take concrete action for the seabed, alongside science and protected areas.
Share
Pass on, raise awareness, build community around the sea.
The story
MERveille de la Côte Vermeille
One word that holds the whole project
On the Côte Vermeille, diving reveals the beauty of the seabed, stirs emotion, gathers a community, and carries a responsibility: to dive, we must protect.
MERveille brings into dialogue what too often stays apart: clubs, science, institutions, associations, schools and families. One shared journey, one shared ambition, from the Côte Vermeille to Catalonia.
What the numbers say
83%
of divers know the Cerbère-Banyuls reserve
39%
describe themselves as beginners
62%
belong to no club
« The sea does not belong to experts. »
2025 visitor study, Pyrénées-Orientales Chamber of Commerce.
Who we are
People from here, building for here
MERveille is led by L’Indépendant, the newspaper that has told this territory’s story from the very beginning, and built with those who make the sea here: the Cerbère-Banyuls nature reserve, the Banyuls Oceanological Observatory (Sorbonne University / CNRS), the Biodiversarium and the coast’s dive clubs.
Renowned scientific and sporting voices are joining the adventure. We will reveal them soon.
This first edition is being written right now: write it with us.
Local roots
Banyuls-sur-Mer, a natural diving capital
Between the Pyrenees and the sea, the Côte Vermeille offers rocky seabeds of exceptional richness, just minutes from shore. The ideal ground for a festival where diving, science and protection meet.
Cerbère-Banyuls marine reserve
France’s first marine nature reserve (1974), a living laboratory of protection.
Observatory & Biodiversarium
A leading scientific hub on marine biodiversity, in the heart of town.
Gulf of Lion Marine Park
An institutional protection framework across the whole gulf.
Ambition
A cross-border gathering
On the Catalan and Spanish border, MERveille aims to bring people together beyond borders, in French, English, Spanish and Catalan. The sea knows no customs; neither does its protection.
Discover the programme
Three journeys to live the festival: Dive, Understand, Protect.
See the programme