38.78° N · 0.18° E · Xàbia (Jávea)
An introductory dive is a trial dive without a certificate, with the instructor right beside you. In Xàbia there are two ways to do it: from a boat, deeper, or from the shore and a few metres down, depending on the centre and the sea that day.
Part of Xàbia (Jávea)
Who offers it
Independent companies: you book with them, on their terms. Prices are as they publish them and may change.
Step by step
Both centres ask for a health questionnaire before diving.
The equipment explanation comes before the dive.
By boat, from the vessel; at the Portitxol, from the shore or the launch.
Equalise your ears often and follow the signals.
Ask the instructor what to avoid in the following hours.
An introductory dive is a trial dive for someone without a certificate. Before going in they explain the equipment and the basic rules. Then you go down with an instructor who does not leave your side. No experience is needed; you do need to swim and to fill in the centre's health questionnaire. The Xàbia coast is rocky, with walls, caves and clear seabeds: the tourist office recommends both the Portitxol island and Cala Granadella for scuba diving.
Buceo Cabo la Nao is a diving centre and school founded in 1995, with its mooring at the Marina Nou Fontana, on calle Canal Sur, 2. Its introductory dive goes out by boat, so you do not carry the equipment across the sand. It is two hours in total, with about 40 minutes of actual dive, at 12 metres. From age 10. The instructor is exclusively for you and you get a free underwater photo report. The premium introductory dive costs €150. If within the following six months you take the Open Water Diver course, the full amount is deducted.
Diving Javea has its centre on carretera del Portitxol, 135. Its Try Dive in the sea is done from the shore or from one of its launches, depending on sea and weather, at an average depth of 2 or 3 metres and a maximum of 5. It is 40 to 50 minutes underwater, after an introduction at the centre, with one instructor for every three students; under-15s usually go alone with theirs. In 2026 it costs €120 per person if there are one or two of you, €100 if three or four and €90 from four. They also have an introductory dive in a pool, one hour and from age 10, and snorkelling excursions for €33, with a minimum of four people.
If you want to really feel depth and see a wall or a cave, the boat at 12 metres. If it is a child's first time or it daunts you, the shore, a few metres down, with the surface in sight. In both cases the centre may change the plan according to the sea that day.
If you like it, the next step is the Open Water Diver course, the first diving certificate. Buceo Cabo la Nao teaches it with the SSI agency and deducts the introductory dive if you do it within six months. With a certificate, the centre goes out by boat every day to the walls and caves of Cabo de la Nao, Dénia and Moraira, with guided dives from €47. Diving Javea, for its part, works with SSI and IANTD and has freediving courses, cave diving and a children's school.
If someone in the group does not want to dive, they can stay at the surface: Diving Javea runs snorkelling outings for €33, with a minimum of four people, and the Cala de la Barraca or Portitxol, right below its centre, lists snorkelling among its services and has the island 300 metres away.
Who it's for
What to bring
Map
What you have around the starting point.
More to do
Itineraries
Tips
The medical questionnaire is there for that: if in doubt, consult the centre first.
With Diving Javea the price drops to €90 per person.
At Cabo la Nao the photo report is included.
Questions
From €90 per person with Diving Javea in a group of four or more, and €150 for the premium boat introductory dive with Buceo Cabo la Nao.
From age 10 with Buceo Cabo la Nao. Diving Javea accepts age 10 in its pool introductory dive.
12 m on Cabo la Nao's boat introductory dive; 2–3 m, and 5 at most, on Diving Javea's Try Dive.
Yes, and fill in the centre's health questionnaire.
About 40 minutes with Cabo la Nao and 40 to 50 with Diving Javea.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/spain/valencian-community/xabia-javea/things-to-do/introductory-dive-xabia
