This dive site is located on the slopes of Mount Ulia, a few minutes from the exit of the mouth of Pasaia. We discovered this dive site one day when our boat broke down in this area, and that is precisely where its name comes from, since Ondartxo is the name of the old shipyard of Pasaia San Pedro.
It is a dive a little different from most of the dives in the area, with many nooks and crannies to look for, and above all with a spectacular underwater scenery.
Ondartxo is a slab with an east-west orientation. The main slab, where we anchor, is around 14 m. deep, and forms a channel with the next slab. The slab is fragmented forming large stones that make us zigzag through the formations, and offering holes and nooks and crannies to look for.
On the south side of the slab, there is a small, very well camouflaged cave, which we can locate by the presence of a huge boulder.
We have several options in this dive:
If we do not want to catch too much water, we will sail along the south side of the slab or through the channel formed by the main slab (16-20m).
If what we want is to get some more water, we will head north. Immediately we will find a wall that falls quite steeply to the sand (30-32m). The most usual is to navigate towards the West. In this area we will be able to entertain ourselves searching both in the sand and among the rocks and the holes that are formed.
To return to the anchorage, we only have to ascend south until we locate the main slab, and then return east.
As it is a rocky area, conger eels, octopus, spider crabs, crabs,…are easy to find. In the sandy area, we can look for sole, cuttlefish,…Macro life is also very easy to see (nudibranchs, planaria, shrimps, shrimps,…), and do not forget to keep an eye on the blue in search of schools of fish and moons.
