Introduction  |  Accommodation  |  General Info  |  Diving Info Sainte Maxime, located half way between St Raphael and St Tropez is a personal favourite of all of our locations. Whether this is because of the great atmosphere in the dense pedestrian centre on a summer’s night, the welcome you get at our partner dive centre, or the laid back atmosphere of the place I don’t really know. Either way it really does have a fantastic charm, which is only increased by the buzzing little harbour that keeps the local marine speed police on their toes. Superb for people watching. Located right on the north eastern edge of the Golfe of St Tropez and very close to both St Tropez (directly opposite across the water) and Port Grimaud, the sheer diversity of dive sites is quite something. Some good wrecks, impressive rock formations and topography, deep pinnacles and the endless plateau of “Les Sardinaux” await clients choosing to come and dive with us here. The variety of diving is best summed up by the fact that our partner dive centre lists over sixty dive sites. Introduction  |  Accommodation  |  General Info  |  Diving Info The first of our two chosen options is a recently converted two star hotel located just outside of the town centre (ten minute walk). All bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms, direct phones, television, and air conditioning. The atmosphere of the hotel is light, airy and welcoming and the whole place is spacious and convenient. The hotel has a breakfast terrace and internet connection is available for guests. For those of you wishing to extend your trips and explore further, there is a decent sized private car park at the rear. The second is what the French call a “Centre Des Vacances”. Similar to a hotel but with a more comprehensive infrastructure, Le Capet is again ideally located near the centre of town and the beaches. Rooms are spacious and of a more than reasonable standard, many with balconies, and all are equipped with television and private bathrooms. Le Capet also has a great swimming pool, private parking, and a bar and restaurant on site. Other facilities include table tennis, boules and a volleyball court. Introduction  |  Accommodation  |  General Info  |  Diving Info Deriving its name from a monk who died 750 BC, Sainte Maxime benefits from a compact town centre that comes alive at night with street vendors, packed bars and restaurants and a genuinely relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. It is also home to a casino and a number of free outdoor concerts are typically held throughout the summer just back from the marina. The location means it is very practical to explore the other towns in the Golfe, with the green “boat” buses that are forever zipping in and out of the little harbour entrance. Eating out As with all of the towns along the coast there is plenty of choice for eating out, for every budget, and you are unlikely to be disappointed whatever you choose. Some of the highlights for the dedicated gourmets amongst you include the following: Hotel Le Beavallon, a luxurious art deco Michelin listed hotel in fine grounds, with a large terrace overlooking the sea has a good reputation for modern cooking. Le Dauphin, listed in the Michelin guide for their food along is a small and intimate reasonably priced restaurant offering traditional provencal cooking. They are located on the beach, just behind the casino. Another place worth trying is La Belle Aurore, based in a four star hotel with a dining room directly overlooking the sea. Highlights Ste Maxime, even more so than other Riviera towns, really is a water-sports kind of place. For non divers or those who have some energy left after the diving it is worth trying the parasailing, jet skiing, sailing or water skiing on offer from many water-sports centres along the coast. Fishing excursions can also be organised – this includes tuna fishing between August and October. Out of the water tennis, golf and horse riding are popular. There are also a number of good walks to be found in the countryside around the town and along the coast. The casino is a strong focal point of the town with eighty slot machines and a number of black jack, roulette and poker tables. It also has two bars and three restaurants. A series of free music concerts are held, from May onwards at the semi-permanent outdoor theatre (capacity 1300) located between the main road and the Marina. There are also a series of firework displays put on by the local government throughout the summer, at the weekends and on public holidays. These are always of a high standard, if fireworks are your kind of thing. Nightlife Some of the best nightclubs in the region can be in and around Ste Maxime. These include Fashion Room, Le Club, Club Sainte Hilaire and Le Caveau. There are also a number of good pubs and bars, for example La Derive equipped with plasma screens for sport, live music, good food and great service. As a whole the place really has something unique about it – a little bit of magic, that we hope will mean the memories of a trip with us stay with you for a long time. Introduction  |  Accommodation  |  General Info  |  Diving Info As already mentioned, with over sixty sites the diving is extremely varied. The dive centre we use has two boats. One is a spacious converted tug with space for twenty five divers and the other is a six metre RIB that enables doubling up of sites (more flexibility with mixed ability groups) and greater safety and security for divers. We park right on the quay next to the boat, so convenience is at an absolute maximum. To whet your appetite brief descriptions of some of the wrecks that we dive out of Sainte Maxime are as follows: The Rubis This mine laying submarine, launched in 1931 saw an active history during the Second World War, completing a number of missions, predominantly in European waters. She accounted for over twenty enemy ships in five years of service. After the war she saw service as a training vessel for crews for the new generation of submarines then being produced by the French navy. She was eventually scuttled in 1958 to provide a sonar target for training exercises. She lies upright at a depth of 40m, off Cap Camarat and is still relatively intact. The Rubis is justifiably reputed to be one of the best wreck dives in France. Le Relax An large old Maltese yacht, The Relax was lies at the bottom of the Golfe of St Tropez on a silty seabed of 35m depth. She was sunk deliberately in the 1980’s and remains almost totally intact. The wreck is five metres high and 27 metres long. The fauna and flora on the wreck includes a healthy amount of Gorgonian life, a resident colony of large scorpion fish, and a number of large conger eels and lobster. There is little or no current to be found here, but the dive can sometimes suffer from closed in visibility, particularly if the first divers down are spot on with their buoyancy. Le Poursuivante This is a deep wreck, lying at 58 metres. She was a torpedo boat measuring just shy of 81 metres in length. Launched in 1936 she sunk on the 19th October 1947 whilst being towed. She is now broken in two pieces, one upright, the other upside down. Very rich in marine life, the most stunning part of the dive is said to be the slightly spooky feeling as she comes into view. Of course, this could be the Narcosis talking. La Barge Recently discovered by the boss of the centre we use, little is known about the history of this wreck. She lies just off the St Tropez side of the bay, opposite the cemetry. The dive is comfortably within recreational limits for PADI Advanced Open Water divers, as the shallowest point is at 26m. Around 40 metres long, La Barge is home to a very healthy amount of marine life including crayfish, lobster, morays, congers, scorpion fish, swarms of anthias and spirographes. And if that is not enough, the following gives a taster of some of the rock and reef dives that you may well get the chance to experience: Les Sardinaux A very large plateau of rock based around one of the main lighthouses marking the entrance to the Bay, Les Sardinaux is the Sainte Maxime stalwart site. On the plateau depths vary between 3m and 7m. It is ideal for try dives and relative beginners, and the ecosystem is exceptionally healthy. “Search and you shall find” is the watch phrase, with large hermit crabs, octopus, morays, grouper, and a massive varied and dense fish population. For the more experienced there are sheer drop offs and greater depths available, and the visibility is often exceptional. La Roche aux Homards (The Rock of Lobsters) A more challenging dive, this rock formation is 40m deep at its highest point, descending to a maximum of 55m. Rarely dived, this site has some stunning red coral growth, some rare black coral and a very good size of albino coral fans. Add to that the Lobsters, John Dory and Congers and you have the makings of a great dive. To be permitted to dive this site you will need deep diving experience and training in compulsory safety stops. La Roche Rousso A fifty minute boat journey out of port, this site is off Pampelonne beach. The highest point of the rock is around 20m and it descends down just to 45m. The variety of fish life is stunning at this site. A very healthy Mediterranean Grouper population, the rarer Striped Grouper, good sized Sea Bream, varied visiting pelagics, many large Red Gorgonian fans, and the odd Ray are just some of the highlights. A superb site, with a sandy bottom, with the best conditions you could almost be forgiven for thinking you were diving in the tropics! Back to top