CIP Marseille - Centre International de Plongée
Port de la Pointe Rouge - Entrée N°3, Digue Ouest, 13008 Marseille, France, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, FRA
À Propos du Centre
Le Centre International de Plongée (CIP) Marseille, situé à Marseille, France, est le plus ancien centre de plongée de la ville. Cet établissement est un prestataire certifié par SSI et TDI, offrant une gamme complète de cours de plongée. Ceux-ci incluent Advanced Open Water, Instructor Development Course, Freediving (Apnée), Technical Diving (Plongée Technique) et Boat Diving (Plongée en Bateau). Des certifications spécialisées telles que Wreck Diver (Plongeur Épave) et le Niveau 4 Guide Palanquée français sont également disponibles.
Les installations du CIP Marseille sont conçues pour répondre aux besoins des plongeurs, comprenant des douches, des casiers et un hébergement. Le centre propose également la location d'équipement et des gonflages d'air (y compris le nitrox). La plongée en bateau est une activité principale et, pour la commodité des visiteurs, des services de transfert aéroport sont proposés. Le personnel communique en français.
Le CIP Marseille bénéficie d'un emplacement privilégié aux portes du Parc National des Calanques, offrant un accès à plus de cinquante sites de plongée uniques. Ces sites englobent des épaves historiques, des grottes et des arches aux jeux de lumière vibrants, des aquariums sous-marins et des tombants emblématiques ornés de majestueuses gorgones rouges. Le centre se présente comme un lieu de vie et de partage, promettant des plongées riches en biodiversité marine et en topographie époustouflante, le tout rehaussé par une atmosphère joyeuse et l'opportunité de forger de nouvelles amitiés.
Cours Disponibles
7 cursosFORMATION NIVEAU 4
The Niveau 4 is the French certification that allows supervising certified divers to 40 metres and opens access to monitorship — essentially the gateway to professional instructing under the French system. CIP offers tailored preparation for the final exam, adapted to each candidate's starting point. The course is described as sur-mesure: CIP doesn't run it on a fixed calendar but builds it around the individual diver, which matters for a qualification that requires demonstrating a range of skills at a specific standard. The fifty-site rotation in the Calanques gives the training environment variety — walls, wrecks, grottos and open water all within reach from Pointe Rouge. The team running the program includes three E4 instructors (Orsane Vanrell who manages the center, Morgane, and Fabien) as well as Julien at E3 and Alex holding E4 alongside professional diver status. The depth of qualification in the team means the candidate is trained by people who actually use the prerogatives of the levels above them, not just instructors who passed the exam themselves and stopped. Candidates should enter the course already holding Niveau 3 with solid experience. The center explicitly describes the Niveau 4 as suitable for «plongeurs niveau 3 aguerris» — certified N3 divers who are practiced, not just recently qualified.
Baptême (1 plongée)
A single rebreather dive run out of Port de la Pointe Rouge with Fabien, AP Diving instructor since 2025. The outing goes to one of the sites in the Parc National des Calanques — the same territory the center uses for all its diving, with the fifty-site rotation that includes grottos, walls and wrecks depending on conditions and the group's level. The rebreather used is an AP Diving unit, CE certified since 2003. Fabien's background in neurosciences shapes how he teaches: the focus is on making the equipment readable rather than overwhelming, demystifying what he describes as «une boite noire» with a surprisingly logical internal structure. The main difference from a standard scuba baptism is the silence. No bubbles, no noise — just the sound of the sea. The closed-circuit system also optimizes the breathing gas, which affects decompression and extends bottom time compared to open-circuit at the same depth. This baptism is the entry point to the rebreather program at CIP. From here the path continues to the two-dive initiation (290€) and eventually to the full AP diluant air course over eight dives at 1190€.
Initiation (2 plongées)
Two dives on the AP Diving rebreather, led by Fabien from CIP Marseille. The outings go into the Parc National des Calanques from Port de la Pointe Rouge, using the center's rotation of about fifty sites — a range that covers sea fan walls, grottos and historic wrecks depending on the session. Fabien became an AP Diving instructor in 2025 after four years diving on rebreather and a parallel career in neurosciences. His approach treats the equipment as something to be understood, not just operated: the course is designed to give divers a working mental model of what the rebreather is doing and why. The closed-circuit system means no bubbles and no noise. The AP Diving unit is CE certified since 2003 and is the brand of choice on scientific expeditions — CIP specifically cites this track record as part of why they chose it. Run times on rebreather at CIP can reach 120 minutes, which changes what a dive day looks like compared to open-circuit. This two-dive initiation sits between the single-dive baptism (180€) and the full AP diluant air course (eight dives, 1190€). Trimix normoxique dives, priced from 65€ to 85€, are also available for divers who already hold the relevant qualification.
1 DEMI-JOURNÉE D'INITIATION À LA PLONGÉE SOUTERRAINE
A half-day introduction to cave diving run by the CIP Marseille team, whose professional arm — Immadras — has been working in the Grotte Cosquer since 1995 under the French Ministry of Culture. That background is not incidental: it is the professional foundation the course is built on. The session covers the specific equipment used in cave diving and the technique required for a safe initiation dive underground. One dive is included. The half-day format is designed as a first contact with cave environments for divers who are curious but not yet committed to a longer course. The Calanques coastline around Marseille has natural cave and grotto systems — the center's dive site list includes La grotte du CNRS, La grotte Arc-en-ciel, La grotte Mystérieuse and La Grotte à corail, among others. These are the environments where CIP's cave program operates. For those who want to go further, the program continues with a full discovery day at 222€, a two-day cave course at 416€, and a three-day advanced cave course at 580€. The progression is structured and taught by the same team that works professionally in submerged prehistoric cave environments.
Formation AP Diluant Air
An eight-dive rebreather course on the AP Diving unit, run out of Port de la Pointe Rouge into the dive sites of the Parc National des Calanques. The course is led by Fabien, who became an AP Diving instructor in 2025 and combines a background in neurosciences with four years of rebreather diving experience. The Calanques provide a varied training environment: sea fan walls, submerged grottos, arches and wrecks — enough variety across eight dives to cover different conditions and profiles without leaving the local area. CIP runs rebreather outings every day, with the option to stay underwater up to 120 minutes per dive, which makes the training schedule flexible around the student. AP Diving has been producing commercially available closed-circuit rebreathers since 1997 and holds CE certification since 2003. The brand's documentation of tens of thousands of dives is part of why CIP chose it: spare parts are available worldwide, the behavior is predictable, and the redundancy built into the system is readable rather than hidden. The course covers the unit from first principles through to independent operation. From this certification, the program at CIP extends into trimix normoxique dives (65€ to 85€ per dive depending on configuration) for divers who want to push further into technical diving. The center also offers Two Tanks and Afterwork formats for certified rebreather divers who want to explore the Calanques on their own schedule.
SSI Free Diver
The SSI Freediver certification is taught by Julien, E3 instructor and CIP's dedicated freediving specialist. Training takes place in the Parc National des Calanques — the same territory used for all CIP's diving, with its grottos, sea fan walls and clear Mediterranean water providing the open-water component. The course follows SSI's structure: e-learning first, then sessions in a protected environment to build comfort with equalization, duck diving, fin technique and relaxation, then open-water dives in the Calanques. By the end you hold a certification that authorizes freediving to 20 metres with a buddy in open water anywhere in the world. Julien describes the approach as familial and relaxed, which fits the general atmosphere CIP projects. The freediving program at the center is actively expanding in 2026 with more fixed dates on the calendar, including specific discovery events and SSI Freediver training sessions. Freediving at CIP is not an add-on to the scuba program — it sits alongside rebreather and cave diving as a dedicated discipline with its own instructor, its own calendar and its own structure. The Calanques, with their submerged grottos and arches, give a freediver more to explore than a flat sandy bottom would.
Journée Découverte Plongée Souterraine
A full-day cave diving discovery course run by the CIP Marseille team out of Port de la Pointe Rouge. The center's professional arm, Immadras, has managed security operations in the Grotte Cosquer since 1995 — a submerged prehistoric cave under Ministry of Culture oversight — and that hands-on background informs how cave diving is taught here. The full day format allows more time in the cave environment than the half-day initiation (112€), covering equipment handling and technique across more than a single dive. The grottos in and around the Calanques — La grotte du CNRS, La grotte Arc-en-ciel, La grotte Mystérieuse, La Grotte à corail among others — provide the training sites. This discovery day sits in the middle of the cave diving progression at CIP. The two-day structured cave course runs at 416€ and the advanced three-day course at 580€. All are taught by the same team that conducts archaeological survey, 3D scanning and security work in a real submerged decorated prehistoric cave. For the Cosquer work specifically, CIP and Fugro partnered from 2015 on 3D digitization of the cave — first for scientific data, then from 2017 toward the replica inaugurated in 2022. Divers training in cave technique here are learning from the people who do it professionally.
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Se connecterFrequently asked
What people ask before booking
Yes — they dive every day of the year, morning and afternoon. Training and dives are fully personalized, so you choose the dates that work for you. In summer the program expands with additional formats and themed outings.
Two Tanks is two dives at two different sites inside the Parc National des Calanques, with a picnic break between them. It's run in small groups and designed to show the range of the Calanques in a single day.
Yes. The rebreather baptism is a single dive at 180€, and the two-dive initiation runs 290€. Both are led by Fabien, AP Diving instructor since 2025, who works specifically on making the equipment approachable for newcomers.
CIP offers the SSI Freediver certification, which authorizes diving to 20 metres with a buddy in open water. The training combines e-learning, sessions in a protected environment, and open-water dives in the Calanques.
Yes. The program starts with a half-day initiation at 112€ (one dive, equipment introduction), then a full discovery day at 222€. Structured courses run over two days (416€) and three days for the advanced level (580€).
Afterwork dives are late-afternoon outings at the best Marseille sites, away from the peak-hour crowds. Friday Afterworks are reserved for autonomous divers (at least level 2 / independent certification).
You drive directly to the building at Port de la Pointe Rouge (Entrée 3 - Digue Ouest, 13008 Marseille). The boats are steps from the entrance, and the rinse station is on the quay right at the boat exit.
CIP offers training up to Niveau 4, the French qualification that allows you to supervise certified divers to 40 metres and opens access to monitorship. The course is tailored around the student and includes preparation for the final exam.
How to get there
Port de la Pointe Rouge - Entrée N°3, Digue Ouest, 13008 Marseille, France, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, FRA