Cabo de Palos & Islas Hormigas · Spain · Pinnacle · Reef
Bajo La Morra
A steep gorge to 25 m holding the remains of an old anchorage
Area photo: Marta T López · CC BY-SA 4.0
Two adjacent rocky outcrops about fifteen minutes out from Cabo de Palos harbour: a larger conical rise and a long tongue of rock beside it. Between them runs a steep gorge with a bottom at 25 m, where the remains of an old anchorage lie and groupers shelter in the rock.
Also known as Bajo de Morra.
Where it is and how deep
37.6355° N, 0.6805° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
La Morra is two rocky outcrops sitting side by side rather than one summit. The larger of the pair is conical, and off one flank it continues as a broad extension of rock shaped like a tongue. The shallow ground is not level across the site: the rocky area to the west rises to 12 m on a gentle slope, while the eastern side tops out deeper, at around 18 m, so the profile you swim depends on which outcrop you start from.
The feature that holds the dive together is the gorge between the two formations. It cuts down steeply to a bottom at 25 m, the deepest ground on the site, and the remains of an old anchorage lie there. The rock along the gorge and the tongue shelters groupers, the site's usual residents along with pollack and dentex, and there are nudibranchs and white and yellow gorgonians for anyone diving it slowly.
Work the gorge deep first, then come back up onto the western rock, where the gentle slope to 12 m gives a long shallow stretch to finish on. Because the two outcrops sit close together, it is a straightforward site to keep your bearings on: the tongue of rock leads back to the cone, and the gorge between them is the reference you keep returning to.
Background
The gorge between La Morra's two rock formations holds the remains of an old ship's anchorage, still on the bottom at 25 m, and it is the feature local operators send divers down to see. Cabo de Palos was hard on shipping: the same dive centre's wreck list runs from the Sirio to the Naranjito and the Stanfield, and the water around these rocks has been a marine reserve since 1995.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Nudibranchs
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Cabo de Palos & Islas Hormigas: Jun–Oct has the warmest water and the calmest crossings; winter is clearest but cold, and easterly winds close the seamounts year-round.
Sources
- Bajo La Morra — Scubago (SSI MyDiveGuide)
- Where do we dive? — Centro de Buceo Islas Hormigas
More dive sites in Cabo de Palos & Islas Hormigas
A rock needle to 3 m, with a conger cave at 22 m on its east side
Seamount
A submerged mountain from 55 m to 3 m, four hulls on its flanks
Reef
Blocks, caves and furrows in the south face that took ships' anchors
Pinnacle
A rock spine with a crest at 12 m and groupers along its length
Gorgonians on the vertical north wall of a submerged island
Steps from the lighthouse car park into the cape's main shore dive
Reef
Shallow cove diving at the foot of the Cabo de Palos lighthouse
Intact 1946 orange freighter, forecastle at 28 m, stern at 45
Similar dives elsewhere
An offshore sec in the current, 25 m up to 19 m
The sec du Pelu, renamed for the groupers that hold on it
A 40 m rocky canyon through a submerged mountain
Serpent stars that turn from black to red under a torch