Cala de la Escalerica

Also known as Cala Roja, the Escalerica is the cove local clubs default to when the boats are not running. You park by the lighthouse and walk down the steps that give the site its name, kit up on the cove and swim out, which makes it the rare Cabo de Palos dive that does not depend on a harbour departure or a weather window for the crossing.

The seabed is rock, and it deepens as you leave the cove: one operator gives the maximum as 18 m, another as 20 m, so plan on the shallower figure and treat anything past it as the outer edge of the site. Clear water is the cove's other selling point, and operators call the site versatile for all levels, recommended for exactly that combination of easy access and visibility.

The ground is broken rather than plain — arches, rock and backlit gaps — and centres run up to two different routes here depending on the level of the group. Octopus and moray eels sit in the crevices, schools of salema cross the open water and dark chromis shoal over the rock, so a slow lap of the near ground gives as much as pushing out to the deeper edge, and the walk-in entry means an unhurried exit at the end.