Cabo Tiñoso (La Azohía, Isla Plana & Puerto de Mazarrón) · Spain · Seamount · Artificial reef
Bajo de Emilio
A ridge crest at 14 m with a statue on the seabed below
Area photo: Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Bajo de Emilio is a submarine mountain ridge a nautical mile off Puerto de Mazarrón, its crest at 13 to 14 m and its south face dropping to 32 m. The ground around it has been added to deliberately: small wooden wrecks, a submerged statue known as La Diosa de los Mares, a memorial monolith, and fishing boats sunk under controlled conditions.
Where it is and how deep
37.5529° N, 1.2395° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The bajo is a ridge of underwater mountain whose crest stands at 13 to 14 m and whose south face falls away to 32 m, five minutes out from the port. Take the deep face early, working the base of the rock where the biggest fish hold, then bring the dive back up over the crest — the shape of the site makes that the obvious ascent and leaves the shallow ground for the end.
The life is why the operator calls this a unique ecosystem: groupers, conger and moray in the rock, octopus over it, large dentex and ocean sunfish out in the water, bull rays across the ground, slipper lobster in the cracks and nudibranchs for anyone diving slowly. Scattered among all that are the man-made pieces — small wooden wrecks and the statue known as La Diosa de los Mares, or La Gorda — with the monolith to Emilio nearby.
Background
The bajo carries Emilio's name, and a monolith commemorating him stands nearby. Several small wooden wrecks lie on the ground around the ridge along with a submerged statue known as La Diosa de los Mares — the Goddess of the Seas — or simply La Gorda. The site is still being added to: fishing boats are sunk here under controlled conditions to extend the ground.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Nudibranchs
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Cabo Tiñoso (La Azohía, Isla Plana & Puerto de Mazarrón): June to September is the comfortable window, and visibility can reach 30 m against a 15 m average; centres run trips year-round, with winter water near 15 °C.
Sources
- Bajo de Emilio — Scubago — Scubago
- Guía de puntos de buceo en Mazarrón y en la Reserva Marina de Cabo Tiñoso — Buceo Hispania
More dive sites in Cabo Tiñoso (La Azohía, Isla Plana & Puerto de Mazarrón)
Seamount
A shoal topping out at 10 m with a 30 m drop and hard backlight
Reef
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Seamount
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Reef
Cobbles and posidonia at 6 m, a rocky wall out to 20 m
A reddish cut in the Cabo Tiñoso cliffs, down to 30 m
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An island wall from 2 m to 18 m over posidonia meadow
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