Cabo Tiñoso (La Azohía, Isla Plana & Puerto de Mazarrón) · Spain · Reef · Wall
Cala Abierta
Two dives in one cove: 20 m to the west, canyons to the east
Area photo: Ximonic (Simo Räsänen) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cala Abierta is really two dives, depending on which side of the cove the boat sits. The western half is gentle and never passes 20 m; the eastern half is abrupt, with walls and canyons to 30 m and a small shoal topping out at 6 m whose vertical sides drop to 28 m. The bottom throughout is rock, sand and gravel with wide posidonia meadow.
Where it is and how deep
37.5421° N, 1.1479° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
Which dive you get depends on which side of the cove you are dropped. To the west the ground is gentle and never passes 20 m, which is why that half takes the beginners: a slow, shallow route over mixed rock, sand and gravel with wide posidonia meadow between, and enough to look at that nobody needs the depth to make the dive worthwhile.
The eastern side is a different piece of ground — abrupt, cut by walls and canyons that reach 30 m, with a small shoal that tops out at 6 m and drops on vertical sides to 28 m. Both halves reward searching rather than swimming: life hides down in the posidonia, octopus sit among the rocks, and the meadows hold fan mussels, Pinna nobilis. If you are lucky, dentex show out in the blue.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
| 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
- Cala Abierta — 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)
Reef
An island wall from 2 m to 18 m over posidonia meadow
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
A cove sheltered from wind and swell, 10 m to 30 m
Towers of rock and posidonia meadow from 6 m to 28 m
Wall
A vertical rock wall under an old cliff-top mine
Seamount
A submerged rock arch at 5–8 m with a shoal running south
Seamount
A shoal topping out at 10 m with a 30 m drop and hard backlight
Similar dives elsewhere
Two faces of a rocky islet: boulders to 26 m, Posidonia shallows and barracuda shoals
A drop-off from about 10 m to 33 m, then a seagrass bed
The sheltered fallback dive when the Tramontane blows
Swim beneath the surviving span of a collapsed sea cavern