Punta Falconera

Punta Falconera is made up of two diving areas, and the choice between them sets the whole dive. Falconera west is stepped platforms running from 3 m down to 42 m with a reef section up to 24 m, and behind it a second reef and walls to 42 m that the local centres mark for experienced divers. Falconera east covers much the same range, on walls populated by gorgonians. The published depth range for the route as a whole is 20 to 45 m.

The ground descends quite steeply and there is only a small platform in the eastern area, full of stones and boulders shed from the coast, so there is little level bottom to work from once you are off the top. One published description puts that platform at 18 m and the cliff below it dropping from 18 to 36 m, with the reef running out to 45 m. The terrain also holds a chimney-tunnel, which is what the site is known for besides the walls.

The walls are the reason to come: gorgonians and red coral on the rock, with groupers, gilthead, mullets and conger eels sheltering in it, and catsharks a common find. Over the platform and among the boulders there are octopus, cuttlefish, crabs, scorpionfish, sponges and nudibranchs, which is where the site earns its macro reputation. The shallow platforms make an easy version of the dive; the walls are a different plan.