Golfe de Valinco · France · Pinnacle
Sec de l'Évêque
A peak from 35 m to 12 m with gorgonians on its east face
Area photo: Valinco Drone · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Sec de l'Évêque is a peak that rises from 35 m to 12 m below the surface, with separate rock masses around it coming up to 25 m off a sandy-rocky bottom. Red gorgonians cover its east face. The Porto-Pollo centre describes numbers of grouper, corb and mostelle sharing the rock with the divers on it.
Where it is and how deep
41.6940° N, 8.7990° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The dive is built around a single peak that stands from 35 m up to 12 m below the surface. You descend on the shallow crown and work down one face, and around the base are separate rock masses rising back to 25 m off a bottom that is part sand, part rock — enough relief to spend a dive on without leaving the pinnacle.
The east face is covered in red gorgonians, so the light and the fans decide which way round you swim it. Grouper are what the operator names first here, along with corb and mostelle. The site is dived from Porto-Pollo, whose site list places it straight after Les Cathédrales on the same mid-gulf rock; that list is the only published description of it, and the position shown here is worked out from it.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Golfe de Valinco: Both centres run April to November and close for the winter; the water is about 15 °C at the edges of that season and 25 °C at its height.
Sources
- Sites et spots de plongée - Porto Pollo (archived) — 3P Porto Pollo Plongée via Wayback Machine
More dive sites in Golfe de Valinco
Wall
A rare Corsican black-coral branch in the 35 m zone
Pinnacle
Rock spires off a 45 m plateau, the tallest topping out at 9 m
Pinnacle
A pinnacle awash at the surface with a 40 m drop-off on its west face
Pinnacle
Rock towers rising from 50 m to 6 m below the surface
Reef
Red gorgonians that read blue at 30 to 45 m
A 10 m rocky reef under a Genoese watchtower
Reef
Protected training water at the dive centre's own beach
Wall
A north-south drop-off from a 5 m rock head into 45 m
Similar dives elsewhere
A chain of rock heads under the Estérel, 6 m to 40 m
Barracuda over a 2.5 m summit, gorgonians and a 2005 wreck below
Gorgonian drop-off from an 18 m rock head to 40 m
A bronze Madonna placed by devout divers stands on the rock at 12 m