
Istria · Croatia · Cave & cavern
Kap Kamenjak Caves
Shallow caves at 3 to 8 m inside Kamenjak Nature Park
Area photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0
Kolumbarice, the cave set at Cape Kamenjak, lies inside Kamenjak Nature Park at the southern tip of Istria. The caves open between 3 and 8 metres and the site bottoms out at 18. It is also the longest regular run on this coast: roughly 45 minutes by boat from the Orca diving centre.
Also known as Kolumbarice.
Where it is and how deep
44.7679° N, 13.9162° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Getting there is most of the commitment. The transfer from the Orca diving centre runs close to 45 minutes each way, so this is dived as a trip in its own right rather than squeezed in beside a morning on the house reef. What the journey buys is a shallow, unhurried dive at the southern tip of Istria, inside a protected nature park.
The caves themselves sit between 3 and 8 metres, shallow enough that gas consumption stops being the limiting factor, and the deepest ground on the site is at 18 metres. That combination makes for a long dive: work the openings first, drop to the rock below them, and spend the end of the dive back up shallow where the caves are.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Istria: The main season runs 1 May to 31 October; the sea passes 20°C from mid-June to September, and a few sites are diveable only outside the high season.
Sources
- Kap Kamenjak - caves — Scubago
More dive sites in Istria
Wall
A 200 m wall under sponges, bryozoans and soft corals
Wreck
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Wreck
A 40 m cargo wreck on the sand off the San Giovanni light
Reef
A terraced plateau reef that few boats visit
Reef
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Yellow anemones and sponges on the Sv. Ivan north wall
Similar dives elsewhere
A 50 m training cavern at 17 m, 15 minutes from Moraira port
An air dome at the end of the first cave
A 30 m tunnel through the cliffs from 6 m, plus a cavern with an air bubble
Narrow swim-throughs and a small air pocket inside the rock, 18 m max



