Kornati Islands · Croatia · Cave & cavern
The Dome
A half cave 50 m across, sponges and soft corals overhead
Area photo: ANDREJ NEUHERZ · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Dome is a half cave in the Kornati rock, about 50 m in diameter, its ceiling covered with bright sponges and soft corals. The dive works the arch itself and then the outside edge, where red gorgonians start growing at 30 m and groupers are common. No dive depth beyond that gorgonian line is published, so the profile is set at the briefing.
Also known as Kupola.
Where it is and how deep
43.7654° N, 15.3314° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The Dome is one piece of structure rather than a route: a half cave about 50 m in diameter, open to the sea instead of closed like a true cavern. The ceiling is what divers come to look at, covered with bright sponges and soft corals that hold their colour under a torch. Groupers and Mediterranean anthias are the fish you notice around it. No mooring or entry description is published for the site, so how the boat sets you on it is briefed on the day.
The other half of the dive is the outside edge. Red gorgonians start growing there at 30 m and carry on down the face, which puts the growth at the deep end of recreational range and near the 40 m ceiling the national park applies inside its zones. The Dome is not named among the nine zones the park lists as open to diving, so where the boundary falls here, and what the dive needs, is a question for the licensed operator running it.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Kornati Islands: The park licenses diving Apr–Oct, warmest Jul–Sep; the bura wind closes the exposed outer walls at short notice.
Know before you go
- Only one depth is published for the site, the 30 m where the gorgonians start, and the face keeps going below it: agree a turn depth before you descend.
- A half cave means overhead rock with an open side rather than a swim-through, but silt, light and exit line still need checking on the briefing before you go under the ceiling.
Dive videos
Diving in the Dome · kurt leidl on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is The Dome in the Kornati?+
Red gorgonians start growing at 30 m on the outside edge, and that is the only dive depth published for the site; the half cave itself measures about 50 m in diameter. Kornati National Park caps diving in its zones at 40 m.
Sources
- The Dome (dive site) — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
- Diving and snorkelling - Kornati National Park — Kornati National Park (official)
- Kornati National Park — Wikivoyage
More dive sites in Kornati Islands
Red gorgonian colonies on the seabed instead of the wall
A terrace at 26 m packed with red fan corals and sponges
Reef
Uninhabited islet on the park's authorised diving list
Wall
A step at 30 m falling to a fan-coral plateau at 45 m
Wall
Yellow gorgonians on one face of the wall, red on the other
Wall
Beginner platform above a gorgonian drop-off starting at 30 m
Wall
Gorgonians in several colours at 35 m below a cup-coral slope
Reef
A small sponge-lined cavern at 22 m off the lighthouse islet
Similar dives elsewhere
Three caves, the deepest at 30–35 m ringed with red coral
Mediterranean red coral in a grotto at 30 to 33 m
Surface inside the cavern beneath live stalactites, lit by blue light from below
An ancient millstone at the entrance and bats roosting above the air space