Kornati Islands · Croatia · Wall
Kasela
Gorgonians in several colours at 35 m below a cup-coral slope
Area photo: ANDREJ NEUHERZ · CC BY-SA 3.0
Kasela is one of the nine zones where Kornati National Park allows diving, and the dive is a drop-off with a hilly slope below it. Low hills under the lip are overgrown with Carophyllia cup coral, a ridge branches off at about 20 m, and following it down leads to a field of gorgonians at 35 m in several different colours.
Where it is and how deep
43.7323° N, 15.3903° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Kasela is dived over the drop-off, and the shape of it briefs in a sentence: keep the rock on your left and go down. The ground below the lip is broken into low hills rather than one clean face, and the hills are overgrown with Carophyllia cup coral. At about 20 m a ridge branches away from the main slope, and that ridge is the line the rest of the dive follows.
Follow the hill down along the ridge and the cup coral gives way to gorgonians — a field of them at 35 m, in several different colours. That is the deepest point of the plan and the turn, and the park allows nothing below 40 m in any case. Come back up the ridge onto the shallower hills, where there is more light on the cup coral, and finish the dive working along the top of the drop-off.
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 | 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
- The gorgonian field at 35 m is only five metres above the park's 40 m limit and easy to overrun on ground that keeps sloping away: fix a turn depth before you descend rather than on the ridge.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the dive at Kasela?+
The ridge branches off the drop-off at about 20 m and the gorgonian field is at 35 m, which is the deepest point published for the site. Kornati National Park limits all diving to 40 m.
Is Kasela inside Kornati National Park?+
Yes. Kasela is listed as one of the nine zones in which the park allows diving. Individual scuba diving is prohibited there, so the dive has to be booked through an organiser licensed by the park.
Sources
- Kasela (dive site) — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
- Diving and snorkelling - Kornati National Park — Kornati National Park (official)
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
Reef
A small sponge-lined cavern at 22 m off the lighthouse islet
One of nine zones where the park authorises diving
Similar dives elsewhere
Wall
Abyssal
Lefkada & Meganisi · Greece
A sheer vertical face hung with corals and sponges
Flat reef to 18 m, then a wall to about 40 m
A 3-8 m plateau, then a wall the catalogue traces past 90 m
A drop-off with an overhang shaped like an amphitheatre