Secca di Punta Papa

This is a dive that starts where most recreational dives end. The cap of the bank is at 32 to 33 m and the rock falls to a flat bottom at 55 m and to 58 m at its deepest, so the descent is through open water outside the bay of Cala Feola, and Ponza Diving takes only its most experienced divers here. Plan it as a decompression dive on open circuit or a rebreather with the gas to match. Ponza Diving's route runs westward along a crevice full of lobsters at around 45 m before reaching the bank itself.

Cross the crest at 33 m and work the sheer face at your planned depth. The rock is dressed in red gorgonians over a metre high and large yellow sponges, sea urchins sit on the ledges and lobsters look out of the holes; at 40 m a small cave holds part of a lead Roman anchor, left where it fell. Dentex and barracuda pass over the shallow cap. When the run time is up, the ascent and the long decompression are usually made on the LST 349 wreck and the wall beside it, with the last stop at 3 m; Ponza Diving quotes total times of around two and a half hours.