Mediterranean · Italy
Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast
Sea caves, walls and shoals on Salento's Ionian coast
Photo: Raffaele Martano · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Ionian coast of Salento from Punta Prosciutto past Porto Cesareo to Porto Selvaggio, much of it inside the Porto Cesareo marine protected area. The diving is a mix of sea caves, walls, shoals and a wreck: the two chambers of the Grotta del Camino, the tunnel at Punta Lea, the wall at Porto Selvaggio, the cerianthus forest of the Grotta dei Cerianthus and the remains of the Neuralia. Dives run in every season, for every level of certification.
About diving in Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast
Almost all dives are made a few miles off the coast, so boat rides are short, and some sites are dived from shore beside high cliffs. Because the area is protected and easy to reach from any direction, night dives are practical, and dives run in every season of the year. North of Porto Cesareo, the rocky shore at the northern end of Punta Prosciutto beach is suited to independent diving, over seabed that is not deep.
Off Porto Cesareo and Torre Lapillo the seabed is mostly sand, with rocky stretches that make for simple dives, while between Torre Inserraglio and Porto Selvaggio high cliffs drop in places straight into deep water. Walls, caves and tunnels cut into that southern stretch, and the Torre Uluzzo shoal carries thick parazoanthus colonies and coralligenous growth. History lies on the bottom too: First World War bombs at the Isola della Chianca and Roman columns at the Isola dei Conigli.
Less experienced divers have options: the Grotta del Camino lets photographers and newer divers surface at any moment, and the seabed off Torre Inserraglio allows simple dives at small depths. The more demanding dives between Torre Inserraglio and Porto Selvaggio, at about 11 to 20 m, call for experience and knowledge of diving, as do the boat sites off Porto Cesareo where the depth varies.
Best time to dive Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good |
Dives run all year; the sea is warmest from July to September and feels cold in January and February.
Dive types & marine life
Large schools of sea bream and salema swim along the Porto Selvaggio wall, and a bank beside it holds groupers, lobsters and moray eels. Groupers, sea bream and passing pelagics also gather in the Punta Lea tunnel. A few loggerhead turtles live in the Porto Cesareo marine protected area.
- Reef
- Cave & cavern
- Wall
- Wreck
- Groupers
- Sea turtles
Best dive sites in Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast
- 1
Parete di Porto Selvaggio
Mostly a wall dive, in the middle of the Porto Selvaggio park and 10 minutes out by boat.
- 2
Punta Lea
A natural tunnel down to a bright sandy bottom near 20 m, where two rock cones stand close together.
- 3
Grotta del Camino
A cave at 16 m that opens into two wide chambers.
- 4
Grotta dei Cerianthus
An easy dive to 15 m through a forest of cerianthus tube anemones.
- 5
Torre Uluzzo
A shoal inside Torre Uluzzo bay that rises for about 10 m.
- 6
Neuralia
The remains of the Neuralia wreck, off the Torre Inserraglio coast.
Site guides
Wreck
A 110 m hull on open sand off Torre Inserraglio
Two rock cones on bright sand beyond a natural tunnel
Walk-in beach dive at the foot of the dive centre
How to get to Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast
The coast lies on the Ionian side of Salento in Puglia. Lecce is about 30 km from Torre Lapillo, and Porto Cesareo is a few minutes' drive away. Dive centres sit on the main road from Torre Lapillo to Porto Cesareo and in Porto Cesareo, and centres based at Santa Caterina di Nardò dive the stretch south to Porto Selvaggio.
Photos from Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast
Romano Gianluca · CC BY-SA 4.0
Itagi1970 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Questions divers ask
Can divers dive from shore at Porto Cesareo?+
Yes, some of the sites are dived from shore beside high cliffs; the others are reached by boat, almost all of them a few miles off the coast.
Are the Porto Cesareo caves suitable for newer divers?+
The Grotta dei Cerianthus is an easy dive to 15 m, and the Grotta del Camino lets divers surface at any moment, which suits less experienced divers and photographers.
Is the Porto Cesareo coast protected?+
Yes. The sea off Porto Cesareo was made a national marine park for the wealth of its waters, and the centres dive inside the marine protected area.
Sources
- Orca Diving Center - immersioni Porto Cesareo — Orca Diving Center
- Sasà Sub Diving Center — SasaSub
- Immersioni presso Porto Cesareo — Punta Prosciutto
- 10 fondali e immersioni in Puglia — puglia.com
- Porto Cesareo — Wikipedia
- Porto Cesareo Average Sea Temperatures — Sea Temperatures
Photo credits
- Aerial view straight down on a heart-shaped rocky islet ringed by dark shoals in clear turquoise water, two small boats nearby by Raffaele Martano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aerial view of a low sandy islet with green scrub, rocky shallows and clear blue-green water around it by Romano Gianluca, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Two white and blue boats moored on calm water off a low wooded island at dawn, with yellow buoys by Itagi1970, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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