Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast · Italy · Cave & cavern · Reef
Punta Lea
Two rock cones on bright sand beyond a natural tunnel
Photo: Cesare Barillà · CC BY-SA 4.0
Punta Lea is a tunnel dive on the Nardò coast of Salento, where a natural cavity in the rock opens into an underwater passage. The route leads out to a bright sandy bottom with two rock cones standing close together, and the tunnel holds schools of white seabream and groupers.
Where it is and how deep
40.1478° N, 17.9699° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The dive begins at a natural cavity that runs into a tunnel through the rock. Inside, schools of white seabream gather with groupers, passing open-water fish and wreckfish. Beyond it the route drops to a sandy bottom at about 20 m, very bright, where two rock cones rise a short distance apart.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast: Dives run all year; the sea is warmest from July to September and feels cold in January and February.
Dive videos
Immersione "Punta Lea" con Diving Costa Del Sud · Diving17 on YouTube
Notturna Punta Lea · Stefano Morabito on YouTube
Sources
- Immersioni presso Porto Cesareo in Salento — PuntaProsciutto.com
- Porto Cesareo e Gallipoli: relitti, secche e grotte — SUB magazine
- Baia di Porto Selvaggio — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Aerial view of a long narrow inlet of deep blue water between rocky shores and pine forest, a few kayaks on the water by Cesare Barillà, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Porto Cesareo & the Nardò Coast
Wreck
A 110 m hull on open sand off Torre Inserraglio
Walk-in beach dive at the foot of the dive centre
Similar dives elsewhere
Cave & cavern
Fara
Lesbos · Greece
A round cave chamber lined with red, yellow and orange sponges
Cave & cavern
La Cattedrale
Santa Maria di Leuca · Italy
Mushroom-shaped boulders leading into the submerged part of a sea cave
Into a cave through its roof, out through its mouth at 18 m
Linked chambers and arches beneath the Kleftiko sea caves