Portofino Marine Reserve · Italy · Wall · Cave & cavern
Testa del Leone
A wall to nearly 40 m under a rock shaped like a lion's head
Area photo: Stefan Schäfer, Lich · CC BY-SA 4.0
Named for the rock above the waterline, which reads as a lion's muzzle with its mouth open. Below it a wall drops to nearly 40 m over sandy and pebbled bottom broken by irregular, algae-covered boulders, and a small cave with a narrow entrance opens at about 12 m. Red coral, yellow anemones, groupers, dentex and barracuda are all part of the dive.
Where it is and how deep
44.3082° N, 9.1837° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The mooring sits under the rock the site is named for, and the dive starts down its underwater continuation: a wall that runs to nearly 40 m, standing over sandy or pebbled bottom broken by irregular boulders covered in algae. The reserve publishes the shallow end as 6 to 8 m and the deep end as 30 to 35 m, so the profile is yours to pick — most groups settle on one depth along the face and work it.
Work the face. Moray eels and conger eels shelter in the wall crevices, red coral grows on the shaded rock, and yellow anemones — Parazoanthus axinellae — pick out the outcrops, with sea urchins over the shallower stone. Groupers, dentex and sea bream patrol the wall, barracuda pass above it, and lobsters and small galateas sit back in the holes in the boulder ground.
At about 12 m there is a cave worth the detour, entered through a small, narrow opening into a chamber that develops upward. It is the part of the dive that needs deliberate handling: going up inside means your gas expands and buoyancy runs away from you if you are not on top of it. Most dives finish here in the bright shallow rock before ascending inside the 50 m circle.
Marine life and season
- Groupers
- Barracuda
- Reef fish swarms
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Portofino Marine Reserve: May–Oct is the settled season; visibility is often best in late autumn, and winter storms close the exposed southern walls.
Know before you go
- The cave at about 12 m has a small, narrow entrance and develops upward, so buoyancy has to be managed carefully inside it to avoid an uncontrolled ascent.
Dive videos
Testa del Leone 2 agosto 2017 Promontorio Portofino · Michele De Gregorio on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Testa del Leone?+
The reserve publishes 6 to 8 m at the shallow end and 30 to 35 m at the deep end, and the wall itself carries on down to nearly 40 m. The cave sits at about 12 m, so a shallower profile still gets the best of the site.
Sources
- Testa del Leone (11) — dive site — Area Marina Protetta di Portofino
- Testa del Leone (OSM node) — OpenStreetMap
More dive sites in Portofino Marine Reserve
Wall
Probably the finest red coral colony in the reserve
Wall
Rare false black coral on the points at 50 m
Cave & cavern
Three caves, the deepest at 30–35 m ringed with red coral
A 2.5 m bronze Christ standing on the seabed at 17 m
Wall
A submerged tunnel through the rock at 18 m
Red coral and lobster on the rocks out towards open water
Wall
A shrimp-filled cave at 37 m under a rock headland
Large red gorgonians on the slope under the lighthouse
Similar dives elsewhere
The park's best-known walls, and a cave with an air pocket
Tunnels, canyons and walls down to a plateau facing open water
Stepped platforms, a chimney-tunnel and gorgonian walls
Drop-offs and caves that carry on down to 40 m