Capo Caccia & Nereo Cave · Italy · Reef · Wall
Isola Foradada
Two rock towers on a 30 m bottom, and a wall passage at 5 m
Photo: Gianni Careddu · CC BY-SA 4.0
Isola Foradada is the pierced islet off the north-west tip of Capo Caccia, inside the marine protected area that takes in the cape. It is dived at two points on opposite sides of the rock - a deeper one on the north side among large detached boulders, a shallower wall on the south-west - and both are short boat runs from Alghero or from the bay of Porto Conte.
Also known as Isola Foradada Dolmen, Isola Foradada Punta Timone.
Where it is and how deep
40.5705° N, 8.1511° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The north side of the islet is the Dolmen dive. Two large rock formations stand about 8 m proud of a bottom lying at 25-30 m, and the profile works around them rather than along the shore - down to the sand, around the bases, then up and over the tops. The rock carries sponges and coral growth, and because the structures are discrete the navigation is a matter of keeping them in sight and working your way back up as the dive runs on.
The south-west side is dived as Punta Timone. The route runs along the whole length of the wall out to the extreme tip of the islet and rounds it; at 5 m a passage through the rock leads back onto the wall, so the return retraces the way you came at a shallower depth. It is the easier of the two profiles and the one that suits a second dive of the day after the deeper north side.
Both are boat dives. Foradada lies off the north-west tip of Capo Caccia, inside the Capo Caccia - Isola Piana marine protected area, which runs from Punta delle Gessiere in the north to Capo Galera in the south, and the run out from Alghero or from the bay of Porto Conte is a short one. The cape faces open water with nothing in front of it, so the state of the sea on that side, rather than the dive itself, decides whether the boat goes.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Capo Caccia & Nereo Cave: May–Oct is the settled season; winter mistral and north-westerlies make the exposed cape unworkable for weeks at a time.
Know before you go
- The Dolmen dive reaches a bottom at 25-30 m: plan the deeper part of the circuit first and finish shallow over the tops of the rocks.
Photos from Isola Foradada
Stefano Fiaschi · CC BY-SA 2.5
No machine-readable author provided. Bol2030 assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain
Vtummu · CC BY-SA 3.0
Dive videos
18.09.15 Punta Timone (Isola Foradada) · Francesco Manca on YouTube
Dolmen - Isola Foradada · Dive Different - Lago Maggiore on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the diving at Isola Foradada?+
The deeper of the two dives, the Dolmen on the north side, works a bottom at 25-30 m with two large rock formations standing about 8 m above it. The Punta Timone route on the south-west side is shallower, with a passage through the rock at 5 m.
Can you dive Isola Foradada from shore?+
No. The islet sits off the north-west tip of Capo Caccia and is reached by boat from Alghero or from the bay of Porto Conte, so the crossing depends on the sea state on the exposed side of the cape.
Sources
- Isola Foradada Dolmen dive site — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
- Isola Foradada Punta Timone dive site — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
- Area naturale marina protetta Capo Caccia - Isola Piana — Wikipedia
- OpenStreetMap: Isola Foradada — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Isola Foradada, a low limestone island off Capo Caccia, seen across open water by Gianni Careddu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sunlight through the natural rock arch that tunnels through Isola Foradada by Stefano Fiaschi, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
- Isola Foradada under an overcast sky, viewed from the Capo Caccia headland by No machine-readable author provided. Bol2030 assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Isola Foradada framed by coastal pine and scrub in the foreground by Vtummu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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