Sesimbra & the Arrábida · Portugal · Reef
Pedra da Milu
Gorgonian carpet at 28–30 m where sunfish come to be cleaned
Area photo: YukioSanjo · CC BY-SA 4.0
A rock whose bottom carries gorgonians thickly enough to read as a carpet, dived from 28–30 m. Seabream and red bream hold over it, but the reason the site has a name of its own is the sunfish: they come here to be cleaned, and on a lucky day that is what you go home with.
Where it is and how deep
38.4068° N, 9.1915° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The dive here usually begins at 28–30 m, and the first thing you see is the gorgonian cover: a large variety of them, close enough together that the seabed reads as a coloured carpet rather than as individual fans. On a coast whose seabed is rock and not coral, this is as close as Sesimbra gets to a garden.
Seabream and red bream work the water over the gorgonians, but the thing worth hanging on for is the sunfish. They come to this spot to be cleaned, so the encounter is a matter of being in the right place at the right time rather than of searching — hold position and let one come in rather than going after it. At 28–30 m the clock is short, and the ascent has to be planned into the dive rather than bolted on at the end.
Marine life and season
- Mola mola
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Sesimbra & the Arrábida: Aug–Oct is the warmest window; sheltered bay sites are diveable all year, but cape-facing sites take Atlantic swell in any month.
Sources
- Pedra da Milu — Scubago — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
More dive sites in Sesimbra & the Arrábida
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Low rock with lost anchors on the bottom at 15–18 m
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Cape walls at 12–15 m strewn with River Gurara debris
Wreck
The shallower half of the River Gurara, at 23 m
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