Reefwander
Turquoise cove ringed by pine-covered slopes in the Tremiti islands, with small boats at anchor

Tremiti Islands · Italy · Wreck

Cala dei Benedettini

Named for the Benedictine cistern above the cove

Area photo: eric spenle · CC BY-SA 4.0

A 1st-century BC wreck listed at 25 m in Cala dei Benedettini on San Domino, one of the ancient sites on the Tremiti tourism office's roll of the archipelago's principal wrecks. Period and depth are all that is published, which puts it alongside Tre Senghe as Roman-era ground rather than a described dive.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Cala dei Benedettini: typical dive to 25 m (to 82 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit25 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

42.1168° N, 15.4836° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The record here is a single line on the archipelago's wreck list: a 1st-century BC wreck at 25 m in Cala dei Benedettini, the cove on San Domino that gives the site its name. That places it in the same Roman trade context as Tre Senghe on the island's southern side, but nothing has been published about the ship, its cargo or what is still visible on the bottom.

So this is a dive to arrange through a local operator rather than to plan from a description. Depth is the one hard number, 25 m, which makes it a single deep leg with limited bottom time. The cove itself is named for the Cisterna dei Benedettini above it. Ask the boat crew what the site actually shows before committing a dive to it, and keep the Adriatic forecast in the decision.

The wreck

Vessel
Unidentified vessel
Type
Unidentified wreck
Cause
Not published: the wreck is listed only by period, the 1st century BC, and by depth
Lies
Not published; listed at 25 m in Cala dei Benedettini on San Domino

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Cala dei Benedettini
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Off-seasonOff-seasonFairGoodGoodPrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodFairOff-season

Season follows Tremiti Islands: Operators run Apr–Oct with Jun–Sep warmest; winter bora and Adriatic swell close the ferry and the dive centres.

Sources

  1. Relitti Marini delle Isole Tremiti — Tremiti.eu
  2. Cala dei Benedettini (OpenStreetMap) — OpenStreetMap
  3. Isola di San Domino — Wikipedia (IT)

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