THE HERMIT'S CAVE

Going east beyond Punta Bussego, the rocky wall features a fissure known as the Grotta dell'Eremita(The Hermit's Cave).
Unfortunately, despite this name, underwater we don't find a cave, but instead an environment characterized by boulders that offer shelter to numerous fish and benthic organisms.

We begin the dive by descending along the buoy chain to about 18 meters, finning eastward over a detrital seabed interrupted by large rocks that are worth exploring.
At a depth of 20 meters we come across two large rocky monoliths that are punctured in multiple places to permit us to pass inside.
The face is completely blanketed with the yellow flowering of the Leptosammia pruvoti, colonies of false coral (Myriapora truncata), and encrusted sponges on which it is not rare to see large specimens of nudibranches and a few beautiful squat lobsters.
We continue our dive, finning further to the east, and on the mixed muddy Poseidonion bed we may see a few specimens of Pinna nobilis, which can easily reach 50-60 cm in height. Taking care not to bump them, which will make them close their valves, we may find small crabs or shrimps by examining their interiors.
We then head back along the rocky slide and finish the dive in shallow water near the submerged cave in the tranquil little bay protected from watercraft traffic.

Difficulty: intermediate, Seabed: wall