LOCATION AND ACCESS: In the area of Cala Flores, in the town of Cabo de Palos there are some rocky formations that end in the Isla del Descargador. Continuing the line out at sea a bajo (underwater mountain formation) will appear suddenly in the middle of a sandy area. It’s accessible swimming but it’s better to go by boat to easily carry the diving equipment.
MINIMUM DEPTH: -4 meters (-13,1 feet)
MAXIMUM DEPTH: – 15 meters (-49,2 feet)
MINIMUM DEGREE: SCUBA DIVER
MORPHOLOGY: A small slab shaped bajo (underwater mountain formation) that rests on a great sandy area that has Neptune grass growing on one of it’s sides.
BOTTOM TYPE AND CONDITIONS: The bajo is surrounded by fine and clean sand, but if we go more than 50 meters from the bajo, the sandy area begins to be covered by algae that looks very similar to grass, so it will seem like we are diving over a prairie. The rocky mountain formation is covered in algae, sponges, anemones, orange coral, yellow sea whip, madrepora, and Neptune grass among other species.
Since there is no anchor point we will use the rope of our boat’s anchor, or we will go down very easily without any rope. The mountain formation can be completely seen from the surface, since the closest part to it is only at -4 meters (-13,1 feet) deep.
Depending on the experience of the group the descent will be made on one way or another. We will have different alternative immersions, like the deepest part, that emerges from a great sandy area at -15 meters (-49,2 feet) deep where we find a big vertical wall which is affected by currents (when there are any), that are the reason it’s full of life: yellow sea whips with shrimps, nudibranchs, brittle stars, some moray eels hiding in the cracks of the rock, and we can also see many brown morays. We can follow the wall ascending in one direction or the other.
On the NE face the Neptune grass grows and we will be able to find starfishes, sea urchins and, if we look closely and we are lucky we can even see sea horses. We will continue until the safety stop enjoying the light and the company of a ton of small marine life that gives color to this big rock while we finish the immersion.
SOMETHING THAT MAKES IT UNIQUE: It’s a magical place, every time we dive here there is a surprise for us. Open your eyes wide, it could be a sea horse, an electric ray (Torpedo fish), trigger fish…