The Amphorae Caves

Cave Dive

The Amphorae Caves

The Amphorae Caves are a wonderful afternoon dive in fairly shallow waters which descend down to just 12 meters making this an ideal location for every level of diver, from PADI Scuba Diver or equivalent. There are a number of caves to explore, including the one with the amphorae encrusted roof. The American team of archaeologists who investigated this site believe that this was created by movements in the sea bed over the last two thousand years.

The diving starts between magnificent Poseidon sea grass meadows in which damsel fish (Chromis chromis) and seabream (Diplodus puntazzo, D sargus ans D. vulgaris) find a nursery and nutrition place.

During this Dive you can discover scorpion fish hiding amongst the seaweed and invertibrates lying in wait for their next victim such as blennies and crustations. They have large ridged heads and venimous spines on their back and fins. Therefore, attention must be paid to your buoyancy, if you need help why not complete your “Perfomance Boyancy Speciality Course” during your holiday. Scorpion fish are much camouflaged with tassels, wards and coloured specks and can change their colour too. Once out of the last cavern, the Amphorae Cave, in which you can find the encrusted amphorae, you can pass through the sea grass meadows until you reach the big sand patch, where there is still an ancient Roman anchor, which provides a great refuge for octopus. Mobile bottoms, sand or sand mixed with mud host a considerable number of organisms: little shells, cone-shaped piles of polychaetes worms (Arenicola spp.) cuttlefish, star fish and hidden fish (Trachinus spp. Bothus spp. and Solea supp.)