Italy · June 2015
Portofino Marine Park – Three Days, Six Dives
Three days diving the Portofino Marine Protected Area in June 2015 — six sites covering the Cristo statue, the red coral walls, the Mohawk Deer wreck, and the outer reef structures of Secca Gonzatti, Altare, Vessinaro, and Testa del Leone.
Day one — Cristo Degli Abissi and Secca Gonzatti
Cristo Degli Abissi opens the trip. A short boat crossing from the Portofino marina brings the dive boat into the bay at San Fruttuoso, where the abbey stands without road access at the base of the headland. The Cristo — a bronze statue placed in 1954 at 17 metres on a sandy bottom — is the defining site of the Portofino MPA. The descent resolves the statue at around 10 metres: arms first, then the full figure emerging out of the blue-green water, two and a half metres tall on its plinth. The 50-minute dive covered the statue from multiple angles, the surrounding rockwork holding grouper, conger, and octopus at the base. Max depth 18m. Visibility 10m. No current.
Secca Gonzatti follows after the surface interval. A reef structure at 20 metres with dense algae cover and a consistent population of two-banded sea bream moving in loose circuits along the wall face. The site is quieter than Cristo and rewards attention to the smaller details — nudibranchs in the crevices, scorpionfish motionless against the rock. Duration 48 minutes.
Day two — Mohawk Deer and Altare
Mohawk Deer is the deepest site of the trip at 32.4m and the only wreck — a cargo vessel resting upright on a sandy bottom outside the immediate bay. The superstructure is intact and the hull heavily colonised; large grouper hold in the mid-ship shadows. The wreck sits at the edge of comfortable sport diving depth and the 57-minute dive used the available bottom time efficiently before a gradual ascent along the hull to the mooring line.
Altare — the altar — is a distinctive reef formation at 20 metres named for the flat-topped rock structure that defines the site. Covered in Corallium rubrum colonies on the shaded faces, it represents the clearest evidence on this trip of the MPA's conservation effect. The red coral grows slowly — centimetres per decade — and its recovery inside the protected boundary is visible in the density and size of the colonies. Duration 48 minutes.
Day three — Vessinaro and Testa del Leone
Vessinaro at 25 metres is a longer wall structure with overhangs and crevices holding resident marine life — large grouper parked under the overhangs, moray eels visible in the cracks. The dive runs along the wall's southern face before returning up the slope at reduced depth. Duration 52 minutes. Visibility 10m.
Testa del Leone — the Lion's Head — closes the trip. A rock pinnacle at 25.5 metres off the outer headland, exposed enough to concentrate pelagic interest above the reef: amberjack and barracuda in the water column, a large grouper holding station at the peak. The topography is the most dramatic of the six sites, the rock dropping steeply on the offshore side into deeper water. Duration 46 minutes. Six dives completed; total bottom time across the trip 301 minutes.
Italy in Pictures
Il Cristo degli Abissi silhouetted from below — diver bubbles rising past the outstretched arms toward the surface at 17 metres
Il Cristo degli Abissi from the front — anemones on the hands, wrasse working the folds of the robe
Sea bream along the algae-covered wall at Secca dell'Isola — fish density noticeably higher inside the protected boundary
Ascending the vertical wall — bubbles rising into blue-green Ligurian water
Snakelocks anemone on the Portofino reef — blue-tipped tentacles found on every sheltered wall inside the MPA