Grotta delle Cipree

A magical dive visiting a gigantic air chamber with a beach composed of cowries and an astonishing view on the emerald colour pallete presented at the mouth of the cave.

 

On the southern side of the Punta Gavazzi of the island of Ustica lies this marvellous cave‚ characterized by its gigantic air chamber and its internal beach composed of cowry shells.

Our dive starts with a descend towards a depth of 19m‚ where the large entrance of the cave presents. Its floor is composed of a sandy substrate that slowly slopes upwards as we follow it along an enter the cave. Lacking in daylight‚ marine life inside the cave is scarce‚ but various types of crabs‚ orange shrimps and unicorn shrimp can be observed along its walls and ceiling. Towards the back end of the cave‚ the seabed is composed of rocks that steeply ascends and guides us right towards the air chamber where we can surface. Floating at the surface‚ we can swim towards the centre of the major chamber while admiring the ceiling far above us‚ which is decorated with stalactites and tree roots that that poke out from the grounds above. At the back end of this major chamber we find a large beach that is composed of cowry shells.

From here‚ we take a tunnel shaped exit‚ which takes us back into the underwater chamber of the cave. As we make our way towards the exit‚ we stop for just a few minutes to view the astonishing play of lights and emerald colours presented at the mouth of the cave.

At the exit of the cave lies a landscape of posidonia seagrass and rocky reef‚ giving this dive a perfect finish with a few minutes of exploration‚ where we can usually admire scorpion fish‚ various types of wrasses‚ nudibranchs and shoals of seabream.