Cala Paura (Parete Sud)

The dive

Cala Paura is a small cove on the Adriatic coast immediately north-west of Polignano a Mare's old town, with a pebble beach, a lido and a fish restaurant on it. Divers walk in from the beach, which shelves gently. The catalogue holds two pins here, one for each flank of the inlet, and they are two different routes rather than one dive listed twice: the ASD Immersion Bisceglie description gives a right-hand wall running from about 3 m down to 15 m and a left-hand wall also bottoming around 15 m. This entry is the right-hand side, the wall you keep on your shoulder swimming out of the cove towards the north-east.

The first thing you meet a few metres down is a field of small boulders that shelter a lot of small octopus. Keeping the wall on the right and descending north-east you reach 12 m within a few minutes, which ASD La Scuola del Mare gives as the maximum depth of their whole route; Go Diving, the PADI centre based on the cala itself, lists the site at 14 to 16 m. Once outside the cove the route threads between large blocks over sand and patches of rubble, with cuttlefish and small scorpionfish in the gaps and schools of two-banded seabream and clouds of damselfish over the top. The rock itself carries most of the interest: encrusting sponges in several colours, spirographs that retract when you touch them, hermit crabs working the sand between the blocks.

Further along the same line the wall opens into a crevice with a passage that runs back through to the inner cove. La Scuola del Mare rates that link as a route for experienced divers only and says the ordinary alternative is simply to turn round and swim the itinerary back. HelloApulia's operator listing puts a short, easily swum grotto at about 12 m at this site. The cove is a well-used night dive: shallow, sheltered, and dense enough in small benthic life that a torch beam finds something on every metre of wall.

This is not a protected area. Polignano's coast has 66 surveyed sea caves and a marine park has been discussed for years, but no Area Marina Protetta has been established, so there is no permit, no fee and no zoning to work around.

• Boulder field a few metres down full of small octopus
• Wall of encrusting sponges and spirographs from 3 m to about 15 m
• Through-passage back into the cove, experienced divers only
• One of the two named walls of the same cala, kept separate from the north wall
• Established local night dive

Conditions

Sheltered cove, shore entry over pebbles, generally good visibility and little current on an ordinary day according to La Scuola del Mare, though Go Diving grades the site as having medium current. Busy with bathers in summer.

On current: The two centres that publish a description of this dive do not agree on how demanding it is, and we have taken the more demanding reading. ASD La Scuola del Mare calls it a very simple dive, ideal for Open Water divers, with generally good visibility and little current. Go Diving lists Cala Paura at 14 to 16 m with medium current and Advanced certification, and recommends it as a night dive. Maximum depth is likewise given as 12 m (La Scuola del Mare), 15 m (Immersion Bisceglie) and 14 to 16 m (Go Diving); plan for the deeper figure. Both centres agree that the through-passage back into the inner cove is for experienced divers, and it is the one part of the dive that has an overhead.