SeaLogItaly · reef
A granite rock eroded into the shape of a ship's bow off Isola dei Cavoli, dropping to about 40 m. Despite the name, there is no Roman wreck here.
This catalogue holds two entries for the same place, 150 m apart: 'Roman Ship - Isola dei Cavoli' and 'Isola dei Cavoli' (slug italy-la-nave). They came from two different source catalogues and describe the same dive, the one Italian divers call la Nave dei Cavoli. Read them as one site.
The name is also the site's biggest misunderstanding. La Nave is not a shipwreck. The MPA's own itinerary describes a granite mass eroded into the shape of a ship's bow; the 'Roman ship' label is a translation of the rock's nickname, not a cargo of amphorae. A genuine 1st-century AD Roman ship carrying building material is reported to have sunk on sand at about 30 m somewhere off the Villasimius coast, and a 15th-century Aragonese vessel wrecked near the island and was excavated in 1989-1991, its bombards and Manises ceramics now in the Villasimius museum. Neither is this dive, and no source describes amphorae here.
What you actually dive is the granite of the Variglioni dei Cavoli: a bow-shaped rock above water and, below it, a slope of boulders and rockfall that keeps dropping to about 40 m, so the same site can be run at several depths. The shallows carry dense Cystoseira algae where mullet and wrasse feed, with large colonies of the stony coral Cladocora caespitosa on the rock. Deeper down come sponges, bryozoans and gorgonians, some of the dead gorgonian skeletons colonised by parasitic alcyonarians. Groupers and breams are abundant and corvina school in the shade of the blocks.
OBIS occurrence records for this stretch of the Sardinian coast are ordinary western Mediterranean rocky-reef fauna and match that description: ornate wrasse, white and two-banded seabream, saddled seabream, dusky grouper, salema, painted comber, damselfish, common octopus, Mediterranean moray and red starfish. The mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca also shows up in numbers, which is a summer surface consideration rather than a bottom one.
A short move away, the Madonna del Naufrago sits at 11 m: a trachyte statue over 3 m tall by Pinuccio Sciola, placed in 1979, with an underwater mass held at its base each July. The MPA lists it as a separate itinerary requiring no certification level, and it is shallow enough to snorkel.
Boat dive. Isola dei Cavoli is an offshore island at the tip of Capo Carbonara reached only by boat, and every authorised centre runs it as a boat trip from Villasimius. There are no facilities at the site. Moor on the MPA's structures rather than anchoring on seagrass.
Access to the site runs through a local operator.
Marine Protected Area: diving requires prior authorisation from the managing body and, in the more protected zones, must be guided. Book through one of the MPA's authorised centres.
Inside the Area Marina Protetta Capo Carbonara, established by DM 7 February 2012 no. 60 and managed by the Comune di Villasimius. The MPA is zoned A, B, C and D. Diving with or without breathing apparatus is allowed only in zones C and D and only with prior authorisation from the managing body; in zones A and B unaccompanied diving is prohibited and only guided visits run by an authorised centre are permitted. The MPA publishes a list of 11 authorised diving centres and 23 recommended itineraries, each with a required certification level. Which zone the waters at Isola dei Cavoli fall in is not stated on the MPA's own zoning page, so treat the dive as authorisation-based either way and book through an authorised centre. Spearfishing is banned in all zones, nothing may be taken or damaged, speed is limited to 5 knots within 300 m of shore, and anchoring is only permitted on sand free of seagrass or on the MPA's mooring structures. Any submerged archaeological material in Italian waters is protected under D.Lgs. 42/2004 and may not be moved or removed; the 15th-century Aragonese wreck found near the island was excavated in 1989-1991 under the Cagliari Soprintendenza.
A granite slope of boulders and rockfall running from the seagrass shallows to about 40 m, worked at whatever depth the group is rated for. No published current or visibility figures exist for the site, so none are given. The mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca appears in local occurrence records in numbers and is a summer surface consideration.
On current: No dive centre or authority publishes a current figure for this site, so none is recorded.
Yes, as far as every source we can find goes. The two entries sit 150 m apart at the same island and came from two different source catalogues. Italian divers call the place la Nave dei Cavoli, and both records point at it.
No. The Marine Protected Area's own itinerary describes a granite mass eroded into the shape of a ship's bow, which is where the name comes from. A 1st-century AD Roman ship is reported to have sunk on sand at about 30 m somewhere off the Villasimius coast, and a 15th-century Aragonese vessel wrecked near the island and was excavated between 1989 and 1991, but neither of those is this dive and no source describes amphorae at the site.
The MPA describes the seabed dropping rapidly through boulders and rockfall to about 40 m, with several possible routes at different depths. That means the same site can be run shallow or deep, but it also means the bottom keeps going, so the profile needs planning rather than following.
Only by boat, from Villasimius. Isola dei Cavoli lies off the tip of Capo Carbonara inside the Marine Protected Area, which allows diving only with prior authorisation from the managing body and prohibits unaccompanied diving in its more protected zones. The MPA publishes a list of 11 authorised diving centres; book through one of them.
Diving in the MPA requires authorisation from the managing body, which in practice you obtain through an authorised diving centre when you book. The MPA does not publish a public tariff for recreational diving authorisations, so we do not quote a figure. Spearfishing is banned throughout, and nothing may be taken or damaged.
The shallows are dense Cystoseira algae grazed by mullet and wrasse, with large colonies of the stony coral Cladocora caespitosa on the granite. Deeper you get sponges, bryozoans and gorgonians. Groupers and breams are abundant and corvina school in the shade of the blocks. OBIS records for the area add ornate wrasse, seabreams, painted comber, octopus and Mediterranean moray.
The shallow granite and seagrass at the top of the site are within snorkelling range, but you are on a boat to get there and the MPA regulates what happens in the water. The nearby Madonna del Naufrago at 11 m is the better snorkel: the MPA lists it as requiring no certification level.
It is a separate MPA itinerary beside the same island: a trachyte statue over 3 m tall by Pinuccio Sciola, placed in 1979 at 11 m, with an underwater mass at its base each July. Some operators quote 10 or 12 m; the MPA's own page says 11 m.
| Species | How often | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Thalassoma pavo | occasional | 18 |
| Oblada melanurus | occasional | 15 |
| Diplodus sargus | occasional | 15 |
| Diplodus vulgaris | occasional | 14 |
| Sarpa salpa | occasional | 12 |
| Epinephelus marginatus | occasional | 12 |
| Serranus scriba | occasional | 11 |
| Symphodus tinca | occasional | 10 |
| Pelagia noctiluca | occasional | 10 |
| Sparus aurata | occasional | 9 |
| Coris julis | occasional | 8 |
| Peltocoxa marioni | occasional | 8 |
| Octopus vulgaris | occasional | 8 |
| Chromis chromis | occasional | 8 |
| Mullus surmuletus | occasional | 7 |
| Autonoe longipes | occasional | 7 |
| Pachygrapsus marmoratus | occasional | 7 |
| Lithognathus mormyrus | occasional | 6 |
| Apolochus neapolitanus | occasional | 6 |
| Muraena helena | occasional | 5 |
| Trachinotus ovatus | occasional | 5 |
| Leptocheirus guttatus | occasional | 5 |
| Cotylorhiza tuberculata | occasional | 5 |
| Tanais dulongii | occasional | 5 |
| Dicentrarchus labrax | occasional | 5 |
| Clibanarius erythropus | occasional | 5 |
| Sardina pilchardus | rare | 4 |
| Dexamine spiniventris | rare | 4 |
| Photis longicaudata | rare | 4 |
| Leucothoe spinicarpa | rare | 4 |
| Pereionotus testudo | rare | 4 |
| Velella velella | rare | 4 |
| Echinaster (Echinaster) sepositus | rare | 4 |
| Labrus merula | rare | 4 |
| Sciaena umbra | rare | 4 |
| Sepia officinalis | rare | 4 |
| Symphodus roissali | rare | 4 |
| Scorpaena maderensis | rare | 4 |
| Phorcus turbinatus | rare | 4 |
| Arbacia lixula | rare | 4 |
| Bothus podas | rare | 4 |
| Xyrichtys novacula | rare | 4 |
| Percnon gibbesi | rare | 3 |
| Odontaster mediterraneus | rare | 3 |
| Ophidiaster ophidianus | rare | 3 |
| Holothuria (Platyperona) sanctori | rare | 3 |
| Caranx crysos | rare | 3 |
| Seriola dumerili | rare | 3 |
| Epinephelus costae | rare | 3 |
| Mycteroperca rubra | rare | 3 |
| Trachinus araneus | rare | 3 |
| Balistes capriscus | rare | 3 |
| Sparisoma cretense | rare | 3 |
| Acanthocardia tuberculata | rare | 3 |
| Ampithoe volki | rare | 3 |
| Guernea (Guernea) coalita | rare | 3 |
| Leptocheirus pectinatus | rare | 3 |
| Ericthonius brasiliensis | rare | 3 |
| Podocerus variegatus | rare | 3 |
| Dasyatis pastinaca | rare | 3 |
A granite rock eroded into the shape of a ship's bow off Isola dei Cavoli, dropping to about 40 m. Despite the name, there is no Roman wreck here.
A guano-capped granite dome 150 m off the west side of Isola dei Cavoli, circled clockwise from 12 m down through boulder ridges and swim-throughs.
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