Panettoni

The dive

I Panettoni are three basaltic rock formations with rounded tops -- the local name comes from the domed Milanese cake -- rising off a sandy bottom about 150 metres from the small beach at Aci Trezza, on the Catania coast under Etna. The Isole Ciclopi marine protected area lists them as the third of its eight official underwater itineraries, gives the depth range as 14 to 24 metres and rates the route easy, and marks the site with its own buoy at 37 33' 51.465" N, 15 09' 57.582" E. Our catalogue pin sits about 100 m from that buoy.

The dive is a circuit of the three rocks rather than a route with a destination. The park's own description puts large moray eels in the deeper crevices, yellow arborescent coral colonies on the rock, lobster antennae showing out of small cavities, and walls heavily covered in sponges and spirographs -- the deeper faces of the panettoni are the densely encrusted part. The park also notes that a favourable interplay of currents keeps visibility high here, which is the one condition claim any source makes about the site. The occurrence records within 1.5 km of this pin are the richest of any site in this batch, with parrotfish, ornate wrasse, rainbow wrasse, cardinalfish, painted comber, moray, forkbeard and a long list of nudibranchs including Peltodoris atromaculata, Flabellina affinis, Cratena peregrina and Thuridilla hopei, plus regular bottlenose dolphin records.

Both the park and the local diving centres say the site can be worked from shore or by boat, which makes it one of the more accessible pins in the Ciclopi reserve. The rules are not casual, though. Diving anywhere in the marine protected area needs prior authorisation from the managing body, is allowed only between 08:30 and 19:30, and must stay within 50 metres of the mooring or the surface marker buoy. Divers cannot go solo, at least one diver in the party must hold a second-level certification, and outside guided visits no more than two divers may be at a site at once. Groups diving or snorkelling together have to go through a diving centre authorised by the park.

The code of conduct is enforceable rather than advisory: no contact with the seabed, no removal or damage of any geological, biological or archaeological material, no feeding, equipment kept close to the body, no underwater scooters, and an obligation to report abandoned fishing gear or dangerous material found on the bottom.

• Three domed basalt rocks standing clear of flat sand
• Deeper faces heavily covered in sponges and spirographs
• Large moray eels in the deeper crevices
• Yellow arborescent coral colonies on the rock
• Lobster antennae showing from small cavities

Conditions

Flat sand with three rock domes on it, worked as a loop. The park says currents here work in the diver's favour and keep visibility up. Diving is confined by regulation to daylight hours between 08:30 and 19:30 and to a 50 m radius around the mooring or the surface marker buoy.

On current: The marine park rates the itinerary easy and gives 14 to 24 m; a local diving centre describes the sandy bottom at about 20 m. The park says a favourable interplay of currents keeps visibility high, but publishes no visibility figure and no current strength, so neither is recorded as a number here. Note that the 24 m end of the range is past the 18 m limit an entry-level certification allows.