Scalo Madonna

The dive

The pin sits on the seafront of Isola delle Femmine, the small fishing town between Sferracavallo and Capo Rama about ten kilometres from Palermo, and 152 m from the Diving Center Saracen at Via Palermo 10. That proximity is the whole story of this entry. No dive centre or guide publishes a dive description, a depth or a profile under the name Scalo Madonna, and the name itself - a Madonna landing or slipway, of the kind most Sicilian coastal towns keep for the summer procession - is not carried by any mapped feature here.

What is documented is the spot itself. Stefano Sibona, writing about the centre in 2021 after ten days diving out of it, singles out its position: the sea directly in front, a convenient slipway for launching, and a beach that works as a training ground for the exercises a course runs in confined water. That is the honest description of this pin - a shore entry and a training bay, used for skills and for easy night dives, rather than a named site with a route.

The Saracen branch here opened in 2020 and runs all year: 300 square metres with a classroom, changing rooms, showers, a rest area and a fill station for air, nitrox, trimix and oxygen, and it works the Capo Gallo and Isola delle Femmine marine reserve, the Gulf of Palermo and the Mongerbino and Porticello coast. The centre lists the AMP Capo Gallo e Isola delle Femmine among its partners, so the shore in front is inside a marine protected area; the park's current rules on unguided shore diving were not something this write-up could verify, so ask before you walk in on your own.

The records logged around this pin are worth reading before you dive: spiny lobster and the fan mussel Pinna nobilis, both under pressure across the Mediterranean, plus scorpionfish, conger, painted comber, damselfish, striped seabream, spider crab and the great scallop. Two Lessepsian migrants also turn up here, the bluespotted cornetfish and a lizardfish. The named feature dives on this coast are elsewhere, a few hundred metres to a couple of kilometres away: the Junkers Ju-52, the Franata di Ponente, the Parete delle Gorgonie and the Parete del Corallo.

• Beach entry directly opposite a year-round dive centre with air, nitrox and trimix fills
• A sheltered training bay used for the confined-water part of courses
• Inside the Capo Gallo - Isola delle Femmine marine protected area
• Spiny lobster and the endangered fan mussel Pinna nobilis recorded on this stretch

Conditions

A sheltered town shore inside a marine protected area, with the dive centre and a slipway on the same stretch. The centre operates all year, which is itself an indication that this is workable water outside the summer.

On current: No published source records depth, visibility or current for this spot, because no source treats it as a dive site with a route. What is recorded is that the beach in front of the centre is suitable for the confined-water portion of a course, which implies sheltered, shallow, easy-entry water rather than anything you would plan a profile around.