Secchitello

Italy · reef · advanced

24–55 madvancedboat entry

Secchitello

An isolated seamount off Ustica's west coast, topping out around 24 m in open water, with red gorgonians and false black coral on the current-swept side.

pinnaclereefdriftboat

Max depth24–55 m

Required leveladvanced

Entry typeboat

Visibilitynot sourced

The dive

Secchitello is a detached seamount roughly half a kilometre south of Punta dell'Arpa on the west side of Ustica, and it is the dive the island's centres describe as the hardest they run. It is not a wall you follow off a headland: the boat drops you over open water and you descend without a reference until the pinnacles come up out of the blue. Ustica Diving Center puts the top at about 25 m and the surrounding bottom at 50 to 60 m; Orca Diving Ustica gives 24 m at the shallowest and 55 m at the deepest, with the western flank falling away past 40 m, big boulders standing off the seabed on one side and a wall on the other. Misterjump, another island centre, calls it simply the most demanding dive on the whole island.

What makes it worth the effort is the current that makes it difficult. The exposed rock carries wide colonies of red gorgonian and stands of Savalia savaglia, the false black coral, along with basket stars, jewel anemones, nudibranchs and large morays. Off the rock, the same water brings pelagics: barracuda and amberjack are described as near-constant, and grouper and dentex sit deeper down the slope. The OBIS record for this pin is consistent with that and unusually strong for a Mediterranean site, with dusky grouper the single most frequently recorded fish, ahead of salema, ornate wrasse, painted comber and rainbow wrasse; yellowmouth barracuda, greater amberjack, mottled grouper, goldblotch grouper, Mediterranean moray and swallowtail seaperch are all on the list, and so are the fan mussel Pinna nobilis and the narwal shrimp Plesionika narval.

Ustica has been a protected area since 1986, the first marine reserve declared in Italy, and its waters are zoned. Ustica Diving Center places Secchitello in zone C, the least restricted band, which is why it can be dived at all: the offshore position, the depth and the current do the gatekeeping here rather than the reserve. Every source treats it as an experienced-diver site and nobody publishes a certification requirement, so take the centre's judgement rather than a number.

The catalogue holds seven other Ustica pins within 1.6 km of this one, including Punta dell'Arpa itself, Zia Lisa and Sutta zia Lisa, Grotta del Tuono, Cala Galera, Punta Galera and Grotta dei Gamberi. Those are shore-hugging dives on the island's rock; Secchitello is the one that sits out in open water on its own.

Wide colonies of red gorgonian and stands of Savalia savaglia, the false black coral
Barracuda and greater amberjack described as near-constant, with grouper and dentex deeper
A free-standing seamount reached by a blue-water descent, not a coastal wall
Dusky grouper is the most frequently recorded fish in the occurrence data for this pin

Please note before you go

Strong current on an exposed offshore seamount
Blue-water descent with no visual reference until the pinnacles appear
Depth: the top is already at 24-25 m and the surrounding bottom is 50-60 m, so narcosis and gas planning drive the dive
Offshore position well away from the coast, so a missed pinnacle means an open-water ascent

Access & rules

Mandatory requirements

Getting there

Boat only, from Ustica's harbour, to a position roughly 500 m south of Punta dell'Arpa on the west side of the island. The descent is made in open water; there is no shore option and no shallow ground to work back to.

Operator

Access to the site runs through a local operator.

Restrictions

Ustica Diving Center places Secchitello in zone C of the marine reserve, the least restricted band. Zone A of the reserve is closed and diving there is not a recreational option.

Rules and permits

Riserva naturale marina Isola di Ustica, established by ministerial decree of 12 November 1986 and the first marine protected area declared in Italy, 15,951 hectares, managed by the Comune di Ustica; its organisational regulation dates from the decree of 30 August 1990. The reserve is zoned, and the island's centres dive it under the reserve's rules.

Season

No source publishes a month-by-month season for this site, so no best months are claimed here. It is an exposed offshore seamount, which in practice means it is run on settled days; the centres pick the date on the sea state rather than the calendar.

Conditions

Visibilitynot sourced

Currentstrong

Surgenot sourced

WaterSalt water

Depth range24–55 m

Environmentreef

Coralnot sourced

Crowdsnot sourced

Open water off the island's west side, with current on the reef often enough that the centres treat it as the norm rather than the exception. The seamount tops out in the mid-twenties and the ground round it falls to 50-60 m, so this is a short, deep, current-managed dive.

On current: Every source that describes this site describes the current as a defining feature and as part of what makes it hard; Ustica Diving Center calls the reef exposed to strong currents and says that is what feeds its biomass. The depth figures disagree at the margins: 25 m to a 50-60 m bottom from Ustica Diving Center, 24 m to 55 m from Orca Diving Ustica. The deeper and shallower ends of the two ranges are carried here, so plan for a top around 24 m and do not assume the slope stops before 55 m.

Questions & answers

How deep is Secchitello at Ustica?

The two centres that publish figures do not quite agree. Ustica Diving Center says the dive begins at about 25 m with the surrounding bottom at 50 to 60 m; Orca Diving Ustica gives 24 m at the shallowest point and 55 m at the deepest, with the western flank dropping past 40 m. Treat it as a dive whose shallowest rock is already in the mid-twenties.

Is Secchitello suitable for beginners?

No. Every Ustica centre describes it as the most demanding dive on the island, and reserves it for experienced divers. The reasons are cumulative: the top of the reef is at 24 to 25 m, the site is well offshore, the descent is made in open water with no reference, and the reef is regularly swept by strong current.

What will I see at Secchitello?

On the rock, wide colonies of red gorgonian and stands of Savalia savaglia, the false black coral, plus basket stars, jewel anemones, nudibranchs and large morays. In the water around it, barracuda and greater amberjack are described as near-constant, with grouper and dentex deeper. Dusky grouper is the most frequently recorded fish in the occurrence data for this pin.

How do you get there?

By dive boat from Ustica's harbour to a position about 500 m south of Punta dell'Arpa on the island's west side. There is no shore entry: you go over the side into open water and descend on the guide's line or reference until the pinnacles come up. Ustica's centres run it as a single deep dive rather than part of a two-tank shallow programme.

Is there current on this site?

Usually, and it is the point. Ustica Diving Center describes the reef as exposed to strong currents and credits them with the density of gorgonians and the constant pelagic fish. It is also the main reason the site is graded as the hardest on the island, and why a dive here is planned around the state of the water rather than the calendar.

Do I need a permit to dive Ustica's marine reserve?

Ustica has been a protected area since the ministerial decree of 12 November 1986, the first marine reserve in Italy, and its waters are zoned. Ustica Diving Center places Secchitello in zone C, the least restricted band. In practice you dive with one of the island's centres, which handles the reserve's requirements.

Can I snorkel or freedive Secchitello?

No on both counts. The shallowest rock is around 24 m below the surface and the site sits in open water away from the coast, so there is nothing to see from a mask and there is no shallow ground to work. The same current that makes the scuba dive interesting makes a breath-hold descent here a bad idea.

Life recorded at Secchitello

60 species within 1.5 km · OBIS

Octopus vulgarisrare · 4 records

Sarpa salpacommon · 167 records

Thalassoma pavocommon · 165 records

Serranus scribacommon · 159 records

Coris juliscommon · 158 records

Epinephelus marginatuscommon · 89 records

All 60 species recorded in this area

Species	How often	Records
Sarpa salpa	common	167
Thalassoma pavo	common	165
Serranus scriba	common	159
Coris julis	common	158
Epinephelus marginatus	common	89
Serranus cabrilla	occasional	30
Sparisoma cretense	occasional	29
Ophidiaster ophidianus	occasional	22
Paracentrotus lividus	occasional	14
Chromis chromis	occasional	11
Flabellina affinis	occasional	11
Pinna nobilis	occasional	11
Dardanus calidus	occasional	10
Sphyraena viridensis	occasional	10
Diplodus vulgaris	occasional	9
Apogon imberbis	occasional	7
Centrostephanus longispinus	occasional	6
Scorpaena maderensis	occasional	6
Marthasterias glacialis	occasional	5
Holothuria (Platyperona) sanctori	occasional	5
Caranx crysos	occasional	5
Anthias anthias	occasional	5
Epinephelus costae	occasional	5
Boops boops	occasional	5
Peltodoris atromaculata	occasional	5
Plesionika narval	rare	4
Seriola dumerili	rare	4
Mycteroperca rubra	rare	4
Phorbas tenacior	rare	4
Chondrosia reniformis	rare	4
Cotylorhiza tuberculata	rare	4
Pelagia noctiluca	rare	4
Arca noae	rare	4
Luria lurida	rare	4
Octopus vulgaris	rare	4
Cratena peregrina	rare	4
Oblada melanurus	rare	4
Calcinus tubularis	rare	3
Maja crispata	rare	3
Percnon gibbesi	rare	3
Hacelia attenuata	rare	3
Arbacia lixula	rare	3
Sphaerechinus granularis	rare	3
Muraena helena	rare	3
Gobius geniporus	rare	3
Tripterygion delaisi	rare	3
Tripterygion melanurus	rare	3
Acanthella acuta	rare	3
Bittium reticulatum	rare	3
Thuridilla hopei	rare	3
Hexaplex trunculus	rare	3
Haliclona (Soestella) mucosa	rare	3
Symphodus mediterraneus	rare	3
Monoplex parthenopeus	rare	3
Gobius incognitus	rare	3
Rhyssoplax olivacea	rare	3
Clavelina dellavallei	rare	2
Phallusia fumigata	rare	2
Pagurus anachoretus	rare	2
Palinurus elephas	rare	2