Bajo de Dentro - Cave and Chimney

Bajo de Dentro

Bajo de Dentro is a rocky submerged pinnacle located in the Islas Hormigas marine reserve off the tip of Cabo de Palos in Murcia.  The marine reserve consists of 19 sq km of protected water characterized by an extremely high diversity of aquatic life.   

The pinnacle consists of a rocky outcrop which rises up from a sandy seabed at around 50 metres and reaches a depth of around 3 to 4 metres.  Its northern side comprises of a gently sloping platform some 20-30m in length which lies in 12-16m of water. Both the eastern & western sides consist of steep walls and the easterly wall is almost vertical & deeper.

We dived with the Naranjito scuba diving centre from the port of Cabo de Palos in a RIB.  Bajo de Dentro lies exactly 4 km from port, within the marine reserve of Islas Hormigas taking around 10-15 minutes to get there.  

Because of the currents that surround the pinnacle as well as its coveted protected marine reserve status, Bajo de Dentro is extremely rich in both marine flora and fauna.  Large schools of both sea perch, Chromis, Corva, Bream & Mojarra are guaranteed, which in turn attract shoals of Barracuda, Groupers & Dentex. Amongst the rocks lies sanctuary for Scorpion fish, Brotala, Lobsters, Moray and Conger Eels.  There is also an abundance of soft corals such as Gorgonias. You can occasionally spot eagle rays, sunfish & maybe turtles.

Common marine life: large groupers, moray eels, eagle rays, barracuda shoals, dentex, sun fish, slipper lobsters, bream, blennies.

Visibility: From 10 m to 40m
Min depth: 4m
Max depth: 50m
Experience level: Open water and above
Conditions: This site is situated in open waters so can be affected by some strong currents and a north easterly wind.

The Cave - Bajo de Dentro

The cave is at a depth of 20 metres.

The Chimney - Bajo de Dentro

Star Fish

Gorgonia

Jelly fish, Pelagia noctiluca, aka mauve stinger.

This jelly fish's sting was quite painful.  During the diving season I regularly saw this species in the water around Murcia.  I managed to successfully avoid its sting.  However one day on climbing into the boat I did feel an extremely sharp pain on my ear lobe. At first I thought my ear-ring had been ripped out.  The sensation was close to what I imagine the pain would be from a hammer strike on my lobe and an anvil!

Safety stop - 3 minutes @ 5 meters

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Cueva del Diablo (The Devil's Cave) Mallorca

The Devil's Cave dive profile.

There are two large chambers within the Devil's Cave.  The first at the entrance was completely submerged whereas the second was filled with air and accessible through a tunnel running vertically to the surface.

The second chamber was impressive.  There were numerous remains of candles which would have made the cave even more spectacular, however, the effect of our torches also offered its own alluring experience.

The Skylight Cave, Mallorca

The Skylight Cave was one of my favourite dive sites.

With the opening directly above the cave system almost the whole cave was illuminated.  On entering the cave, divers proceed to the middle of the cave below the skylight.  The area on the far left of the diagram was unlit and required the use of torches.  The group could then swim up at the back of the cave and surface in the top left corner.  It is possible to stand in this area but with great care, many plants and organisms lived in this area and it would be a shame to recklessly crush them.  The group could then swim back towards the skylight and swim down to the lower level.

 

 A conger eel was regularly found in a crevice at the back of the Skylight Cave.

 Part of the dive included showing the other divers the conger, if he was at home.