Sicchitedda

The deep cave

General Description

You can already see the ledge to the south from the boat. After rapidly descending to reach the sea floor at a depth of 18 m, you will find yourself in front of a wall with numerous holes and crevices at the base, followed by a landslide populated by numerous fish species. From the rocky ridge, at a depth of approximately 25 metres, you will pass through a gradually widening channel between a rock on the left and the edge of the ridge itself. To the left you will find two large boulders covered with the vegetation typical of the area. To the west, at the depth of 27 m, a large split opens up in the wall, with a cave 7 m deep and a seabed of sand and gravel.

Naturalistic Features

At the start of the Sicchitedda dive, you will likely encounter painted combers, chromis chromis, and various species of wrasse (the most common being the peacock wrasse). The 18 m deep seabed is home to schools of seabream and various brown meagres, as well as large forkbeards. At the depth of 22 m you will begin to encounter white and yellow sea fans, with moray eels lurking in the crevices. While the channel is home to a beautiful Mediterranean fanworm, schools of black wrasse and various hydrozoan species can also commonly be observed, with numerous yellow sea fans sprouting from the sandy seabed. Further down, you will also encounter ocellated wrasse. Large encrusting sponges and large sea worms inhabit the cave. The various ravines inside are home to forkbeards and groupers. Upon leaving the cave, you will likely encounter several large starfish, sea potatoes, and red and yellow gorgonian sea fans. The darker areas are populated by various encrusting sponge species, sea worms, and the ever-present orange coral. The holes in the rocks on the plateau provide shelter for numerous octopi.

area

Aegadian Islands

itinerary

Sicchitedda

position

37° 56,535’ longitude - 012° 16,302’ latitude

license

PADI - advanced | FIPSAS - third level AR | SSI - advanced

Type of route

Cliff wall | Rock | Grotto

dive start

only from a boat

Maximum depth

39

path length

100-150

nature of the bottom

Posidonia | Rock

Current probability

high

orientation

Hard

level of difficulty

medium-high

Type of interest

Naturalistic

Flora and fauna

route subject to authorization

yes

Favignana

Sicchitedda

itinerary illustration

comments

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