THE PUNTA TRACINO SEA STACK

The terraced seabed with two pathways

General Description

The “Faraglione di Punta Tracino” anchor point is at a depth of 12 m. Circumnavigation is done in a counter clockwise direction due to the high possibility of strong currents. The landslide face is characterised by a large terrace, with an expanse of sand starting at the end. It is possible to encounter rather strong currents at the outermost part of the sea stack. The seabed consists of black gravel until you arrive at a large boulder. After exploring the rock, you will come to the “saddle”, or rather the strip of land that connects the coast to the sea stack itself. Overcoming this tract, you will return to a depth of 8 m, from where you will slowly ascend while inspecting the stack’s various cracks and crevices.

Naturalistic Features

The highest point of the stack is covered by brown algae, primarily of the Dictyopteris polypodioides variety. During the dive, you will encounter swarms of salema porgy and schools of common two- banded and sharpsnout seabream. In the more shady areas of the rock, you will find orange coral and numerous sea slugs, including Peltodoris atromaculata and Hypselodoris. The boulders make excellent dens for groupers and green wrasse, while parrotfish and ubiquitous fireworms can also be commonly encountered, along with numerous goldblotch groupers, and swarms of boops boops. Snappers can often be observed swimming in the distance. Diving deeper down, you find beautiful gorgonian sea fans covered by a multitude of light bulb sea squirts, while the rocks are covered by various species of sponges. Rays, cat sharks, and whiptail stingrays can be found on the expanse of sand.

area

Pantelleria

itinerary

THE PUNTA TRACINO SEA STACK

position

36° 47,883’ longitude - 012° 03,129’ latitude

license

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

Type of route

Cliff wall | Rock | Sand | Steps

dive start

only from a boat

Maximum depth

over 39

path length

100-150

nature of the bottom

Sand | Rock

Current probability

high

orientation

Hard

level of difficulty

medium-high

Type of interest

Naturalistic

Flora and fauna

route subject to authorization

yes

Pantelleria

THE PUNTA TRACINO SEA STACK

itinerary illustration

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