Bajo de Piles II

The boat moors over a long, flat-topped rocky ridge running southwest to northeast. The plateau sits around 20m and the ridge stretches roughly 110m end to end — longer than Piles I one mooring west. A standard route drops to the plateau, traces the long axis, and finishes back at the mooring. The plateau is the social zone: dense damselfish clouds (castanuelas) over the rock, rainbow and ornate wrasses in the gaps, mojarras drifting in loose groups. Down the wall edge to 25-28m, the work changes. Groupers hold position in the larger crevices, false cod sit deeper in the holes, and slipper lobsters press flat against shadow with their broad antennae visible to a torch. The interface where the rock meets the surrounding sand and posidonia is where dentex run baitballs in autumn and where photographers find triplefins and ringneck blennies on the wall.

Piles II reads as the quieter twin of Piles I. Same biology, same reserve density of groupers and barracuda, but a separate ridge with the longer hull and a flatter top, which makes it the natural overflow when Piles I and Bajo de Dentro are booked out. The dive divides cleanly by certification — a multi-level Open Water dive on the plateau, an advanced wall edge for the grouper crevices — without the ridge ever feeling thin in either zone. Current is the variable that decides the day. On calm days the bajo is a relaxed multi-level swim. On a moving day, barracuda schools mass against the up-current edge and dentex, bonito and bullet tuna run attacks through the bogue clouds in autumn. Macro shooters take a separate version of the same dive: the walls hold moray eels, ringneck blennies, white gorgonians, turban snails, hermit crabs and yellow triplefins, all documented on the site even in December at 17C.

Current is the planning variable, not depth. Check the day before with the centre and assume the dive may swap to the more sheltered Bajo de Testa or to Escalerita cove if conditions deteriorate. The mooring line carries the descent and ascent — use it both ways and carry an SMB. Booking goes through any of the reserve-authorised centres in Cabo de Palos; the 15-day advance notice that applies to Bajo de Fuera does not apply here. If Piles I or Bajo de Dentro are your priority, ask the centre about availability there first and let Piles II be the back-up — that is exactly the role it plays in the local rotation. September and October give the best mix of warm enough water, peak pelagic action and fewer boats. Winter is diveable but plan for 13-15C bottom temperatures with a 7mm semi-dry or a drysuit, and bring macro gear because the walls reward close work even when visibility drops.