La Calita

A short boat run from Marina del Este ties off at the mooring above the cove, and the descent line drops to sand-and-rock bottom at about 8 metres on the sheltered west side of the Punta de la Mona headland. The cove side is the workhorse of the local fleet: overhangs sheltering conger eels, crevices where lobsters back into shadow, octopus tucked into rock cracks, and the occasional torpedo ray resting in a sandy hole. Spirograph worms wave in current that barely registers here. Wall edges carry rosettes of orange coral that catch torchlight even at midday.

The deep route turns west of the mooring toward Piedra de los Lunas, a landmark rock named in a long-circulated 2005 local route guide as the entry into the deeper terrain. From there divers exit onto sand at 30 metres, where schools of lemon fish work the bottom, occasionally rubbing against the sand to deparasite — one of the deep route's signature scenes in older accounts. Following the rock-sand interface west leads to Cueva del Bogavante: a cave at 30 metres where a large European lobster has been documented across multiple visits, with spider crabs and slipper lobsters in surrounding crevices and a large greater forkbeard inside. Past the cave, the topography opens into El Derrumbe, a rock-fall slope roughly 25 metres wide at its base that drops toward 40 metres, the boulders dotted with orange coral colonies.

The return runs through the terrace at 18-25 metres, where European sea bass hunt and groupers cruise. Local accounts describe these groupers as muy muy desconfiados — very, very wary — so divers approach slowly. The dive ends back over the cove for off-gassing among the reef rocks. Typical duration runs around 49 minutes for either profile.

Three things separate La Calita from its siblings on this stretch of the Punta de la Mona cliff. First, the dual profile: a single mooring serves both an OW-friendly 8-20m cove and an AOW deep route to 40 metres. Few La Herradura sites pair a 7-metre baptism dive and a 40-metre cave loop in the same descent. Second, Cueva del Bogavante: the lobster cave is a named, repeatable landmark — the resident European lobster has been documented across multiple visits over years, not a one-off encounter. Third, El Derrumbe and the orange coral that covers its boulders, framing the deep loop as a coherent geological route rather than a sequence of stops. Macro divers also single the site out for its concentration of nudibranch species along the cove walls.

The community framing is quietly local rather than touristy. Spanish runs through the dive logs and forum threads, and centres lean on the Mola mola association for spring and summer trip pitching even though encounters remain conditional. The cove side carries the day-to-day rhythm — Open Water La Herradura's mixed-level groups, baptism dives, FEDAS 1-star course dives — while the deep route is locals' territory, run for AOW divers when conditions and certification line up.

La Calita is one of La Herradura's stronger macro destinations and rewards a deliberate lens choice. The cove walls and overhangs at 8-18 metres concentrate the nudibranch work: six species are documented across the site, including the vivid blue Felimare picta, the pink-cerata Flabellina affinis, and Peltodoris atromaculata grazing sponges under overhangs. Spirograph worm gardens on the reef structures and bryozoan lace (Pentapora foliacea) at depth give wide-angle subjects, and the Astroides calycularis colonies on the deep walls and through El Derrumbe need an artificial light to read on camera — without one they sit dark against the rock. A torch helps in the cave interior where the orange coral picks up only under a direct beam. Early morning gives the best surface light and the calmest water.

Gas management is the critical skill on the deep route. The local rule is to turn for ascent at one-third tank because the deep loop earns decompression obligations quickly, and the wall extends past 40 metres at El Derrumbe without obvious depth cues — easy to overshoot if you follow the rock face downward without watching the gauge. Nitrox is recommended for the full deep loop. For the cove dive, bring a macro setup. The cove sits on the sheltered side of the headland and stays workable in conditions that close the exposed sites east of the point, but moderate flow can develop around the headland on tidal change or strong Levante or Poniente. Deploy an SMB on ascent given the boat traffic.