Punta de la Mona

The boat ties off near a descent line on the seaward side of the headland. From the surface you drop down the line to about 17 metres, where the wall takes over: vertical rock, gorgonian coverage, and shaded crevices where Astroides coral mats blaze orange under torchlight. Stay close to it. The wall is the depth gauge cue and the navigation reference, because below you the bottom keeps falling.

From here a guide picks one of two routes. The deep route follows the wall until the rock structure spurs out into the Tres Picos pinnacles, climbing back from sand at 40 metres and beyond. The yellow coral starts appearing at 30 metres in scattered fragments, then opens out into proper gardens of Dendrophyllia ramea by 35-40 metres. This is where the depth budget runs out fast: tank pressure and no-stop time both work against you, and the ascent has to begin while the air still allows a multi-level return up the wall.

The shallow route turns inside before depth, swimming along the rock face into the Cueva de La Virgen at about 13 metres. The cavern has a sandy floor, an open mouth and daylight throughout, with octopus and anemones in the cracks. Newer divers complete the site here, and the safety stop runs comfortably near the top of the cavern feature on its way back out.

Three things separate Punta de la Mona from the rest of the La Herradura site list. First, the Dendrophyllia ramea garden. The species is widespread in the Mediterranean, but the colonies sit at technical depth in most places. Here the gardens are within recreational AOW range and the densest patch is at 35-40 metres, on a wall that runs Astroides orange coral above and gorgonian coverage between. Second, the rhodolith bed. Sixteen thousand square metres of free-living coralline algae extend east of the headland between 9 and 24 metres, documented in peer-reviewed marine science and rare to find on a recreational profile. Third, the dual character: the same boat drop runs an advanced wall and an Open Water cavern. Local centres trade on this, since the cavern carries a figurine of the Virgen de las Nieves that has given the site its alternative name and is approachable for groups who would not consider the deep route.

Macro and wide-angle both have a clear case here. Photographers have arrived from Algeciras with 50mm portrait lenses and worked the shallows for small fish and nudibranchs in 24°C September water with the kind of visibility that local divers describe as enviable. A separate documented dive in winter put a video rig on the deep route, recording the 46 metre descent and the catshark cameo that is one of the few captured for the site. The orange coral and yellow Dendrophyllia in the deeper sections need artificial light to read on camera; without it they read dark against the wall. Bring a torch for the cavern interior as well, since the orange tapestry only shows its colour under direct beam.

Currents are the variable that drives the day. The shallow cavern profile has logged repeatedly as no current across spring, summer and winter, but the exposed headland at depth can run hard, and Levante or Poniente at any strength is enough to close the site. Centres make the call on the morning. Air divers should treat the 35-40 metre yellow coral zone as a tight no-stop window and plan the ascent before the gauge forces it; Nitrox extends that window meaningfully. The cavern is approached on the sheltered side and stays workable in conditions that close the wall, so the trip rarely returns empty-handed. Bring an SMB for the open-water ascent off the wall.