Salento · about 4 km from Santa Maria al Bagno (Nardò)
Grotta delle Corvine
- Max depth17 m
- CertificationCavern
- Water temperature≈ 14–26 °C, varies with the seasonestimated, no reports yet
Diving and fills
Dive here with
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Fills nearby
- Fill stationCosta del Sud Diving ServiceAir, nitrox, trimix, oxygen, argonRoute ↗
- Fill stationScuba Diving OtrantoAir; ask about nitrox and trimixRoute ↗
What it looks like
Cave Diving Grotta delle Corvine Palinuro – GoPro Immersione Grotta delle Corvine Immersione a Capo Palinuro "Grotta delle Corvine" immersione "grotta delle corvine" - 24 agosto 2013
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Videos and posts
From other divers, via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. They only load when you click; after that, Google's or Meta's privacy rules apply.
Cave Diving Grotta delle Corvine Palinuro – GoPro Immersione Grotta delle Corvine Immersione a Capo Palinuro "Grotta delle Corvine" immersione "grotta delle corvine" - 24 agosto 2013
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Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.
The dive
You enter through an entrance gallery of over 10 m with a barrel vault; after ~22 m you reach a large chamber with three air bells (the largest ~8 m across and ~10 m high), stalactites and calcite formations.
Profile and sections
You enter through an entrance gallery of over 10 m with a barrel vault; after ~22 m you reach a large chamber with three air bells (the largest ~8 m across and ~10 m high), stalactites and calcite formations. The floor is boulders with silt. Marine life is very rich: 196 species have been recorded, some new to science. Nothing is published on the air in the bells: don't breathe it.
It is the largest underwater cave on the Porto Selvaggio coast. Local cave divers discovered it in 1982, and it was surveyed in 1988.
Practical: one local centre requires a cavern or cave card for the part beyond the sumps.
- Depth and profile
- Entrance -12 m (4 m high, 8 m wide) · max -16 to -17 m · ~50–60 m long, dead end
- Configuration
- All configurations; roomy entrance and gallery
- DPV: Not DPV-suitable (estimate)
- Too short (~50–60 m); no gain
Who can dive where
- At least Cavern
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- Goes down to 17 m (trimix or deco may be needed)
This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.
How to get there
In the Cala di Uluzzo, on the coast of the Porto Selvaggio nature park (Nardò). Dive centres from Santa Caterina, Porto Cesareo and Gallipoli take divers there; a shore entry from the cove is not described.
Around Grotta delle Corvine
Fills2 fill stations · nearest 4 km
Costa del Sud Diving Service
Lungomare Santa Caterina 6, 73050 Santa Caterina di Nardò (LE)
Air, nitrox, trimix, oxygen, argon
Daily 7:30–20:30 according to its SSI listing; ask outside the summer season
SSI Instructor Training Center with rebreather and XR training; rents drysuits and scooters among other gear; boat and shore dives. Dives the Porto Selvaggio and Santa Caterina caves and reports being authorised for the AMP Porto Cesareo and the Porto Selvaggio park. Fills for visitors and sofnolime: ask.
Scuba Diving Otranto
Via del Porto 1, 73028 Otranto (LE)
Air; ask about nitrox and trimix
Open all year according to a listing; ask
SSI centre at the harbour with daily day and night dives from three RIBs (2× 7.4 m, 1× 10 m); technical training incl. trimix and rebreather. Lists caves among its dive sites — ask which.
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