Gruta do Carapacho

Gruta do Carapacho

Although this is a cave dive, much of it is actually a cavern with access to the surface, making it accessible to divers of all experience levels. The Carapacho Islets are located very close to the Carapacho bathing area, about three miles from the Praia Harbour. This particular dive is in a colossal crack on the biggest islet that extends for 50 metres; where on the south facing wall you will find the Gruta do Carapacho (Carapacho Cave).

Starting the dive inside the cave, the first thing that you will notice is the stunning backlight that begins at the surface and travels down to a depth of 17 metres. The walls are full of several species of nudibranchs, namely hypselodoris picta azorica, and you are likely to see dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus), some brown morays (Gymnothorax unicolor) and blacktail combers (Serranus atricauda).

As you leave the cave and head east, skirting the wall of the cavity and descending to a depth of 32 metres, you can see schools of salema porgies (Sarpa salpa), parrotfish (Sparisoma cretense), Almaco jacks (Seriola rivoliana) and yellowmouth barracudas (Sphyraena viridensis) swimming across the pebble seafloor.