Cerro Gordo / Cantarriján

The site sits below the south-facing Maro-Cerro Gordo cliffs, with the coastal massif blocking the entire northern arc, so wind off the land has little effect. In the microtidal Mediterranean the exposure is wind-wave driven, and the open window is the southern arc from SE round through S to WSW, which faces the fetch of the Alboran Sea: S-SE Scirocco and SW-WSW Libeccio drive the largest swell and cavern surge here. The Nerja and Maro cliff coast bending out to the W-WNW shades those sectors, while the coast curving east toward Punta de la Mona and La Herradura bay blocks the E-ESE approaches.