Punta Carena (Il Traliccio / The Pylon)

Punta Carena is the exposed south-western tip of Capri, where the rocky point below the lighthouse plunges almost vertically into the open Tyrrhenian Sea. The Anacapri massif shelters the whole landward arc (N through E), but the site takes the full force of the Libeccio (SW) and the long-fetch Scirocco (S-SE), and the NW Mistral/Tramontana wraps around the headland onto the wall. As a microtidal Mediterranean site there is no real ground swell, so conditions are wind-wave driven and the strong tidal-stream-like currents here come from flow accelerating around the point rather than from the tide.