Relitto Loredan (Loredan Wreck)

The Loredan lies about a mile off the Torre delle Stelle promontory on the open south-east coast of Sardinia, at the eastern edge of the Gulf of Cagliari. Land shelters the northern half of the compass: the promontory and mainland block the N and NNE sectors, and the coast curving away to the east gives cover through the NE-ENE-E arc. The Capo Carbonara and Isola dei Cavoli peninsula projecting to the south-east shadows the ESE-SE sectors. The fully exposed window is the open Mediterranean to the south — the SSE, S, SSW and SW sectors take unobstructed fetch, so Libeccio (SW) and Scirocco (SE-S) are the swell-makers here, while a Mistral turning NW-N is largely blocked by land and tends to blow offshore. As a deep offshore wreck it is unaffected by ordinary surface chop, but a southerly or south-westerly blow builds surface waves and strengthens the site's currents, which is what usually forces the dive to be cancelled.