Secca dell'Isuela (Isuela Shoal)

An isolated offshore seamount sitting roughly 200 m off Punta Chiappa with open water on most sides, so it has very little natural shelter and is dived only in calm conditions. The Mediterranean here is wind-wave driven: the SW Libeccio has the longest Ligurian fetch and builds the biggest sea, while the N-NW Tramontana sweeps down the Gulf of Genoa, and both make the shoal untenable. Only the NE-to-E landward sectors are shadowed by the Portofino promontory and the Ligurian coast.