Secche di Lazzaro

The Secche sit on the south-west (Ginostra) coast of Stromboli, with the bulk of the island and its volcano rising immediately to the east, so the whole eastern half of the compass - from NNE round through E to SE - is fully blocked by land and stays calm. The exposed window is the open Tyrrhenian Sea to the west and south-west: the SW-WSW-W sector faces straight offshore and takes the full fetch of the Libeccio, the site's dominant wind-sea threat, while the NW Mistral/Maestrale arrives only partly shadowed by the island's north-west shoulder and the point just up-coast. Southerly winds also reach the site down the open water toward Sicily. There is no true ocean swell here - waves are wind-driven - but a sustained SW or NW blow builds surge over the shallow shoal and is the usual reason a dive is postponed.