Tombant de la Cassidaigne

An isolated offshore plateau and drop-off roughly 4 nautical miles SSE of Cassis, facing due south into open Mediterranean water. Its widest swell window runs across the whole seaward arc from SE through S to SW, where the Scirocco and Libeccio build the longest fetch. The landward sectors from N through ENE are the most sheltered, shadowed by the Cassis mainland and the Cap Canaille / Bec de l'Aigle headlands. The site is still notoriously exposed to the NW Mistral as a surface wind, which sweeps down the Gulf of Lion and makes the crossing and surface conditions dangerous, so diving is feasible only in calm wind; currents of 1–2 knots can run across the plateau.