Naxos, Cyclades, Greece

Cathedral Cave

Cathedral Cave on the southern coast of Naxos earns its name from a pair of natural openings in the cavern ceiling that allow shafts of sunlight to penetrate the dim interior, lighting the chamber the way a clerestory lights a Gothic nave. The cave is reached by boat from the south coast and divers enter at around 8 metres into a wide chamber that extends back roughly 25 metres, with a maximum interior depth of about 22 metres. The cavern is large, well-lit from above, and short enough to remain inside the cavern-zone definition, making it suitable for intermediate open-water divers with a good torch. Walls are colonised by red sponges, yellow cluster anemones and bryozoans in the deeper recesses, while cardinalfish hover in tight schools in the dim corners. Outside the cave, the reef wall hosts dusky grouper, Mediterranean moray, ornate wrasse, common octopus and the occasional school of damselfish swirling in the lee of the headland.