Beaches

The coastline offers a magnificent variety of beaches, bays, sand and shingle: this is probably the stretch of coast in which Nature has done its utmost to create as many different sights as possible. It's a paradise for freeclimbers, scuba-divers, and bathers alike.
Our house overlooks the long sandy beach of Serapo (see 3 pictures below) complete with facilities for bathers. It's a long sandy beach, with shallows, and the left side lays in the shadow of the crocodile-shaped Montagna Spaccata. In some areas, the beach is dotted with flowers that grow spontaneously into the sand (see third picture).






Wading a shallow, on the right side of Serapo beach, you reach Fontania (see picture below) and Fontanino, two small beaches usually less crowded, and less developed.

In Fontania, you can swim around the remains of an ancient Roman Villa, now covered with sealife beyond recognition.

North of Gaeta, the long beach of Sant'Agostino (see pic below) is a small surfer's paradise, because that's where the most powerful swells are.

For naturists, the beach to go is the Arenauta (see 3 pics below). It's a very long stretch of fine sand, at the feet of a steep rocky cliff. Nudists chose this beach in the second half of the 70s because the only way to get there was by inacessible paths. To reach the beach nowadays, park your car in Torre S.Agostino locality, then go down by one of the private flights of steps. You have to pay some money for your passage to the owners.





The Torre Scissura promontory (see picture below), dominated by an ancient watch-tower built in a time to prevent the visits of the unwelcomed Saracen invaders.


Ariana beach (see 2 pictures below) is a sandy beach safe for children.




Gaeta offers a lot also to divers and scuba-divers. There are several high cliffs bathed in the sea, ancient watchtowers, the tiny rocky island of Nave di Serapo, and some caves. The Nave di Serapo (see first picture below) is a perfect place for the beginner diver and scuba-diver. The water is not too deep, and the coast is easy to reach. Beginners can also explore the sealife teeming on steep Monte Orlando cliffs, or Falesie (see second picture below), on the left side of Serapo beach.




Another fascinating scuba-diver's paradise is a cave named Pozzo del Diavolo (see pic below), meaning "the Devil's Well", whose ceiling has an opening that lets the light filter inside, turing the water a spectacle of blues and greens). You can get to the cave from Serapo beach, swimming to its entrance, or by boat.


Expert divers can explore the Piroscafo Giuseppe Magliulo wreck (see pic below), a 1917 merchant ship sinked in the Gaeta Gulf, and now lying on the seabed at 70 meters below the surface. There are several dive centres in town.