San Domino & San Nicola, Capraia - Isole Tremiti, Puglia, Italy

 

The Isole Tremiti island group is an archipelago in the Adriatic Sea, north of Gargano.  I spent a holiday there at the end of August, 2007.  I remember it being a nightmare of a journey getting to the islands as the ferry service wasn't very good.  The excellent dives and beautiful scenery made up for it though.  I dived with Marlin Tremiti Diving Club.

 

Isola di San Domino

The first dive was at Punta Secca, San Domino, which is number 13 in the map.

Dive #41

Dive 1
Depth: 32.9 m
Time: 47 min
Temp: 18 degrees C

Isola di Caprara

The second dive was at Secca della Grotta della Vedova (the Widow's Shallows), Capraia, number 31 in the map above.  This was a really good dive with a long tunnel.  I was startled when one diver started swimming out in a hurry and I thought something had went wrong, turned out he had just had a panic attack!  At the end of the dive I saw a lovely Flabellina nudibranch.

Dive #42
Dive2
Depth: 26.8 m
Time: 46 min
Temp: 18 degrees C

Isola San Nicola

B-17 Bomber in Calvi, Corsica - France

Dive #40
While on holiday to Corsica I managed to sneak in one very memorable dive.  I'd heard that the B-17 Bomber in Calvi was a good dive and I was really keen to do it.  I have since done loads of wreck dives but only on boats and ships making this dive quite distinctive.  The weather was quite rough on the day I went with some really choppy waves creating unfavourable conditions but this didn't deter me.  I didn't have an underwater camera at the time but the video below by Konrad Dubiel is pretty good.

The B-17 bomber was used during WWII and was also known as the Flying Fortress because of its 13 machine guns.  In 1944 the B-17 G "Baron" was on a mission in Italy but was hit by erman fighters.  The pilot, Frank Chaplick, decided to fly to Calvi where he was forced to land into the sea.  The wreck now lies at 28m.

Santa Lucia and Le Sconsciglie, Ventotene, Italy

Dive #38

Dive 1

Santa Lucia

Depth: 46m

Time: 55min
Weights: 10kg

Dive #39

Dive 2

Le Sconsciglie

Depth: 20m

Time: not recorded
Weights: 10kg

Molara, Ventotene, Italy

Dive #37
 Molara

Depth: 20m

Time: 50min
Weights: 11kg 

Ischiaiola and Punto San Francesco, Giannutri, Tuscan Archipelago, Italy

Dive #35

Giannutri Isciaiola

Depth: 20m

Time: 57min

Dive #36

Punto San Francesco

Depth: 22m

Time: 52min

Molara, Ventotene, Italy

Dive #34

Molara

Depth: not recorded

Time: 55min

Molo Quattro and Molara, Ventotene, Italy

Dive #31

Dive 1

Molo Quattro

Depth: 30m

Time: not recorded

 
Dive #32

Dive 2

Molara

Dive #33

Dive 3 - First ever night dive.

Molo Quattro

Depth: 30m

Time: not recorded

Ventotene, Italy

Ventotene is part of the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea.  I visited the island twice as it is a fantastic scuba diving spot and, like numerous places in Italy, is a fascinating and very seductive place rich in history.  It is a diving mecca amongst Italian scuba divers and home to Diving World Ventotene, Italy's first scuba diving centre which opened in 1978.
 

 

During the Roman empire the island was chosen by many emperors as the ideal destination to banish troublemakerd.  Benito Mussolini also restructured a prison camp on the neighbouring island of Santo Stefano and sent many prominent political opponents there, including Sandro Pertini who would later become President of Italy.

View of Santo Stefano island

Ventotene is unforgettable for me as it was here that I did my first wreck dive, first night dive, as well as my deepest ever dive.  The wreck was of a steamer that was sunk by British bombers in July 1943.  The ship was carrying only civilians.  It now lies split in two at 46m.  This was the deepest dive that I have ever done.   

The Santa Lucia.

Dive #30

Le Sconiglie

Depth: 20m

Time: not recorded