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

Conger Alley, Loch Long, Scotland

Dive #27

Dive 1

Depth: 17.8m

Time: 25min

 

Dive #28

Dive 1

Depth: 15m

Time: 24min

Dive leader with Alan went well.

Safety stop done amongst a shoal of Mackerel.

Millport Bay and Wishing Well, Isle of Cumbrae, West of Scotland

The Isle of Cumbrae is the largest of the two islands known as the Cumbraes.  It is located in the Firth of Clyde and is a popular destination for day-trippers from Glasgow.  There is a University Marine Biological Station which I attended during my studies. 

Dive #20

Dive 1

Depth: 17.6m

Time: 35min

This was a training dive in which we practiced navigation skills and use of the Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB).

Dive #21 

Dive 2

Depth: 11.7m

Time: 33min

This was a drift dive with Alan Ramsay.  During this training dive we practiced using the Surface Marker Buoy (SMB).   

Millport Bay and Clash Farlan Point, Isle of Cumbrae, West of Scotland

Dive #24

Dive 1

Depth: Not recorded

Time: 30min

Temp: 9 degrees C

This was a drift dive from boat.  We completed a run through of the the skills review and completed some dive leader training.

Dive #25

Dive 2

Depth: 18m

Time: 44min

 

Here you can see the mountainous Isle of Arran (view looking south west in the map) from when I did a shore dive from the Isle of Cumbrae.

Diving from a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) can be fun but there isn't much space for the divers or equipment. You have to enter doing the backwards roll and help is needed exiting the water.  Excuse the shaky filming, it was a fast RIB!