Help w/ dive shops and sites, Catanzaro, Italy area

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weaponeer

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By brother-in-law is interested in diving southern Italy, around the Catanzaro area. Anybody with web links to dive shops and dive sites in that region, please pass them along. I'm totally unfamiliar with diving in Italy.

Also, what is the general nature of the diving there? Any reefs? Any wrecks, and if so, how deep? All help is appreciated.
 
By brother-in-law is interested in diving southern Italy, around the Catanzaro area. Anybody with web links to dive shops and dive sites in that region, please pass them along. I'm totally unfamiliar with diving in Italy.

Also, what is the general nature of the diving there? Any reefs? Any wrecks, and if so, how deep? All help is appreciated.

I know well Calabria (that region of Italy) as my wife was born there.

Catanzaro is on the Ionio sea, and I unfortunately know better the Tirrenean Sea: in any case moving from Catanzaro in a couple of hours you can reach a lot of dive places.

Please, tell me what kind of dive are you looking for (depth, wrecks, biology, ....) and in which period, and i'll try to help you.

Ciao,
A.
 
Ciao Boa Gialla,

My wife's family (on father's side) lives in Cosenza, north of Catanzaro. Their last name is Papara. Cosenza is closer to the Tyrrenian Sea than Ionian, so diving the Tyrrenian area may be better for my brother-in-law, Peter, when he goes to Italy to visit family. Peter is not yet scuba certified. Once he is certified he will start with biology diving, basically just looking at fishes and such. He won't be able to dive deep until he gets advanced training and dive experience.

Can you recommend any dive shops on the Tyrrenian coast closer to Cosenza, and provide contact information? Do you know of any web sites that have photos and describe diving in Italy? Any help and information you can provide is very much appreciated. Grazie amico!
 
Ciao Boa Gialla,

My wife's family (on father's side) lives in Cosenza, north of Catanzaro. Their last name is Papara. Cosenza is closer to the Tyrrenian Sea than Ionian, so diving the Tyrrenian area may be better for my brother-in-law, Peter, when he goes to Italy to visit family. Peter is not yet scuba certified. Once he is certified he will start with biology diving, basically just looking at fishes and such. He won't be able to dive deep until he gets advanced training and dive experience.

Can you recommend any dive shops on the Tyrrenian coast closer to Cosenza, and provide contact information? Do you know of any web sites that have photos and describe diving in Italy? Any help and information you can provide is very much appreciated. Grazie amico!

Cosenza in is the north of Calabria, closer to the Tyrrenian Sea than Ionian, as you correctly wrote. Unfortunately the best places for diving are norther (Praia a Mare, Scalea, Dino Isle,...) or souther (Tropea, Capo Vaticano, Scilla, ....).

I don't know much about the dives in the north (even though there a couple of good wreck, but for trimix diver). I think there are dives in Amantea (close to Cosenza), as I've found the reference for at least one diving (the email of the owner is francesco.mazzei@fondali.it ), but I really don't know anything about it. I'll try to get info from friends.

I know much better the dives in the south, mainly the area of Capo Vaticano and Tropea. From Cosenza it takes less than two hours by car to get there. The dives in Tropea are very easy, shallow and warm water. Lot of interesting dives, lot of fishes and colors, in the range 15 mt. - 25 mt. I use to dive there every year, even i know very well all those sites, as they are very relaxing. I use the "Torre Ruffa Diving", very easy to find because it's in the harbour of Tropea. They do courses, and they also rent/sell dive gear. This is my suggestion for divers with few dives on the log book. In case, their email is torreruffa@torreruffa.com: they know me well (as Boa Gialla or either as Andrea from Trento).

For more experienced divers, Scilla (souther than Tropea) is IMHO one of the most beatiful dive places in Italy. In particular, "La Montagna" (The mountain) is a rock at a depth of about 40 mt. filled with incredible Paramuricea Clavata red and yellow (see this card ).

I'm looking for web pages with details and photo, but nothing in english, sorry.

To see some image of dives in Tropea (these photos are not so good, IMO) you can see here: IMMERSIONI (i.e. Dives), and click on each name of dive spot.

For some photo of Scilla, see here.

For any further question, ask me without any problem, even though I know my english is awful.

Ciao,
Andrea
 
Andrea,

Thank you so much for the information. I'll make note of the details and let my brother-in-law Peter know what to expect the next time he visits family in Cosenza. I know the email addresses you provided will be very handy. If there is any information about United States diving that I can assist you with, please let me know.

Best wishes
 
If there is any information about United States diving that I can assist you with, please let me know.

Thank you very much, but I've no plans for diving in USA, at this moment.

If you'll need further details about Italy and Calabria, don't hesitate to write me a message. I'll be there (in Tropea) in August.

Ciao,
A.
 
Boa,
How does the diving that you mention (Scilla) compare to diving around Sardinia?

My wife and I are considering visiting Italy next year and would like to do some diving while we are there. Someone from Italy had mentioned the diving on Sardinia was good. But they are not a diver. We will have 2 weeks so thought a few days of diving should be doable. But getting to and from Sardinia could be a little trouble. Where would be the best place to fly to Sardinia. Alghero or Cagliari or another? Please share any other info you have about diving in Italy and other places to see as well.

Thanks
 
Boa,
How does the diving that you mention (Scilla) compare to diving around Sardinia?

My wife and I are considering visiting Italy next year and would like to do some diving while we are there. Someone from Italy had mentioned the diving on Sardinia was good. But they are not a diver. We will have 2 weeks so thought a few days of diving should be doable. But getting to and from Sardinia could be a little trouble. Where would be the best place to fly to Sardinia. Alghero or Cagliari or another? Please share any other info you have about diving in Italy and other places to see as well.

Thanks

Scilla is just a little town on the southest part of Italian peninsula. You can find there wonderful places to dive (I love Scilla), but Sardinia is a big island, with a fantastic sea, and lot of different places to dive.

So, Sardinia is one of the best choices to dive in Italy, IMO. You can fly to Cagliari (south), Alghero (north-west) or Olbia (north-est).

I know better the north / north-west part of the Island. Close to Alghero you can dive in CapoCaccia: if you like cavern diving it's your place (not only cavern, of course). In addition, moving from Alghero you can easily reach the north part of Sardinia to dive in Lavezzi and Maddalena Isle: it's the northern part of Sardinia, and it is a protected marine area, with a lot of well known dives.


Cagliari is in the south of Sardinia, and there are a lot of good diving places there too (Villasimius, Carloforte, .....). I never dove in Cagliari, but if you need, I can easily get informations about dives, places, etc.

Actually, everything depends very much on the kind of holiday you are looking for. Olbia and Costa Smeralda (Emerald Coast, in english) is one of the most beatiful places in Sardinia and Italy as well, but it's very expensive, lot of people, italian and european VIPs,....

On the other hand, the area of Oristano for example, in the west of Sardinia, is not a known touristic place, and you can find there peace and nature (and very good dives too: this is the diving of Ivan, a good friend of mine).

As you see, you have a lot of possible choices. If you need further information, i'll be happy to help you as I can.

Ciao,
A.
 
Small update - I'v recently made some dives in Scilla with "en tuffo nei blu" dive-center. The dives are made once a day, and are dependent on the weather, wind, currents... It took me three days to get to the "La Montagna" (The mountain) which is located right under Scilla rock. In good weather conditions it's 10 min boat trip from dive center. First attempt was cancelled due to the waves and current, second day we dropped from the boat, get to some 30 mt and returned to the surface because of low visability (2-3 m) and finally day three was OK. Dives are demanding, but experienced diver can really enjoy it. In my opinion, they are between advanced recreation and "light tec"
 
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