Diving in Naples and Capri

[Scubanutx2]

Hello all and buon giorno (testing my Italian),

I'm going to Italy in about 2wks and I would like to know if anyone can recommend a good dive shop there. I'm going to be in Capri and then in Naples and I really want to do some diving while I'm there. Thank you in advance for any help you can give.

Arrivederci

 

[Piccola]

I would be very interested in knowing what you think of your dives. I just came back from Italy Tuesday; I was diving in Portofino which is in the Italian Riviera. I went to the cristo degli abissi. I originally was trying to get to the grottos in Capri but had difficulty finding information on it. I was actually surprised to see that our waters here in New England seemed more lush with sea life than was present in the Ligurian Sea.

 

[Boa Gialla]

I would be very interested in knowing what you think of your dives. I just came back from Italy Tuesday; I was diving in Portofino which is in the Italian Riviera. I went to the cristo degli abissi. I originally was trying to get to the grottos in Capri but had difficulty finding information on it. I was actually surprised to see that our waters here in New England seemed more lush with sea life than was present in the Ligurian Sea.

This makes me curious about sea life in New England: I never dove in USA, but I know very well Portofino (not just the Cristo, but all the other places: Isuela first), and it's a very special place IMO, as it is a protected area so you can find almost all the species living in Mediterranean sea.

I'm thinking you have had bad luck, due to the period (best period to visit Portofino is September-October) and to the sea conditions. Haven't you seen groupers, Dentex dentex (sorry, my english is awful, and I use latin names for fish I don't know in english), Conger conger, eels, octopus, Sciaena umbra, red coral, Paramuricea clavata, Eunicella singularis, Eunicella cavolinii, Eunicella verrucosa, Leptogorgia, lot of sea slugs types, .... ? Just a few list of what I usually see there. And I missed in the list all the other little fishes that I like to observe in very shallow water.

So, since I really don't know anything about New England dives, could you please tell me what could I expect to see there? No polemics: I really think you had bad luck in your visit to Portofino, and I'm very sorry about it.

Ciao.
A.

P.S. If you like grottoes, caves ... best places are Palinuro (little souther to Naples) and Alghero (Sardinia)

 

[Piccola]

Boa Gialla

I hope it did not sound like 'mi dispiace' with the diving. I would be happy diving in a puddle. I did see octopus, large groupers, and such. I think I thought it would have more plant life, or larger plant life. We have lots of sea plant, urchins, anemone, fish, and of course our clawed lobsters. I am planning a trip to Sorrento to dive the Punta Campanella. I would like any suggestions you may have on the subject. If you want to exchange email addresses, PM me. I can send you some pictures of what we have here.
a presto
EJ

 

[Boa Gialla]

Boa Gialla

I hope it did not sound like 'mi dispiace' with the diving. I would be happy diving in a puddle. I did see octopus, large groupers, and such. I think I thought it would have more plant life, or larger plant life. We have lots of sea plant, urchins, anemone, fish, and of course our clawed lobsters. I am planning a trip to Sorrento to dive the Punta Campanella. I would like any suggestions you may have on the subject. If you want to exchange email addresses, PM me. I can send you some pictures of what we have here.
a presto
EJ

Well, Portofino is mainly rocks, colored by gorgonian, coral and sponges. You can meet there lot of fishes, and as they know (I don't know how) that the area is protected, they come very close to you. Last year I was face-to-face with a very big grouper: I was a little bit worried about the possibility the grouper wanted give a kiss to me.


I'll be glad to receive some pictures, or even link to pictures, to know other dive places in the world, I'm going to send you my email address.

About Punta Campanella, I'll be there on May 30 (three-four days), and I'll try to report my suggestions/opinions when I'll be back.

Ciao.
A.

 

[Boa Gialla]

About Punta Campanella, I'll be there on May 30 (three-four days), and I'll try to report my suggestions/opinions when I'll be back.

Brief report. Actually I went to Castellammare di Stabia, not Sorrento. So, instead of Punta Campanella, I did my dives on the Banco di S. Croce, with the guys of the Bikini Diving (great guys!).

The Banco is a set of big pinnacles, with the top at about -8 mt. and the bottom at about -50 mt.

The pinnacles are literally covered by sea fans (Paramuricea Clavata and Eunicella cavolinii) and by eggs of "Gattuccio" (the little shark living in the mediterranean sea:some images). On some single sea fans I counted more than 20 eggs.

The pinnacles are coloured, with lot of little caves and holes. Big fishes, rock lobsters and at the end the Gattuccio itself: I've seen a couple of them, about 80 cm. long, "sleeping" in their holes.

I think it's a very special dive, and if you are in Naples or Sorrento ... you can't miss it.


Ciao.
A.

 

[Scubanutx2]

This makes me curious about sea life in New England: I never dove in USA, but I know very well Portofino (not just the Cristo, but all the other places: Isuela first), and it's a very special place IMO, as it is a protected area so you can find almost all the species living in Mediterranean sea.

I'm thinking you have had bad luck, due to the period (best period to visit Portofino is September-October) and to the sea conditions. Haven't you seen groupers, Dentex dentex (sorry, my english is awful, and I use latin names for fish I don't know in english), Conger conger, eels, octopus, Sciaena umbra, red coral, Paramuricea clavata, Eunicella singularis, Eunicella cavolinii, Eunicella verrucosa, Leptogorgia, lot of sea slugs types, .... ? Just a few list of what I usually see there. And I missed in the list all the other little fishes that I like to observe in very shallow water.

So, since I really don't know anything about New England dives, could you please tell me what could I expect to see there? No polemics: I really think you had bad luck in your visit to Portofino, and I'm very sorry about it.

Ciao.
A.

P.S. If you like grottoes, caves ... best places are Palinuro (little souther to Naples) and Alghero (Sardinia)

Thanks for your reply. I ended up diving in Capri, more specifically at the Green Grotto. I dove with a dive company that was located on the island at Marina Piccola. It was intersting because the other dives I've done have been from larger boats and this was done from a small 4 man inflatable boat. That was different and it was a good experience for me.

We really didn't see that much. But I did get a chance to see a Cuttle Fish, which was cool along with an Octopus. There were also some fishing traps where we were and in one of them was a Moray eel. He didn't seem to sociable at the time so we moved on.

Another good experience for me was diving through the cave at the Green grotto. So on this trip I had some first's and that was good.

I would very much like to go back and go to the place you talked about. It seems there was much more to see.

Again, thanks for the info. Ciao

 

[Scubanutx2]

I would be very interested in knowing what you think of your dives. I just came back from Italy Tuesday; I was diving in Portofino which is in the Italian Riviera. I went to the cristo degli abissi. I originally was trying to get to the grottos in Capri but had difficulty finding information on it. I was actually surprised to see that our waters here in New England seemed more lush with sea life than was present in the Ligurian Sea.

Piccola,

The diving was good in Capri but I was expecting to see more. In some of the other post's I've read, it sounds as though there are some great locations to dive in Italy and I would love to go to those places. Thanks for the response.

 

[Boa Gialla]

We really didn't see that much. But I did get a chance to see a Cuttle Fish, which was cool along with an Octopus. There were also some fishing traps where we were and in one of them was a Moray eel. He didn't seem to sociable at the time so we moved on.

Another good experience for me was diving through the cave at the Green grotto. So on this trip I had some first's and that was good.

I would very much like to go back and go to the place you talked about. It seems there was much more to see.

Unfortunately I never dove in Capri, so I couldn't give any suggestion. As far as I know by others, Capri has incredible scenarios below the -40 mt.

How deep did you dive?

Ciao.
A.