6 minute read
ITALIAN HEEL
ITALIAN HEEL
Text and photos WOJCIECH ZGOŁA
From coast to coast, Italy has the sea on both sides, as if the whole shoe, with its high upper and spur, plunged into a large puddle
This time we decided to throw on our exploratory grate the far or rather – in divers' language – deep south of Italy.
After two days of driving from Poland towards the heel, we reached the place. We were accommodated at a fancy holiday farm, just 500 m from the rocky sea shore.
We had about a 40-minute drive to the nearest cities where diving centres operated. Throughout our stay we were accompanied by heat with temperatures ranging from 37–41°C.
It is worth knowing at least a little bit of the language of the country in which you rest. It makes life much easier, especially when you have to make a call to book a diving day... and on the other side of the telephone there is probably a rally nice Italian woman, who very quickly gives you an answer in a language that is nice to your ear but hard to understand.
In any case, we decided to dive in Leuca and went there without an appointment, because one of the centres did not answer us by e-mail, and in the other there was no way to communicate. Fortunately, it turned out that there was another 5 star PADI diving centre here. It was about 7 minutes away from the port. We went there and it was success!
Gnu Diving turned out to be a very pleasant place for up to 15–16 divers. The nearby parking was free of charge and in the shade of trees. And the owners turned out friendly and helpful. Well-organised facility with a place for a shower, toilet, shop and office, a place to rinse and dry the equipment. New cylinders, valves in great condition and of course equipment rental for travellers with a minimum number of suitcases.
After completing the formalities, the dive started with getting the right cylinder. I took 15 for myself. After assembling the equipment, it all was deposited on a trailer, which was pulled by a tiny tractor, taking the whole thing directly under the Zodiac boat. Divers in halfdressed in wetsuits walked this short distance on foot. It is worth adding that with this heat it is very helpful that you do not have to drag this equipment on your back!
There are no spectacular diving spots here. Many of them are among rocks and sandbanks, among the fauna and flora typical of the Mediterranean. There are turtles here and one, a small one, we saw after diving from the surface.
I WILL TELL YOU BRIEFLY ABOUT TWO INTERESTING, IN MY OPINION, PLACES
I recommend diving on the Turkish wreck "TEVFIK KAPTAN 1", which carried 1000 tons of iron wire. She sailed from the port of Ortona (Chieti) to Algeria. Less than a mile from the coast of Torre Vado, the ship tilted about 40 degrees due to a shift in cargo and rough seas. It sank at 21:30 on June 28, 2007 off the coast of Salento near the town of Torrevado. The ship rested at a depth of 21 m. It was an ecological hazard and therefore the relevant services, in cooperation with divers from the Fire Brigade, Coast Guard and Castalia Ecolmar, immediately implemented procedures to clean up the wreckage.
The work lasted until July 6 and all hazardous substances were retrieved. Among other things, 19000 litres of diesel from the bow tank, oil from the mud box, from the service tank, from the engine room, from the aggregate, etc.
Tevfik Kaptan 1 is ideal for divers of all training levels. It lies broken and a little disintegrated, with the shallowest fragments being 5 m deep. It is ideal to start by diving to the bottom and circumnavigating the wreck spirally upwards. We can meet there, among others, moray eels, barracudas, groupers, oblades, salema porgys (Sarpa salpa), ornate wrasses (Thalassoma pavo), Mediterranean chromis (Chromis chromis) and others.
An interesting place for advanced divers is a diving spot called MELISO. Initially, it seems that it is an ordinary dive, like many others in this location. After about 10 minutes of diving, a slight current appears. We descend below 25 m deep. We see crawfish, moray eels and nudibranchs. The current intensifies and we reach a kind of an underwater peninsula at a depth of about 28 m. On three sides, the walls fall to 40, 50 m. In front of me I see a shoal of barracudas, on the left there are 2 large groupers. Everywhere there are shoals of common two-banded sea bream and oblades swimming around us, and in the distance we can see several jackfish. Visibility reaches a good 20 m, and the temperature at 30 m depth dropped from 31 degrees at the surface down to 24 deg.
Returning and surfacing after the safety stop, we again see single crawfish and snails. There are as many as 5 species of the latter. It is very nice to dive in such a place. I wouldn't refuse seeing a turtle and a few dolphins, though ;) However, you can't always have everything you want.
If you dive with Gnu Diving, send kind regards to the Perfect Diver team, maybe they will even show you a printed edition of our magazine!
