Blog

The Italian island of Sardinia in the mid-western Mediterranean has a lot to offer both above and below water. In the area around Capo Galera, there is surprisingly much life and many colors underwater, and diving caters to most levels. Many of the caves with the beautiful overhangs and exciting swim-throughs rarely reach deeper than 15 meters. Above water, the Sardinian culture and delicious food add a little extra spice to the holiday.

After a short boat trip in the RIB, we arrive at the diving site Grotta di Falco. I'm excited about what's waiting below the surface, because I've always been one of those who would rather go down to the south, the Red Sea, to dive into tropical waters. But now I have traveled to Sardinia to give the Mediterranean a fair chance and dive into some of the many caves and caverns that are found here.

I'm the first to roll in the water. While I wait for the others, I lie and look in towards the rocks, which are at least as dramatic underwater as above. When we have come down to five or six meters we swim towards the wall where I can see a huge overhang in the rock. Antonio, who is the guide on the dive, eagerly points under it and gives signs that I should swim in there. When I have come a bit under the ´ roof´, some openings in the rock appear - it is the entrance to some small caves. It is a beautiful sight to turn around and look out at the open blue sea. As I light up under the roof of the eaves, I see to my great delight that the light cone reveals a myriad of colors. Here are mushrooms in bright red colors and thousands of small yellow and green anemones. I get the signal to Antonio that he has to hang out in the opening so I can take some pictures with the beautiful play of colors and Antonio surrounded by blue water.

Further along the wall there is another large overhang. This time Antonio swims in first and I follow with a little excitement in my body. I can figure out that it's probably because we're going further in this time. We enter a tunnel, which is probably closer to a giant swim-through. Here we now swim from one opening to the other. It never gets completely dark, because the moment we leave the light from the first opening, a new one appears. I stop several times to enjoy the absolutely stunning scenery with all the colors on the walls and in the ceiling. As we slowly slide out of the next opening, Antonio shows me some rock shelves above us. Here lies an elongated blue-gray body and snakes itself. It does not have the scales of a moray eel, as much as I can see. But since neither head nor tail is visible, I have a bit of a hard time seeing what kind of sea monster it is. Antonio, who has worked here as a diving guide for a little over ten years, knows the elongated animal, and with the help of his lantern makes the creature retreat a little, so that its head appears. This is a conger eel - a giant species that can grow up to three meters in length and weigh 65 kg. Now, of course, it would be easy to write that this specimen was just around the three meters, but to be completely honest, it was probably only two meters. Therefore, I still had to pull myself together a bit before I stuck the camera up in its head. After that experience, we swam back towards the boat to take our safety stop.

When I hung there and looked through pictures, I agreed with myself that my first dive in the Mediterranean had far from disappointed - on the contrary!

Capo Galera

Capo Galera, located on the west coast of Sardinia, is the name of the cliff on which the diving center of the same name is located. It offers a fantastic panoramic view of the Mediterranean. Originally it was two Germans who opened the center, but in the year 2000 it was taken over by local Gaddo Risso. Gaddo now lives with his wife and two boys in a house adjacent to the diving center. The diving center's daily operations are run by my guide this week, Antonio Barone. Antonio is a full-blooded Italian with big arm movements who likes to take a trip to the local cheese shop to make sure you get a real Sardinian cheese. The diving center is the test center for the Italian equipment manufacturer Cressi. Ie. that all the rental equipment in the center is Cressi, which ensures good quality. In the high season, which runs from mid-May to late October, Gaddo often starts up the big grill. These are some cozy evenings that also offer a lot of more or less true diving stories. The diving center does not have a restaurant attached, but there is a large kitchen, where each room has a refrigerator and a cupboard with the most necessary cooking equipment.

If you do not want to spend your holiday cooking for yourself, the super cozy town of Alghero is just a ten minute drive from the center. You can of course take a taxi in there, or you can rent a car from AVIS, with which Gaddo has a good deal.

Considering that the diving center is high above the surface of the Mediterranean, it is wonderfully easy to transport all the diving equipment down to the boat. It takes place on an open wagon, which is pulled up and down by a motor on rails. Then you can quietly walk down the stairs and enjoy the view over the turquoise sea. If you want to see and dive more than what can be achieved in RIB from the diving center,

Gaddo bought a large, delicious sailing boat three years ago that serves as a liveaboard and cruise ship. There is a rift about the seats on the boat, so you have to book well in advance.

House Reef

At the foot of the stairs leading down to the water, an excellent house reef starts. In short, it seems like a mixture of Sweden's west coast and a coastal dive in the Red Sea. The dive starts with a trip over some unusually tall seagrass, in which a lot of life is hidden, if you look a little. Then you come to a rocky reef, which runs out from the shore. For those with a penchant for macro life, there are good opportunities here. On many of the rocks, which are scattered over a large area, some bright orange sponges grow. The trick here is to find the black sponges that grow among the dominant oranges. Because on the black sponges lives a certain nude snail (Hypselodoris orsinii), which with its very clear blue-purple color and yellow stripes gives a nice contrast to the black sponges. If you are here in the spring, it can easily be possible to see several different slugs and flatworms. Octopuses are also among the frequent guests on the house reef.

Alghero

Located ten minutes by car from Capo Galera, it is a town with approx. 35,000 inhabitants. In the old town with its narrow streets at a crossroads, laundry and flowers hang out the windows. Here exudes really far away of Sardinian Mediterranean atmosphere. The city is full of cozy cafes and restaurants, and if you are there one evening, do not deceive yourself for a walk along the water and the castle wall from the Middle Ages. With Alghero so close to the diving center, a family with diving and non-diving members will be able to experience something both individually - and together.

Combined dive with open water and caves

Capo Caccia and Grotta della Madonnina actually carry plenty of experiences separately, but can also be taken in one dive. Capo Caccia is an open water dive below the over 100 meter high cliff.. Here you dive around in a very dramatic rock landscape, which offers both columns and inviting cracks in the rocks. It is not uncommon to come across large fish such as groupers and sea bass. If you go a little deeper down to approx. 30-40 meters, one can find several kinds of soft corals. Who said there were no such thing in the Mediterranean? Among other things, the very red corals (Corallium rubrum) grow here, which have unfortunately been picked up in large quantities for use in jewelery. From 2001 to 2008, the United States alone imported 28 million pieces of this beautiful coral. There are now quotas for how many corals can be picked up, so they will also be found here in the future. Therefore, it was definitely worth coming down and experiencing them, and luckily we saw a lot of them. When the sun is high in the sky, there is almost daylight at 35 meters, where we found them.

Grotta della Madonnina is not an enclosed cave, but a series of swim-throughs. The rock wall itself is clad in fan corals and the colorful mushrooms and anemones that are found throughout the area. When you light or shoot a flash on the rock wall, it appears in all the colors of the rainbow - and it can usually bring a smile to most divers' lips. If you swim in through some of the beautiful swim-throughs, you must remember to look up at the ceiling. Because here grow some small beautiful corals (Corallo Rosso), which, as the name suggests, are pink / red. The corals are not very large, but they cover large areas, and it overflows with both slugs, crayfish and small fish among them.

On the way back to the boat, it is a good idea to swim a little off the wall. Here we saw squid, a moray eel and schoolong barracudas lurking in the blue.

Into Sardinia

If you do not think that tunnels and small caves are hardcore enough, then it is Grotta dei Fantasmi that you should visit. Here you literally dive into Sardinia. The cave does not have holes in the ceiling where sunlight can penetrate, as you know it from many cenotes in Mexico. Once you have moved through the entrance and the narrow passage that meanders a little up and down on the way into the cave, then it is only your own brought light that reveals the beautiful limestone formations. There are various theories about how far man can actually see under water. But in Grotta dei Fantasmi, it does not seem as if you are in water at all. Every time you turn around a pillar or swim through a passage, a new lunar landscape reveals itself, so the only obstacle to judging how far you can see is how good a lantern you have with you. However, the sight can very quickly become miserable if you get swirled up in some of the fine sludge that lies at the bottom of the cave. Good buoyancy control and small light seed kicks are a must when entering such caves. Should it happen that you get a little sludge swirled up, it's just about swimming a little further, then you are quickly in clear water again.

In a few places in the cave you will find what the Italians themselves call lakes. The lakes are places in the cave that lie above sea level, which makes it possible to stick your head up over the water and get a little chatter in the middle of the dive. However, due to the high carbon dioxide content in the air pockets, it is best to still breathe from the regulator. The beauty of getting up into the lakes is the stalactite formations that hang down from the ceiling. Stalactites are formed by lime-saturated water seeping through ceilings and walls in an underground cave, thereby - drop by drop - depositing small layers of lime as the water evaporates. If you are not unsure about having a roof over your head on a dive, you should treat yourself to experience Grotta dei Fantasmi.

(Morten Bjørn Larsen)