Re: Cinque Terre (Levanto), Italy - Where to Freedive?
I'm not sure how relevant this is anymore, but here goes.
The weather was nice when we arrived in Cinque Terre. After checking into our place in Vernazza we walked down to the water to take a look at the harbour. It was so calm and clear that I had to jump in right away. I had no mask and just swam around without anything for quite a while. I found the water to be much easier on my eyes than the freshwater I normally dive in.
Now, this was not meant to be a dive trip and I ended up leaving my mask and snorkel at home. We had decided to pack as light as possible (ala Rick Steves) and everything we brought for the two of us fit into a single carry-on backpack. This meant leaving the mask at home.
So, with no mask in hand and a beautiful sea lying before me I set out to try and find some gear to rent. They told me that October is considered "winter" and there was nothing available to rent this time of year. The only dive shop that I found in the area (in Riomaggio) was closed. I, finally, found a store keeper that had a bit of summer stock stuffed in a corner and was able to dig out a plastic kid's mask to sell me. It wasn't great, but I happily paid the 7 euros for a chance to actually see something underwater- there were no snorkels for sale.
I jumped back in and went for another swim. There were small schools of fish, rocks, algae, and very clear water. I didn't see any of the corals that I'm used to seeing in the Caribbean, nor did I see any kelp, or other seaweed, like I'm used to diving in off of California. I'm not saying it was good or bad, just that this was my first trip to Europe and things were different- in a good way. I'm not sure what the water temp was, but I was warm enough without a wetsuit to be in the water for over an hour. I did notice that I was one of the few people out swimming, but there were plenty of people wading and sunning themselves on the rocks.
On the second day it started to cloud up and cool off- which was perfect for hiking through the various towns. Lots of great sites and good food. At the end of the line we took the train back to our starting point and ate dinner.
Next morning the rain was still coming down and we decided to take an early train back to Rome to do a bit of shopping before our flight left the following day. Little did we know that a few hours after we left all hell would break loose! The place where we grabbed breakfast in the morning was under 13 of mud by dinner time! Of course, I had no idea any of this was going on until I got home and saw the message from Spaghetti. I guess I missed all of the headlines in those Italian newspapers since I don't read Italian.:duh
It sounds like three of the towns escaped harm and are hurting for business and the other two are digging out the best that they can. It's a beautiful place that I would love to go back to someday, but it will probably be another ten years before we can afford it.
Jon