Diving e Corsi Sub - Marettimo Residence

Diving and Sub Courses

Snorkel Diver

It is the first approach to diving with basic equipment. The aim of the course is to introduce you to scuba diving. The duration of the course is 4/12 hours, the minimum age is 12 years.

Open Water Diver

Course that qualifies you to dive in pairs with aqualungs within 18 metres. It consists of theory lessons, practical lessons and 4 open water dives. The minimum age for acquiring the license is 12 years (Junior Scuba Diver).

CPR First Aid Diver

The CPR First Aid Diver SSI, in addition to being an essential prerequisite for the Stress & Rescue course, is a course aimed at raising awareness and promoting the learning of the rudiments of first aid. In the student kit, in addition to the course registration folder, the manual and the various gadgets, the SSI has included the video cassette of the course to allow the student to be able to review the resuscitation techniques learned during the course and, with the help of a dummy, try them again.

Specialty Diver

The SSI specialties include a minimum of two theoretical lessons, practical lessons and at least two open water lessons. The purpose of the specialty courses is to gain experience under the direct control of an instructor and prepare the student for new situations. Prerequisites Having obtained at least two specialties; have made at least 12 dives.

Advanced Open Water Diver

It is the certification that demonstrates advanced diving experience. It is obtained after having achieved 4 specialties and completed 24 open water dives. Prerequisites Having obtained at least 4 specialties; have made at least 24 dives.

Stress & Rescue

The course teaches underwater rescue techniques by training in applying first aid in the aquatic environment. The duration is 18/24 hours, two theoretical lessons and 4 in the water.

Dive Control Specialist

Prepares the diver for in-depth knowledge of underwater technique. Qualifies for the role of DiveMaster (diving guide), for conducting the Snorkel course, for participation in the Associate Instructor course. It includes 6 open water lessons, following a complete Open Water course, 12 theoretical lessons, teaching tests, rescue and aquatic skills tests.

Speciality

Boat Diving Night / Limites Visibility Diving Deep Diving Navigation Wreck Diving and Archeology Underwater Phtography and Videography Marine Identification (marine identification) Computer Diving (diving with the computer) Cavern Diver (cave diving) Drift Diving (drift diving).

The courses and dives are carried out by the diving company: www.vogliadimare.com

Diving in Marettimo

Cathedral

The true Queen of the island. The entrance to the cave is the only opening of the cave, it is located on the sandy bottom at a depth of 29m, along the fall of a ridge. It is important to anchor on the point above, given the frequent presence of a consistent current. The entrance gap is very large, full of many types of sponges (including Clathrina clathrus), the cave extends for around 80 meters with a height of around 8-10 meters and goes up to a depth of 14 metres.

External Rock

We are about 200 meters from the coast near Punta Basana and the visibility allows us to see the rock from the first meters from the surface. We lower a surface line which helps us reach the anchor chain on a sandy seabed at around 38 metres, even if the top of the rock is located at around 25 metres. This is certainly a dive which should be considered challenging due to the presence constant current both on the surface and during the descent.

Punta Bassana

From the boat we can already understand why the wall that emerges is called "Sticchio della Castellana" (let the locals tell you the legend). We anchor near the tip and swim pleasantly in the clear blue water about 10 meters deep towards it, leaving the mountain wall at a certain distance having decided to explore it on the way back. From here we observe that already at 15 meters the wall is dotted with red gorgonians.

Saint Simon

Descending along the top of the anchor, the excellent visibility of the water allows us to notice that a few meters from an edge full of seagrass, three close-by pinnacles stand out, offering a suggestive route sheltered from the current that we had encountered on the surface. Their upper part is located at around 23 metres, the walls facing the open sea abound with red gorgonians of considerable size, guaranteed encounters with lobsters, conger eels and moray eels.

Camel Rock

Easy and fun dive which, from the surface, where the rock emerges, reaches a depth of 18 metres. We anchor where the emerged wall rises from a 6 meter seabed and then degrades almost vertically onto a sandy surface. The wall is full of parazoanthus, sponges, orange madrepores, spirographs and white tufted worms.

At about 12 meters there is a simple but fascinating passage, full of plays of light, which connects us with the opposite side of the rock. Here, a few meters away, there is a cave with a unique opening, inhabited by shrimps and frequented by Apagon Imberbis (goldfish with large black eyes).
We continue up to a crack that divides the rock into two parts, and inside which there are numerous views that are disturbed by our passage. We thus find ourselves on the same side of the rock from which we started and which, closer to the surface, has numerous cracks in which octopuses and small red scorpion fish hide surrounded by schools of damsels, perches and damselfishes that preside over the territory.

Cala Martina Cave

Ideal dive for cave enthusiasts who find three of them here and with a limited degree of difficulty. Along the rock face, at 9 meters, we find the entrance to the first cave with two cerianthus and, with a short ascent route, we emerge in a large emerged cave, connected to the outside by small cracks that allow us to breathe without the use of regulators.

We go out and in the immediate vicinity we find the entrance to the second cave at 12 meters. Here we have the sensation of being in a hut given the shape of the walls, the sandy seabed and the acute arch shape of the exit which is located at 16 metres.
On the way to the third and last cave we stop to observe a large but young sea hare. At the entrance to the same cave, at 24 metres, we encounter a pack of glaces and salps manning like sentinels. The vault, approximately 8 meters high, is very large and interrupted by a hole through which a circular beam of light enters which illuminates the sandy seabed, is reflected on the walls and creates a strong contrast of light and shadow. We follow the path of the light, not before that we have encountered a forkbeard and we find ourselves outside, ready to go back up to the surface.

Perciata Cave

The dive is located in the protected marine reserve (zone a). The cave is already visible from the outside through a crack in the rock while the entrance is located at a depth of approximately x m. Most of the time some scorpion fish are stationed near the entrance to the seabed.

Before inspecting the cave, you pass under an arch and then access a crack on the walls of which you can see sea cows. You retrace the route and finally enter the cave! On the walls there are large crayfish, stenophus (both orange and yellow), lobsters and small crabs; instead, in the cracks in the wall you can observe moray eels and conger eels. Finally, the end of the cave consists of a terrace in which thousands of small shrimps are visible in the form of red dots. Returning towards the outside you can observe fantastic plays of light due to the sun's rays penetrating the cave through its crack.

Wall of Punta Bassana

One of the most evocative dives in Marettimo. At 10 meters deep the first phase of the dive begins among groupers, sea bream and damsels that escape our passage. We will seem to fly suspended between the 20/25 meters of water that separate us from the bottom at the maximum depth of 36 meters.

We are at the extreme tip. At this point, taking out our beloved torch, we aim at the wall of gorgonian fans to our left, discovering hidden hermit crabs and Galathea. You need to pay attention to cracks and crevices to continue finding marine life. We almost climb up to 15 meters where we find a school of sea bream waiting for us, dancing frantically on one side and the other of this submerged mountain. This exact point also represents a viewpoint to enjoy barracudas and snappers which often dive with their jaws wide open into the schools of small prey. Taking the way back we come across a small canyon that takes us straight to the entrance of a spacious cave whose walls are home to magnoselle and sea cicadas. The size of the cave does not present any danger even for those who do not like closed environments.