Italian Dive Advice, Please

[scubamon]

Hello, and thanks in advance for your advice. I will try to give as much information as possible to guide your replies.

I will be in Tuscany in September with my wife and a few other couples. There are a few of us that are divers that would like to try to squeeze in a dive day. I have tons of questions, so I am hoping the good community here can provide some information.

1- Are we crazy to think we can ride a train from Florence to the coast somewhere, get in a couple of dives and return on a train that night? Looks like only a couple hours by train to Livorno (as an example) so we could be in Livorno by 7 AM easy.

2- Would we be better off driving if we had access to a car? (We are fairly well-traveled Americans) Google Earth says it is less than 2 hours from Lucolena in Chianti, where we are staying.

3- If we are not crazy, where should we go? What dive ops do you recommend? What dive spots do you recommend?

Some background:
We are all new divers. We would prefer to dive safe locations, warm water, not too deep, reefs and lots of fish/critters. Our experience is all in warm Caribbean locations, but we are open to try anything out. We will not be travelling with any gear beyond mask, snorkel and fins so we would need a dive operator with good rental gear.

Thanks in advance for all of the help!

--Wes

 

[mafiajoe]

Diving in Elba - Diving Center Elba Island

Isola del Giglio Scuba Diving Giglio Island
Just two of the many dive centers in the area.Do a Google search and you'll find many others.
Google maps will show you the way.

 

[akaLegs]

Both of the islands mafiajoe suggested have some wonderful diving (would personnally head to Giglio instead of Elba!) but, if you're talking about a days' outing, you're going to be having one looong day with the train to the coast and then the ferry to the islands...

Another place which might be of interest is Calafuria, directly on the coast south of Livorno - I just can't remember the name of the dive centre there

 

[scubamon]

Great information, thank you! In looking into this a little deeper, I think we have narrowed it down. We will likely look to go somewhere between Portofino/Santa Margherita Ligure on the north end, and Elba/Piombino on the south end. So, any recommendations for locations and dive operations from here would be appreciated. Thank you again!

 

[akaLegs]

Check your PMs

 

[BadabingM3]

Scubamon,

One place you can try that's on the coast is Talamone which is just north of Monte. Argentario. The dive shop is ABC SUB Centro immersioni Talamone. I never dove with them but did alot of spear fishing in the area and it's probebly not as nice as the islands but Talamone has a nice sea floor and lots of scolie formation (volcanic rock formation & reefs) sea life is pretty good along with visability. Talamone is just 2.5 hrs driving from where you'll be staying. Plus it's a nice town on the cliffs just of the sea.

Good luck!

Rob

 

[Boa Gialla]

Great information, thank you! In looking into this a little deeper, I think we have narrowed it down. We will likely look to go somewhere between Portofino/Santa Margherita Ligure on the north end, and Elba/Piombino on the south end. So, any recommendations for locations and dive operations from here would be appreciated. Thank you again!

Well, my first suggestion is to keep far from train. By car (and then by ferry) you can be in about 3 hours on the Elba shores. Elba is great: wonderful dives.

You'll take a little bit more to get to Portofino. Probably the best solution is to reach Rapallo, and contact the Abyss D.C. to dive in Portofino. The Marine Area of Portfino is wonderful in september (i remember fantastic dives in that period). If you'll dive only one day, I vote for Portofino.

Ciao.
A.

 

[SailNaked]

sempre respiro con l'erogatore in bocca te

 

[Piccola]

I spent 2 weeks in Santa Margherita Ligure last year. One of the more famous sites is the Christ of the Abyss. I dove with Luca from DWS. About Liguria & Portofino
It was a great experience and you will love the diivg there.

 

[lulubelle]

sempre respiro con l'erogatore in bocca te