Sardinia October 2005Due to the global weathercha ...
Sardinia October 2005
Due to the global weatherchanges that threatens especially the Caribia, our trip to Mexico and Belize went down the drain. The alternative whitch we thought would be a poor substitute proved to be fantastic. We packed our bags and went to Sardinia. In advance we had contacted a local divingcenter on the eastcoast at the Golfo the Orosei. In the small town of Cala Gonone we came in contact with the tecnical divingcenter called Pro-Tec. The facility is run by the two eager soles of Thorsten Waelde and Patrick Wiget. They would prove to be very serious and proffesionel. At our arrival on the 6th of october we dropped by the divingcenter to have a look, half an hour later we found ourselves taking lessions in the IANTD /NACD Cavern Course. Not exactly planned, but since we had brought all our equipment exept dobble-tanks, the choice of a cource was easy.
Sardinia is an island that would remind you of a Swiss cheese, and it would be a shame not to be able to explore some of the fantastic caverns situated on the coast. Thorsten “Toddy” Waelde is an expirienced Cavediver and instructor with many expeditions in caves, both here in Sardinia and Mexico. He and his co-owner Patrick Wiget have explored a dusin of the Sardinian Caves and disided to settle down here in Cala Gonone.
After classroom sessions and dryland practice the trip went out to the Caverns and caves in the 7,5 m RIB . The open-waterdrills , - out-off air, no-mask, valvetraining etc was done in about one hour. Our next dive went into the Cavern and we were about to get a totaly new and exiting experience. Personally i am into wreckdiving, but this was something else, surely an overhead environment, but what a beautifull one ! On this and the later coursedives we did not get to much time to enjoy the senery, due to a sertain stresslevel with lineplacement, out-off air drills, valvetraining and navigation. The beauty would be explored later. In total we had 5 training dives.
After passing the course we where finaly ready to enter our first Cavern, as Cavern divers with no stress or obligations. This turned out to bee an experience out of the ordinary. In spite of the limititations on this level and max penetration of 60 meters we had a fantastic experience. We entered the cavern and swam into a passage filled with breatheble air. Ripped our masks and regulater off and smiled and screamed of joy. Fantastic formations, stalagmites and stalagtites, unbeliveble colors. With a max depht of 10,5m and total divetime of 90 minutes we regretably had to leave the cavern.
Sardinia does not only provide you with fantastic caves but also wrecks on all levels. We visited the wreck of the German WWII freighter KT-12, that was torpedoed by a Brtitish Sub in 1943. The wreck is situated on aprox 36 meters and is in a good shape. It alows both simple and more demanding penetration, and with the visibility of about 20-30 meters this was a great experience as well. A good dive on a nice Nitroxmix.
If anyone should get the impression that you have to dive caves and wrecks to enjoy Sardinia, this is wrong. The visibility is fantastic, the marine life is totaly different from what we find her at home, and the water is warm and nice. Sardinia can offer something for every taste.
September and october is low-seeson, and it is possible to get here and live here at affordable prices. Personally I think it was a great time to be here. Good service , plenty of time and no stress at the divecenter.
Our two weeks went way to fast, here back in Norway we are already trying to plan the next trip. Maybe Plura (Norwegian cavesystem) will be next before we go back, maybe with a new sertification and new possibilities in Sardinia.
Sardinia is approwed and hereby recommended.
FJ
Due to the global weatherchanges that threatens especially the Caribia, our trip to Mexico and Belize went down the drain. The alternative whitch we thought would be a poor substitute proved to be fantastic. We packed our bags and went to Sardinia. In advance we had contacted a local divingcenter on the eastcoast at the Golfo the Orosei. In the small town of Cala Gonone we came in contact with the tecnical divingcenter called Pro-Tec. The facility is run by the two eager soles of Thorsten Waelde and Patrick Wiget. They would prove to be very serious and proffesionel. At our arrival on the 6th of october we dropped by the divingcenter to have a look, half an hour later we found ourselves taking lessions in the IANTD /NACD Cavern Course. Not exactly planned, but since we had brought all our equipment exept dobble-tanks, the choice of a cource was easy.
Sardinia is an island that would remind you of a Swiss cheese, and it would be a shame not to be able to explore some of the fantastic caverns situated on the coast. Thorsten “Toddy” Waelde is an expirienced Cavediver and instructor with many expeditions in caves, both here in Sardinia and Mexico. He and his co-owner Patrick Wiget have explored a dusin of the Sardinian Caves and disided to settle down here in Cala Gonone.
After classroom sessions and dryland practice the trip went out to the Caverns and caves in the 7,5 m RIB . The open-waterdrills , - out-off air, no-mask, valvetraining etc was done in about one hour. Our next dive went into the Cavern and we were about to get a totaly new and exiting experience. Personally i am into wreckdiving, but this was something else, surely an overhead environment, but what a beautifull one ! On this and the later coursedives we did not get to much time to enjoy the senery, due to a sertain stresslevel with lineplacement, out-off air drills, valvetraining and navigation. The beauty would be explored later. In total we had 5 training dives.
After passing the course we where finaly ready to enter our first Cavern, as Cavern divers with no stress or obligations. This turned out to bee an experience out of the ordinary. In spite of the limititations on this level and max penetration of 60 meters we had a fantastic experience. We entered the cavern and swam into a passage filled with breatheble air. Ripped our masks and regulater off and smiled and screamed of joy. Fantastic formations, stalagmites and stalagtites, unbeliveble colors. With a max depht of 10,5m and total divetime of 90 minutes we regretably had to leave the cavern.
Sardinia does not only provide you with fantastic caves but also wrecks on all levels. We visited the wreck of the German WWII freighter KT-12, that was torpedoed by a Brtitish Sub in 1943. The wreck is situated on aprox 36 meters and is in a good shape. It alows both simple and more demanding penetration, and with the visibility of about 20-30 meters this was a great experience as well. A good dive on a nice Nitroxmix.
If anyone should get the impression that you have to dive caves and wrecks to enjoy Sardinia, this is wrong. The visibility is fantastic, the marine life is totaly different from what we find her at home, and the water is warm and nice. Sardinia can offer something for every taste.
September and october is low-seeson, and it is possible to get here and live here at affordable prices. Personally I think it was a great time to be here. Good service , plenty of time and no stress at the divecenter.
Our two weeks went way to fast, here back in Norway we are already trying to plan the next trip. Maybe Plura (Norwegian cavesystem) will be next before we go back, maybe with a new sertification and new possibilities in Sardinia.
Sardinia is approwed and hereby recommended.
FJ