As scheduled, on Monday, Nico and I went to Casamicciola to take the rental rib and sailed to Ischia Ponte where the area study is. Over the weekend, we arranged with the Ischia diving center to get a small cart to move our heavy things. We also found a small storage next to the peer where to keep all our equipment. This way we should be able to save time in the morning and be able to start to work early. We decided to work in the Southern area of the castello during the first 3 days and then move to North.

It is still quite cold here and the water temperature doesn’t invite to dive.

Driving to the Castello Aragonese

Audio and video recordings

We took all morning to assemble and transfer all the equipment to the boat, but at lunch time we were able to deploy the tripod. The point of interest was shown by Maria Cristina that was diving that morning for her study. The white signal on the cliff indicated the acidified area. Underwater this area is revealed by gas bubbles coming from the sea floor.

acidified area

The very first shots we took gave us great enthusiasm. The area is inhabited by several species: damselfish are the most curious…they come close to the camera, maybe attracted by the light. See: Underwater video of Southern area.

There are also several species of seabream, anchovy and mullets and of course the salema porgy feeding on posidonia. See: Underwater video of Southern area 2.