Sub Aeolian Travel: Dream Immersions

Recommended arrival in the morning at Catania airport, transfer to Milazzo for the ferry to Vulcano (due to possible flight delays the ferry ticket is not included, it can be purchased on site at the ticket office). Arrival on the island and transfer to your hotel.
Accommodation in a standard room with breakfast.
Hotel Orsa Maggiore***
Located in Porto Ponente, on the island of Vulcano, it belongs to the Aeolian archipelago. The hotel has recently been renovated, favouring the modern Aeolian style (a fusion of Greco-Roman, Islamic and Campanian styles) with Mediterranean colours such as ochre, green and cobalt blue. It enjoys ample outdoor spaces. The familiarity of the structure will make you the master of your holiday with ample freedom of movement. Located in the middle of a lush garden 350 m from the characteristic Black Sands Bay and 1 km from the Centre, with its geothermal pools and sulphurous thermal baths, it will be the ideal location for a relaxing and comfortable stay.
Accommodation: The hotel has 25 bright rooms that have been completely renovated and furnished in Mediterranean tones. All have a private balcony equipped with a table and chairs. You stay in a standard room (18 sq m) on a mezzanine floor with a view of the garden and pool;
Catering: the hotel offers buffet breakfast service with homemade local products both savoury and sweet. The restaurant has a large terrace overlooking the garden and swimming pool where you can enjoy typical Aeolian dishes. At dinner there is an à la carte menu with traditional Sicilian fish dishes and an excellent selection of wines with table service.
Relaxation and Wellness: possibility of massages and beauty centre by appointment.

Breakfast and days available for relaxation and diving.
The hotel is 350 m from the diving centre. The latter is equipped with 35 complete pieces of equipment, including 60 bi-attached cylinders, 2 BAUER and COLTRI compressors with a capacity of 35 m/cubic metres. All transfers to the dive sites are organised using three functional rubber dinghies:
- Bwa of 7.50 metres powered by a 200 hp;
- 6.60-metre Novamarine with a 150 hp engine;
- 9.00-metre Novamarine equipped with two 115 hp engines, with all the comforts even for longer sailing trips.
For weather and prevention reasons, the detailed programme for the excursions will be carried out in the classroom and includes the entire archipelago. A presentation aperitif will be offered at each briefing in the hotel or at the diving centre.
Dive sites worth mentioning include:
The archipelago landslide: the proposed itinerary covers the channel area between Vulcano and Lipari. Starting from Lipari or one of the landing places on Vulcano, one heads towards the slopes of Vulcanello overlooking the channel. The starting point for the dive is easy to spot: two hotels built on the coast, a few dozen metres apart. One begins the descent in the stretch of coastline separating the two buildings; the seabed descends very gradually for several dozen metres, forming a wide plateau between three and ten metres, covered by an alternation of small rocks and large posidonia meadows. Moving then towards Lipari, one follows a direction perpendicular to the coast, until one finds the start of a rather steep descent. The first ten to twenty metres are characterised by a landslide of small stones. After this section, until it reaches a depth of between thirty-five and forty-five metres, the size of the boulders that make up the landslide increases decisively, making the seabed much more spectacular.
Capo Testa Grossa: Observing the area from the sea, one notices that it is a massive offshoot ending in a rather elongated wall that descends into the sea in a north-south direction. From here, one descends into the water in the cove to the north of the cape, near the rocks. Inside the cove, in fact, the rock falls steeply, forming a very concreted vertical wall where there are beautiful colonies of sponges. Continuing to fin, you will reach the tip proper. You will find yourself in a truly impressive environment: the wall falls vertically into the water but is very articulated. The rocks are jagged in peaks, channels and indentations. This imposing morphology continues for several metres, down to quite great depths of more than fifty metres.
Scoglio del Quaglietto: this is one of the most beautiful dives offered by the island of Vulcano, with a varied route along the rock face and inside a cave, in which there is a statue of the Madonna as well as a large number of shrimps. This dive spot is very popular with photographers, who can enjoy wonderful views for unique shots both inside and outside the cave. There are also dens of large groupers and resident fish.

Capo Grillo: this dive takes place along the side of an imposing volcanic ridge that reaches challenging depths. The site is particularly interesting for underwater photography enthusiasts, offering endless wonderful opportunities for colourful macros. The dive begins below the coast with the ridge on the right. It is immediately possible to encounter small groupers and burrowing octopuses. At a depth of 18 metres there is a small cave that allows divers to enter; the vault of this small cavity is full of small red shrimps swarming around attached to the wall. Continuing along the ridge one encounters another crack at a depth of 41mt, the entrance seems to be shrouded in a cloud of anthias, the interior is inhabited by a few mustela and numerous shrimps.
Some examples on Lipari:
Secca di Capistello: the peculiarity of this dive site is the presence of a Roman shipwreck dating back to 300AC. Morphologically, it is a large rock formation that starts below the sea surface at a depth of 25 metres and reaches up to 50 metres. It is an archaeological zone that can only be visited with authorised divers. In addition to the archaeological material consisting of amphorae, it is possible to encounter shoals of barracuda, large groupers in their burrows and posidonia meadows surrounded by shoals of colourful damselfish.
The Ants: an extremely varied place, where you can enjoy an exciting excursion with only a mask and snorkel or plan a normal dive. Underwater, you will soon realise that the ants are only the outcropping part of a vast shoal with colourful walls, large reefs, an infinity of caves, passages and tunnels. The adjoining seabed is covered with a posidonia prairie that holds many riches: sponges, nudibranchs, common fins, damselfish, grouper burrows and octopuses, and you can also admire splendid lobsters.
Punta Castagna: a dive in a surreal scenario that arouses unique emotions: a plateau at an altitude of about 10 metres completely covered with white powder from the pumice quarries, the result of a very ancient volcanic eruption. The bottom is all whitewashed and evokes an old dusty attic or a snowy mountain place. From there, deep, steeply sloping gullies depart towards the open sea, splitting a ledge perpendicularly and deeply. Travelling along one of them, one goes from a snowy scenery to a colourful vertical wall into the deepest blue, without ever being able to see the end of the wall. The edges of these marvellous gullies are topped by splendid branches of red gorgonians; there is no shortage of encounters with resident fish such as groupers and with passing fish.
ISLAND OF PANAREA:
Wreck of Lisca Bianca: the wreck of the Llanishen is among the innumerable wrecks scattered across the seabed of the Aeolian archipelago, but it is actually the only one that can be visited at a depth that sport diving accepts, since the ancient remains of Roman ships on the Aeolian seabed are forbidden. There are more challenging ones, but they require great professionalism and sometimes prohibitive conditions. The current state of preservation is very bad: for example, the hull is practically reduced to a pile of wreckage. The wooden decks are practically non-existent, only the iron infrastructure, despite being twisted and tangled, has remained in place. The stern is the most intact and fascinating part of the wreck. Under the stern wheel, the massive rudder plate and the large propeller, some blades of which are hidden by the sand, remain in place.

Breakfast and check-out, in good time transfer to the pier for the ferry to Milazzo and subsequent transfer by land to Catania airport.