SCUBA Cinque Terre

D and I try to travel to places we can go diving -  we basically planned our honeymoon around diving with Hammerheads.  D, Rachel, and I all dove for the first time together in the Philippines after Dave and I graduated from university.  Dave, Rachel, my family, and I all went to this gorgeous island called Boracay.  We stayed next to a SCUBA shop and we all decided that we should go diving.  They gave us a 15 minute lesson in the shallows and then took us down for our first SCUBA experience.  It was mind blowing to be transported to a world of crystal clear water and an explosion of color.  After that, Dave and I were hooked and knew we had to get certified.  Incidentally, this was also the day that Dave proposed!  We dove in the morning, hung out at the beach during the day, and then Dave took me on a sunset cruise and proposed.  Check out this sunset on the day he proposed....

Boracay sunset proposal!  

Rachel did an exploration dive with us in Hawaii last year - a dive where you don't need to be certified.  After that, she decided/we forced her to get her certification so she could come on our vacations and dive with us.  

When we decided to go to Cinque Terre, I saw that they had a marine preserve set up around the towns and knew we could dive while we were there.  It was set up in 1997 to protect the area and protect the fishing.  The diving there was perfectly acceptable, but not exceptional.  We dove off of Punta Mesco, in between Levanto and Monterosso del Mare. It was still really enjoyable and we saw some huge spotted scorpion fish.  Normally, the ones we see are quite small, but this time the largest one we saw was about 18 inches (45 cm)!  The cool part about these fish aside from their size, was we actually got to see their true color.  In general, they look like this...

Spotted Scorpion Fish...he looks disappointed.  

Sea water looks blue for the same reason refracting light makes the sky look blue, and the deeper you go the more dominant this blue color becomes.  The other colors become faded, if visible at all - particularly reds and yellows.  So we normally see Spotted Scorpion Fish looking like this.  

But this time one of the divers had a torch.  And to our surprise they actually look like this....

Spotted Scorpion fish are red! 

Spotted Scorpion fish. 

We see a lot of the these guys, but normally not this large.  A quick google search tells me that they inject their venom into targets using their dorsal spines - this venom can cause severe pain, but not death, in humans.  I guess I shall stay a bit farther away from them next time.  

From what we were told, the marine reserve has really helped the aquatic life in the few short time it has been in place.  Its always great to dive in an area where they really care about the future of the dive site.  

Vernazza

The next town we visited was Vernazza - the only town in Cinque Terre with its own natural harbor.  This town is my favorite because its absolutely adorable, and it had delicious food - great fried calamari, fried sardines, fried bread dipped in Nutella, great pizza, great focaccia, and great gelato- and I plan my vacations around food.  

We ended up in Vernazza every day we were in Cinque Terre, so I guess we all liked it a lot!  

Vernazza from above the town, with a view of Belleforte Castle - built in the mid 1500s.  

The beautiful pedestrian street from the train station to the harbor. 

Vernazza's harbor

Dave and I just realized how much we missed focaccia and gelato...I love Italian food!

First Glimpse: Cinque Terre, Italy!

Last weekend we had a wonderful visit from Dave's sister, Rachel, who celebrated her 25th birthday by coming out to visit us.  Since she has already been to Switzerfrancerland, we decided to go to Cinque Terre in the Italian Riviera for her birthday.  Apparently this year is all about birthday trips to the Riviera.  We drove from Geneva through the Alps (under Mont Blanc) and down to Cinque Terre.  Driving from Switzerfrancerland to Italy, we passed under the Mont Blanc tunnel.  It always amazes me how much the weather changes from one side of the Alps to the other...Italy definitely gets the better deal - its so much warmer on the other side!  The views of the other side of the Alps is more jagged, but still beautiful. 

The Birthday Girl and the back of Mt. Blanc

Its about 6 hours from Geneva to Cinque Terre so it was quite a nice ride (especially since Dave drove the whole thing).  We drove to La Spezia, dropped our bags off at the train station and hopped on the train to Cinque Terre.  

Cinque Terre is a UNESCO sight that consists of five towns perched precariously on sea cliffs.  To get to the villages, one must take a train, boat, or hike in since cars are not allowed.  Here are a few shots of the first town we visited on the train:  Monterosso del Mare.  

Monterosso with the rugged coast in the background.  

Beautiful little town! 

This sign was on the train - not the most effective sign, since it looks like the stick guy is having lots of fun.