UNDERWATER ITALY: Discovering The Deep Mediterranean Sea

On 12/26/2022 at 9:39 PM, Davide DB said:

Today we launch Underwater Italy, a new video channel dedicated to deep diving in the Mediterranean sea. 

The YouTube channel is a container through which me and my buddy Claudio Valerio narrate about our dives in the twilight zone, a depth interval, where coral forests, sponge gardens and millennia-old animals form ecosystems that have not yet been directly altered by humans. This is the so-called mesophotic zone, the bathymetric range between fifty and one hundred and twenty meters, which in recent years is proving to be crucial in investigating the impact of climate and anthropogenic changes on our seas.

With our footage we want to unveil the secrets of little-known seabeds where scientific research and exploration confront the beauty of nature.

Seabeds that are actually very close to the most common dive sites where hundreds of divers dive every weekend. And it is precisely in these spots, served daily by diving centers, that technical diving has redrawn and in some cases overturned the map of possible dives. It has given us the ability to combine two or more dive spots in a single trip or find new ones. 
This information quickly became the heritage of local diving communities, but transmitted mostly in oral form it is inevitably destined for word of mouth distortion if not oblivion. Hence an additional reason for preserving the memory of these environments and perhaps setting a baseline for future observations.

Out there, a few hundred meters from the diving moorings, close to walls, shoals and wrecks is an unknown world waiting to be (re)discovered.

In the coming weeks we will publish the first video. for now a small trailer only music and images.

If you like it, please subscribe 

 

 

Excellent quality. I am not in the technical diving but this is superb

Thank you Massimo

After the Ring Trilogy, the Coral Trilogy could not be missed!

English Subtitles Available!

In the summer of 2022, we were involved in a citizen science project collaborating with Dr. Martina Coppari of the Università Politecnica delle Marche on a study on the reproduction of the Mediterranean black coral, Antipathella subpinnata.

It was an opportunity not to be missed for us to package a "trilogy" of videos documenting all the work done by teams of divers in the water led by university biologists.

In the first of three episodes, after a lecture on the reproductive biology of these beautiful hexacorals, the technical divers dive on a black coral forest at 70-80 meters (230-260 ft) to take the samples needed to census the Antipathella colonies under study.

The Timelapse

English Subtitles Available!

In the second episode, technical divers set up timelapse equipment: through this technique, biologists hope to capture the release of gametes in open water. Substrates are also placed for the eventual settlement of black coral larvae.

Episode. #3 - The Epilogue and Squid Egg Mass

English Subtitles Available!

In the third and final episode on the ongoing experiments on Mediterranean black coral (Antipathella subpinnata) reproduction in Giannutri, technical divers recover much of the equipment left on the bottom. Only the sediment traps remain, which will continue to collect samples for the next few months.

But surprises never end, and in decompression divers encounter a cephalopod egg mass, a very rare encounter.

On 12/28/2022 at 7:55 PM, Davide DB said:

When I was young I wished I could have been him. Ballesta is in another league.

If you come to Tuscany to Porto Ercole I will be delighted to be your guide (even to the restaurant)  

Hmm did you just volunteer to lead Wetpixel "air freshener" expedition ?

Excellent videos! It's utterly fascinating what can you find just under the "normal" dive zone...i fell in love with mr Zeus - need to get a picture of it one day

1 hour ago, makar0n said:

Hmm did you just volunteer to lead Wetpixel "air freshener" expedition ?

Too much technicality lately, we all need to dive!!!

Zi Costante is one of the most beautiful and coveted dives on the Argentario (https://goo.gl/maps/rZuHz9DwjYbo7VD86).

The shoal is located close to the integral protection area of Giannutri Island and due to strong currents can only be visited with perfect weather conditions.
Among technical divers and biologists the dive is mainly known for hosting one of the three forests of black coral (Antipathella subpinnata) in Argentario, but in reality several species of sponges and alcyonarians, which are very rare on the rest of the island, abound there.

The Mediterranean is one of the fastest warming seas in the world. We took these shots between September and October last year, after a summer in which there was a record for surface temperatures in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, despite its depth, the shoal cap was completely enveloped by mucilaginous algae. Will the two phenomena be related?
Having done it so many times, we are familiar with its magnificence, and looking at the footage, a debate ensued about the dual nature of our work. On the one hand the hard-core videomaker with a desire to publish only perfect footage and situations. On the other the documentary spirit that films the observed reality, interprets it and explains it.
The latter prevailed.
Fortunately, winter and strong currents have already restored the shoal to its glory. Just in time for a new dive!

absolutely beautiful!

Fantastic piece of work and very unique.  Well done!

Thanks!!!

Loved watching this...beautiful.

i really like the static shots. are you set up with an underwater tripod for those shots? 

57 minutes ago, Thunder225 said:

i really like the static shots. are you set up with an underwater tripod for those shots? 

Thank you.

Mostly. I use the three optional 1" ball adapters of the Nauticam GH5 housing with three small arms. My buddy has a similar DIY solution on his Aquatica GH5S housing. is an economical and flexible solution that allows you to exploit the ability to focus practically on the WWL-1's porthole and have close-up and wide-angle shots in the same dive.

if you point me to the particular clip I can be more precise.

Bye