The Islands make up an archipelago in the Gulf of Naples. The Islands were a quick ferry trip away from where I was staying in Campania Region (Naples outskirts) of Southern Italy, so I could not resist adding a few extra days to my trip to Italy to explore the waters around these four Islands; Ischia, Procida, Vivara and Nisda, which make up the Phlegraean Archipelago.
There is another Island within the Gulf of Naples called Capri, but this Island is usually not included in the Archipelago as it doesn’t belong to the same geologic formations.
There is a myth that goes by the Islands of Procida and Ischia being called the Greek “Islands of Monkeys”, and it is based on the story that pranks were played on Zeus by two brigands from the Cercopes of Ephesus who then in turn punished them, turning them both into monkeys and exiling them to those two Islands. Another Greek legend suggests that the Giant Mimas is buried under Procida and the Monster of Typhon under Ischia!
Diving off the Islands, the visibility is much clearer to that from the shores of Naples. The Mediterranean current allows for the waters around the Island to be much cleaner, and also provide much more Marine Life. The area sits in a volcanic area, which in some parts under the sea and on the Italian mainland is still active! This makes the water a pleasant warm temperature to swim in, but in the hot summer heat with temperatures soaring in the mid-thirties, it isn’t very refreshing at all!
Standing out the most, was the large array of colourful corals around the volcanic wall formations underwater around these Islands. There are some small tunnels and caverns that can be swam through too, and on the flat underwater patches, beautiful green Neptune grass fills out these area. Indeed it was worth exploring these lesser known Islands underwater. I do regret however not spending more time exploring the actual Islands itself on land.
Many more archipelagos of Islands are scattered across the Italian seas, which I hope to visit and explore in the nearer future, and is something I look forward to doing when things improve with the COVID-19 Pandemic worldwide.
Below is a small video of my diving in the Phlegraean Islands:
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