Italia 2011: Ustica and Scuba Diving

Super proud of myself for wriggling into that wetsuit

Yet another exhausting day here in Sicily! I must be crazy for planning such a busy vacation for myself!

I woke up at the crack of dawn (6:30), got dressed, wolfed down breakfast, and then went down to the harbour to buy a ticket for the hydrofoil to Ustica Island (about a 90 minute journey). I got my ticket and set out to where the boats were, but I wasn't sure exactly where to go so I asked two old men that were walking the same direction. They said they were headed to the same boat, so just follow them (how convenient). We got to talking, and it turned out they were filmmakers doing a documentary on Ustica Island, and they've made documentaries on a number of other islands in the area. Upon talking further, I found out that one of them is also an author, and he gave me a copy of his book that he had on him! The title is Quando Parlano le Nuvole (When the Clouds Speak). I read the back and the first few pages. It seems like a very nice book contemplating the serenity of life... A lovely souvenir.

[Side note: The other day when I was at the Contemporary Art Museum with Carolina and Giulia, we went into the giftshop/bookshop afterwards. I said to Carolina "I can't allow myself to buy any books! There's just no space in my suitcase!" and no sooner were the words out of my mouth, than my eyes swept across a fantastic book about Italian street art I had never seen before. I'm fairly confident that I own most of the books that exist about graffiti and street art, so seeing something brand new was thrilling, and of course, I had to have it. It's called Street Art Diary by Marta Gargiulo. Between that and the book I received from Massimo Romano this morning, my packing situation just got a whole lot worse. At least they aren't too big...]

Anyways, the ride to Ustica was uneventful. When we arrived, I found the stairs up to the town (there is only one... population of about 1300 people. 90% of the island's inhabitants live in the town). The town is adorable, with one big main square with shops and restaurants and a church (of course) and then tons of little side streets. These side streets are an absolute joy to wander, because most of the buildings have beautiful murals painted on the sides! It's really fantastic. I've included a bunch of pictures of these murals below (and this is just a small sampling of the murals that exist in this tiny town).

I also wandered a little bit out of the town to an adjacent peak of the volcanic island and got some more nice pictures.

Already tired by noon, I went back into town for lunch. I had asked several locals where the best restaurant is for lunch. They all pointed me to the same place. It's an absolute shame I don't like seafood, because I'm pretty sure it would have blown my mind here. But alas... To start I had a sheep's milk cheese lightly breaded and fried. It was ok, but a bit too rubbery. My main course was very good. I had Spaghetti with Ustica-style pesto (olive oil, basil, garlic, tomato, and almonds). It had a wonderful fresh tomato taste, but with none of the goopy fresh tomato chunks I despise. Very nice.

I took a long time at lunch because I was reading my book (and because apparently it's standard procedure in Sicily to wait at least an hour for your bill after finishing your meal...) so when I was done, I headed back down to the harbour for my scuba diving adventure. I was both excited and nervous... I've only scuba dived once or twice before, about 6 years ago in Samoa. Plus there was the added worry of the language barrier which could create problems with the exchange of such important information as how to breathe underwater.

It all went fantastically though. My scuba instructor was Jean-Claude, a swiss man. Between the two of us and our knowledge of english, french, and italian, we communicated just fine. Also on the boat were about 8 other experienced divers who were doing their own dives. Once we reached the dive site, the other divers took off, and Jean-Claude and I began our lesson (beginning with the tedious process of me wriggling into a wetsuit, very heavy weight belt, and even more heavy heavy heavy equipment. We quickly got in the water and got underwater. Besides the pressure in my head (to be expected) and a killer foot cramp, everything went smoothly. It was so beautiful, and it was great to remember how much I love scuba diving... it's so serene and quiet under the water. We saw tons of fish. Big fish. Small fish. Jellyfish. I wished I had been more successful beforehand in finding an underwater case for my camera. Oh well... Next time...

After everyone finished diving, we enjoyed beers on the roof of the boat, and then headed back to harbour where I promptly caught the last hydrofoil returning to Palermo.

After showering off all the salt water, it was after 9pm, and I hadn't eaten dinner. I decided I'd just have a gelato dinner. I went to the shop nearby and asked for the fantastic biscottino (cookies and cream) gelato I had the other night. To my dismay, there wasn't a single molecule of cookie in it. I teetered on a fine line between rage and devastation, and then figured that was probably a valid sign that I'm legitimately exhausted. So after this post is done I am off to sleep. Tomorrow I get to sleep in and check out of my hotel at noon. Then I'll have a leisurely lunch, after which I have scheduled a much-needed pedicure (my feet are downright scary right now... occupational hazard). Then at 6:30 I hop on another 13 hour night train back to Rome where I will be greeting two of my good friends who arrive this weekend, Stacey and Tamara... Keep checking in for tales of our travels in Rome, Florence, Siena, Venice, and Milan!

Baci!