After a paragliding flight, sitting at the bar, a friend of mine said ‘Have you ever been to Lampedusa?’ – ‘No!’ – ‘Go there, it’s a fantastic place. The island will capture you!’ Said and done, I took a return flight and a room for a week. At the Orio al Serio airport check in, I discovered that my identity card had expired. Only 40 minutes to boarding. I called my neighbour, who had already taken me to the airport and had just returned home. He managed to get my passport from my house and hand it to me directly from the A4 over the fence that separates the motorway from the airport! Epic feat. I managed to catch the flight. I arrived in Lampedusa and started to roam. I ended up by pure chance at a diving centre near the old port. I felt like going underwater. I had recently resigned from my job as ‘Head of Business Operations South Europe’ in a pharmaceutical company, and had consequently started to rationalise my economic resources. I asked the owner of the diving centre if a ‘work versus dive’ formula could be found. He immediately proposed me to be an au pair divemaster. I thought about it for 30 minutes, with a glass of red, on the beach. I answered ‘Yes!’ Three absolutely fantastic months on Lampedusa followed.
The dive site ‘La Madonnina’ in Lampedusa takes its name from a statue of the Madonna between 15m and 18m depth. It is an easy dive site that can also be reached by swimming from the famous ‘spiaggia dei conigli’ (also a great way to escape the crowds and the stench of sunscreen). The monument was donated to the people of Lampedusa by Roberto Merlo, an underwater photographer, following problems he encountered during a dive and the support he received from the Lampedusians afterwards. A natural underwater arch, bright, spectacular, full of Groupers, Saragos and Castagnole make it a place of strong charisma.
