Dive Review of Subaia in
Mediterranean/Baia, Naples, Italy

Other Mediterranean reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Subaia: "Captivating historical diving opportunity!!", Aug, 2024, by Joe Simmons, TX, US ( 2 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 13130.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This is very much NOT your typical recreational dive destination. I am a former professional archaeologist and historian; I am also a longtime diver (since 1972) and when thinking about a trip to celebrate my retirement, this travel opportunity happened to pop up on my radar. I saw a little post on Facebook from a group called Scuba Friends. It looked fantastic as it combined my love of diving, archaeology & history, and food! It had me at “diving on sunken Roman Imperial Villas” in Baia—the Las Vegas of the ancient Roman world from the first century BC until third century AD. This trip satisfied immensely on all counts! The diving was well organized by the trip organizer (Daniel Hutchison, Scuba Friends) and a local dive shop in Baia (Subaia.com): we dived three half-days in the mornings, two tanks on each of those days. So there were a total of 6 dives: two deeper dives, one to 42 feet which was the deepest dive of the trip, two around 33 feet, and two in much shallower waters near the ruins-saturated shoreline. All were absolutely fascinating. Visibility generally ranged from 20 feet down to 10 feet or slightly less. Not great vis, I agree, but the uniqueness and historical importance of what we were looking at was far more impressive than the visibility. We saw a lot of smaller fish (if it was the Caribbean, I would have ID’d them as Damsel fish, Blue Chromis, and Gobies), several octopuses, a nudibranch or two which were impressive, and short, scrubby algae covering the masonry ruins. However, the sheer impact of diving on Emperors Claudius, Caligula, and Nero’s nymphaeum and bath complexes, seafront villa ruins of a patrician involved in an foiled assassination plot against Nero, and areas of the ancient harbor entrance underwater since the fourth century AD was truly gobsmacking! We had ample time to do lots of other things and I’m sure this would be more important if you have non-divers on the trip: All 6 of us were diving. Originally 8 of the available 12 slots were taken, but two dropped out last minute. Six to eight divers would be the perfect size, but there was ample room on the larger Zodiacs (RIBs) for the originally planned group of twelve. Special no-wait tours of the Coliseum in Rome, Pompeii, and Underground Naples were awesome. We also did an afternoon pasta making class which was a lot of fun and gave the cooks among us great new kitchen skills! The designated hotel (Hotel Rex, a comfortable three-star gem) was well situated near the shore, local pizza places with amazing pizzas, pasta shops, gelataterias galore, and nice waterside cocktail shops. It was also centrally located between the dive sites and Pompeii/Amalfi Coast. Efficient and timely transportation was a combo of taxis and hired autos with drivers. Getting there from South Texas was hassle-free: I booked a non-stop on America Airlines from San Antonio to Philadelphia and one from Philly to Naples; return was basically the same. In short, this was a fantastic adventure involving what I think are three of my favorite interests—diving, history, and food.
Websites	Subaia
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Turks & Caicos, Bahamas, Panama, Bonaire, Caymans, Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, Spain, Turkey, Marshall Islands, California, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida Keys, lakes, rivers in US.
Closest Airport	NAP	Getting There	One stop flight from San Antonio via Philly to Naples International Airport
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	10-20 Ft/ 3-6 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	None, really. Shallow guided tours where guides uncovered then recovered intricate Roman mosaics or wall footings, column bases, toppled walls, and even exposed natural hot springs. Fascinating dives!
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Photographers well accommodated in shop and onboard Zodiacs.

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 34 dive reviews of Mediterranean and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Mediterranean Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Mediterranean
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Mediterranean reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.53 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Subaia in Mediterranean/Baia, Naples, Italy

Subaia: "Captivating historical diving opportunity!!", Aug, 2024,

Photos Submitted with this Report

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Subaia in
Mediterranean/Baia, Naples, Italy