# Scuba Diving in Tuscany



## Laurie (Mar 3, 2009)

I am staying in Viareggio for a week at the end of August this year and am hoping to get some Scuba Diving in. Are there any Scuba centres on the Tuscan coast? Does anybody have any recommendations?

Also, I am SSI qualified so was wondering if this makes a difference as I know PADI is the more well known qualification.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Cheers,

Laurie.


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## Lourdes (Mar 6, 2009)

Ciao Laurie and welcome to the DT forum!!

I have to admit I am completely ignorant on this subject so I hope some of our other members might have something to contribute. 

I have always heard, though, that the southern coast of Tuscany by the Maremma area and the Tuscan Archipelago (Elba and Giglio islands) are very beautiful for diving... and that probably explains why I found lots of scuba centers in that area  http://www.diveitaly.com/a_diving/toscana.asp .

So far I just found one scuba diving center in Viareggio, the Artiglio Club (http://www.artigliosub.it/). 
I will see if I can find some more info for you, I have a friend who likes to do scuba diving so I will get some tips to pass back on to you.

Have a great weekend!


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## Lourdes (Mar 9, 2009)

*SSI certification OK, diving centers*

Ciao Laurie,

I have good news for you! I talked to my friend Filippo and he says the SSI certification should be fine.

He also confirmed what I had mentioned before - there isn't that much to see around Viareggio. It is better if you head down the coast, from around Livorno and south of there. He doesn't recommend heading north from Viareggio just because the waters tend to be choppier and thus not very clear.

He recommended two diving centers he has personally used where he found the guides/instructors to be very good. 
One is the *Accademia Blu* in Livorno - see http://www.accademiablu.net/index_eng.php for details, and the other is *Centro Sub* in Marina di Cecina - http://www.centro-sub.com/Inglish/Index1.HTM. This second one is to the south of Livorno.
He also said there are many diving centers on the island of Elba, but didn't have one to recommend in particular.

He mentioned that in the area off San Vincenzo near Livorno there are several shipwrecks that go back to WWII that are interesting.

I hope this information proves to be useful so that you manage to do some diving on your vacation!


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