On this occasion, our ideal voyage directs the bow of the vessel towards the Central Tyrrhenian Sea, aiming for the coordinates of the Secca di Mezzo Canale or delle Vedove, according to legend that tells of several fishermen who never returned, swallowed up by this stretch of sea often battered by strong currents.
Without a doubt, it is one of the most interesting and exciting sites in the Mediterranean, located between the Argentario coast and the islands of Giannutri and Giglio.
We are accompanied by the expertise and experience of Stefania Mensa (underwater environmental guide and first holder of the world record for time in the water in 2005) and Simone Nicolini (Regional Manager of UTD) of Argentario Divers, the diving center that has been operating in Porto Ercole since the 90s.
A dinghy ride of about three miles from the coast separates us from our destination: the island of Zanara.
Yes, Zanara…
A friend of the Diving Center, in fact, tells us the history of this island, which appears on nautical charts from the 16th and 17th centuries, only to disappear from all subsequent cartographic documents during the 18th century, precisely at the current coordinates of the shoal.
It was Gerardus Mercator, in 1589, who first reported the existence of Zanara: not a simple rock, but a true island with relief and dimensions comparable to those of Giannutri. The intriguing hypothesis is that the island mysteriously sank without leaving any trace, dragged to the seabed by some catastrophic natural event.
Article by Vincenzo Mattei and Giovanni Laganà
Full article in scubazone n. 44
