Deep passion for the sea of Ischia

A life to discover the wonders and secrets of the seabed

Summer 1960, I was twelve. The gift of a Cressi Sub Pinocchio optic diver’s mask gave me the opportunity to cultivate a passion that over the years has grown so much that today, as soon as the weather and sea conditions permit, I dive for snorkeling, long swims or sub jokes fishing all year round.
My evolution as Homo Delphinus (to use Mayol) allowed me to live wonderful experiences thanks to the sea of our island, which still reserves incredible and pleasant surprises. In addition, every day I enrich the discovery of fish species and behavior of the same.
In the sixties, the visibility in the sea of Ischia exceeded thirty meters. I remember big groupers that made fun of putting in candle, then quickly running away in impregnable nests as soon as we tried to approach them.

What made the difference was when I bought an oleo-pneumatic rifle from the Italian champion, European and sub world fisheries, Massimo Scarpati. Massimo spent long periods in Forio where he had met the woman of his life, but also the rich depths that allow him to train and at the same time to support himself by selling fish.
However, the real revolution came when in 1979 and until 1983, I went to work to Venezuela in a fertilizer plant near Puerto Cabello. Finally the Caribbean! Coral islands, fishing and diving every weekend all year round. Then the Cayos of Tucacas, a shipwreck in Punta Brava after a night drifting with engine out, the Isla Larga, two visits to the beautiful archipelago of Los Roques, the island of Margarita, los Frailes, Playa Colorada in the East. Rich fishing for groupers, snappers, barracudas, soldier fishes, and lobsters: the dream of every diver, including exciting encounters with huge manta rays and large sharks...
The return to Italy lay ahead of difficult adjustment, and instead the first dive in Sant'Angelo at depths over twenty meters, that had not practiced, the incredible vision of four big groupers in candle. It looked like a mirage! Savvy Groupers, elusive.
I had to ask to Claudio Iodice, groupers expert, grew up in the school of Ennio Falco and Alberto Novelli, the two samples dispossessed by Enzo Majorca in 1960 and connects to Scarpati. On the occasion of the capture of a sample of 15 kg occurred at 23 meters deep after a courtship that lasted three years (constancy of love!) at Punta Sant’ Angelo on August 21, 1991, I decided to celebrate the event, creating a traditional annual dinner: the grouper’s day!
Meanwhile I continued to travel, but remained inexorably drawn to this rock and its depths!
In Spain, where I worked from 2003 to 2011, the octopus (pulpo) is highly appreciated. My Spanish collaborators (many of them continue to come to Ischia) recognize my seafaring culture, feeling akin as to attribute to me affectionately the pseudonym Angelopulpologo. I joined popularity on the occasion of world championships football won by Spain, as predicted by the famous “Pulpo Paul”.
I decided that I would have with sub camcorder to document the incredible intelligence of this animal and the interesting underwater life of our island.
Thus, Angelopulpologo was born on youtube channel: I uploaded a series of my submarines videos made in the waters of our island to document the infinite beauty, variety and richness.
My daily visits with anglers Pelican, Marco the Taliban, Peppe and many more in Sant’ Angelo revealed the secrets of rare pelagic species such as Marlin Mediterranean, the perfect hydrodynamic profile with its ventral fin housed in a pocket cruising speed, or the equally rare sailfin amberjack. Then, I converted to fishing in appearance on the bottoms. Long apneas and silent expectations, camouflaged among the algae and hidden among the rocks, in complete harmony with the environment and surrounded by clouds of curious ‘guarracini’; the furtive appearance of a bass, a bream, a mullet, bream or of a barracuda attracted by some kind of mysterious call, yet cautious and ready to flee.
So the evolution of Homo Delphinus continues, marking a return to the Big Blue.

Angelo D’Abundo (Angelopulpologo)