Elba & the Tuscan Archipelago

The centres are spread around the harbour towns rather than gathered in one base: Portoferraio, Biodola and Procchio, Marciana Marina, Sant'Andrea, Marina di Campo, Capoliveri, Porto Azzurro and Rio, and the national park lists a dozen of them as authorised for Pianosa in recent years. Most diving is by day boat to the walls and secche off the nearest stretch of coast, so the base sets which sites are dived. Shore entries exist where the ground allows: the Elviscot is reached by swimming out from the Spiaggia del Relitto at Pomonte, Morcone Bay near Capoliveri is walked into from the beach for training dives in 2–10 m, and Sant'Andrea has a shallow sandy entry used for the same.

The rock continues underwater as walls, rockfalls and shoals. Formiche della Zanca is a vertical wall from 20 to 40 m thick with red gorgonian; Picchi di Pablo runs from 8 to 33 m with white and yellow gorgonians and shrimp-covered yellow sponges; the Secca di Fetovaia and the Scoglio del Remaiolo rise from about 50 m to around 10 m. Capo Stella carries grouper, moray, red gorgonian and red coral to 41 m, and Le Coralline has red coral at a depth unusual for the island. The Scoglietto di Portoferraio, a rockfall in 20–35 m with no fishing since 1971, is described as the one ground on Elba where fish are truly abundant: barracuda in numbers, bream, dentex, grouper, moray and lobster.

It suits divers who want a shallow, enterable wreck and gorgonian walls within Advanced limits, and the shore bays take beginners. Pianosa is a different proposition: under the park's 2026 rules it is dived only on guided visits booked through an authorised Elba centre, boat-only and moored on six fixed buoys, open from 1 April to late November, with no more than six divers per guide, no first-level certifications and no centre on the island. Divers after big animals or drift diving should look elsewhere; Ripalti's strong current restricts the site rather than making a drift of it. Some centres also run full-day outings to Capraia's deeper pinnacles.