PORTO ERCOLE, Italy – Stone fortresses and watchtowers which centuries ago stood guard against against marauding pirates loom above pristine waters threatened by a new and modern peril: fuel trapped within the capsized Costa Concordia luxury liner.
A half-million gallons (2,400 tons) of black goo are in danger of leaking out and polluting some of the Mediterranean’s most unspoiled sea, where dolphins are known to chase playfully after sailboats and fishermen’s catches are so prized that wholesalers come from across Italy to scoop up cod, lobsters, scampi, swordfish and other delicacies.
“Compared to the Caribbean, we have nothing to be envious about,” said Francesco Arpino, a scuba instructor in the chic port of Porto Ercole, marveling at how the sleek granite sea bottom helps keep visibility crystal clear even 40 meters (135 feet) down.
Divers in these transparent waters marvel at sea horses and red coral, while on the surface sperm whales cut through the sea.
But worry is clouding this paradise, which includes a stretch of Tuscan coastline that has been the holiday haunt of soccer and screen stars, politicians and European royals.
Rough seas hindering the difficult search for bodies by divers in the Concordia’s submerged section have delayed the start of a
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