January 2015 (ROTM#73) Cilento Coast, Italy

Who says there’s no rips in the Med? I was very pleased to have this photo sent to me by Enzo Pranzini of some rip currents along the Cilento Coast in Southern Italy, which is on the western side of Italy, just south of Salerno. This looks like pretty much any surf beach I’ve seen in Eastern Australia and you can see a bunch of rips which are the dark narrow gaps heading offshore. Some of them have distinct alongshore feeder channels as well. The rips definitely sit in deeper channels, which is why the rip appears as darker water. ‘White is nice, green is mean’ certainly applies here!

This picture was taken during a storm in January, but storms can occur at any time of the year. For a coast that normally has pretty small, or no, waves, the sudden onset of waves and rips can be a very dangerous combination to beachgoers not used to, or not expecting these conditions. If anyone can tell me about rip currents in Italy, or anywhere else on the Mediterranean, I’d be interested in hearing about them! Contact me at rbrander@unsw.edu.au

Italy!