BODY RAFTING, TEAM BUILDING & DROWNING – ALCANTARA GORGE, SICILY (10 minute read)
“Bittersweet – Being at once bitter and sweet; especially: pleasant but including or marked by elements of suffering or regret.” - www.marriam-webster.com
Bittersweet? A mild interpretation of my experience at Alcantara Gorge, Sicily in July of this year. It's incredible how somehow, I managed to have one of the worst days of my life - a near death experience and at the same time, one of the best days of my life - a great and adventurous accomplishment..
Facts & Info
When planning this trip to Sicily, the one thing I was super excited about and had to make sure I ticked it off of my bucket list before leaving this amazing place was body rafting at Alcantara Gorge – a natural, icy cold gorge which stretches about 2.5km long with black lava walls reaching an approximate 50m in height. Little did I know, it was going to be a lot harder than swimming and floating through a shallow gorge with my friends...
The name Alcantara has Arabic origins coming from the words 'Al Quantarah' which actually refers to a Roman bridge. The shape, colour and texture of the walls surrounding the water is most likely due to the eruption of a volcano that was once standing between the Peloritian Mountains and Mount Etna. The actual river is around 50km long, weaving in and out of small towns until it reaches it's end at the Ionian Sea.
If you know me well, then you will know that I always like to be prepared. I tried my best to research as much about Alcantara before visiting – which proved a little tricky as their main websites were fully in Italian with no English options. Therefore, I turned to Wikipedia, YouTube & Google. I was able to get a little background information from Google and Wiki and watched endless amounts of videos on YouTube about people's first hand experiences at the gorge (you can view the best parts of my experience here). I also looked on Tripadvisor which I found very useful when it came to reading other people's reviews. At this point, I was pretty certain I knew the most important things – i.e. what to bring, what to wear, how to get there, what to do when I am there, the temperature of the water (which was almost FREEZING, literally), etc, etc.
Arrival
So the day had arrived and we had pre-booked an early slot in the morning with a small, nearby company who specialised in guiding people through Alcantara Gorge. Once you have read to the end of this post I think you will agree that it is best to go to the gorge with a guide and do not attempt to do the whole thing unaccompanied – even if you are a strong swimmer, and of course, ensure you have a good hearty breakfast before carrying out any strenuous/water activities! The park is open to the public to swim & climb at their own leisure but you can also book a guide with different companies to help you through and 'keep you safe'.
It probably took us about 40 minutes or so to drive from Gravina, Catania – where we were staying for the week which was not too bad considering the car journeys we had already endured along the trip so far. I didn't spot any bus stops nearby so please bare transport in mind if you are thinking of visiting Alcantara Resort/Gorge.
When we arrived, we were shown to the changing area – by this, I mean a sheltered area outside of the main building.. A gentleman greeted us upon arrival and although his English was not very strong, we were able to listen to his very brief instructions as to what we were to wear, how far away it is, what do do and what not to do, he then introduced us to his colleague Andrea who waved and said “Ciao”. All seemed well and we began getting our wet suits on, followed by our shoes, life jackets and helmets. One thing I found somewhat unprofessional was us ladies having to change into our wetsuits in front of all of the men who worked there as well as the passers by. Luckily, we had our swim suits underneath our clothes but we still found this very uncomfortable.
Whilst we were changing, we were asked to make the payment which was 38 euros which is roughly what I was expecting. The gentleman who had given us the brief introduction then left the camp with a group of other people and we were left alone with Andrea. It was only at this point that I realised he didn't actually speak English at all (minus the odd hello, goodbye, stop, come)! There was nobody else on site at this point and we had already given him our money – this is the first thing that made me question our decision to continue but I didn't want to be a party-pooper and was so excited that I let it slide – I mean, how hard could it really be? He does this every day, right?
The walk to the gorge was about 15 minutes or so – Andrea did not say much, if anything and we were already panting and sweating in the 30 degree heat, constricted by our wetsuits and heavy life jackets but eventually we arrived, hot and sweaty. There were a lot of steep steps to climb down before actually getting to the 'lido' area where we were able to splash our faces with the icy water and cool down.
First Impressions
Once in the water, we were amazed at how fantastic the bodysuits actually were – I remember putting my hand in the water for about 20 seconds and having to quickly pull it out – a similar feeling to holding ice cubes, yet we couldn't even feel how cold the water was once our feet were in. After about a minute, my feet felt cool but not half as cold as they could have been without the protective shoes.
It was a lovely moment when we arrived – kids playing and splashing about in the shallow water, solo people reading whilst having a dip, couples and families mingling and having a good time. Some people were bobbing by in pool floats and other were playing catch. I probably would not attempt to tackle the whole gorge again but I would definitely come back to this little chill spot the next time I visit Sicily.
Diving into the Deep End
We followed Andrea through the water – he didn't say much so it was very much a concentration game as we had to try and work out what he wanted us to do next and also focus on wading through the water without falling as it got deeper and more slippery. As challenging as this was, it was quite fun helping each other up after watching them fall down or slip. Andrea lead us through the entrance of the gorge and we eventually came to a small but aggressive current. We looked at each other, and then Andrea who motioned with his arms to swim through the current. This seemed odd to me as there were rocks towards the edges of the gorge where I thought we could have tried to hold on and drag ourselves across. He then (with a great struggle) clambered up onto a very tall rock, looked at us, then dived straight into the middle of the current and resurfaced before aggressively trying to swim to a safe zone where the current was no longer present. I looked at my friends in awe and confusion – surely he doesn't want us, a bunch of amateurs to try doing that when he barely made it across, does he?
But surely, he did.
One of my friends tried first and as predicted, she came back to us – along with the current. We found it funny at first as she looked like a little fish swimming on the spot and not actually moving forward at all. It took her about three attempts but eventually she made it. It was a long process before all five of us made it to the other side and even the passers by gave it a go and only merely succeeded – we came to find that this ‘passer by’ and his wife were going to be seeing us a lot more frequently along this great ‘adventure’.
Fish at a Standstill..
We came to realise that there were going to be a lot more currents for us to tackle as we went along and it became more apparent that;
A) Each new current we faced became harder and harder
B) The language barrier between us and Andrea would become more and more of an issue and a lot more dangerous than little fish swimming at a stand still
C) Andrea’s experience and professionalism became more and more questionable
There were parts that were really fun and exciting and we laughed so much both at and with each other. We helped each other out as much as we could and screamed words of encouragement to help get each other by. At one point, my friend Ami had inhaled a lot of water and I found myself banging her back to help bring the water up. She said “Jaz, I don’t think I can do this. I can’t do it.” I could see genuine fear in her eyes and to be honest, was starting to second guess this whole thing too. But I tried to be brave and told her that we have come half way and we don’t want to be quitters. “Just think about how accomplished we’ll feel when we get to the end!” I told her.
I have never regretted a decision so much in my life and if I knew what was going to happen next, I would have grabbed her hand a swam back to the start without question.
We then came to the hardest part of the whole trip.
A huge stream of current rapidly flowing towards us at a high speed. The feeling in my stomach was something I could not ignore and every single one of my friends looked exactly how I felt. At this point, we were all concerned about drowning to death. Some of us were OK swimmers, some were not, some were braver than others, some were stronger than others. At this point, we were able to use Andrea’s safety rope – something we were pushing for from the first hurdle but he had refused – for what reason, I am not too sure. He looked like he was having an extremely difficult time trying to swim through this huge current and was actually dragged back towards us a few times. He stopped to think about his next move, he tried again, he failed, he tried to climb the rocks, he slipped off. It took at least 10 minutes or so before he managed to make it to the other side and tied the safety rope around his waste. During this time, there was no attempt to communicate with us what was happening, what he wanted to do next, what he wanted us to do, nothing. I know neither of us spoke the other’s language, but he was able to understand us and our hand signals when we needed to stop, when Ami thought she could not go further and when we wanted the rope so there is no excuse as to why he could not try to communicate with us. It was very one sided.
Sasha and Sati were first to tackle this huge current. They both struggled, a lot. I could see the fear in Sati’s eyes. She looked like she was swimming for life or death. She swallowed a lot of water and was panting frantically. It took forever before she made it to the other side and even then, it was a struggle for her to get up onto the rock that Andrea was sitting on.
Then, it was my turn.
Cramps & Drowning..
It took great deliberation before I was able to work up the strength and/or courage to write about this next part of the trip. As traumatic as it was for me, it would be selfish if I chose not to share this part of my experience with you all, as what I have to say now will really help you to decide whether or not embarking on this kind of activity is something you should do, particularly if you are not a 'strong' swimmer, like myself. I feel it is my duty to make people aware of the dangers, pros, cons, thrills, high lights and low lights of the whole of my experience at Alcantata, so here goes...
My stomach was doing somersaults. My mouth became dry and my heart was racing. I kept telling myself ‘You can do it. You can do it. If they can do it, so can you. You have the rope, just drag yourself along the rope’. Andrea then waved his arms as if to say “Let’s go!”. I looked at my friends, took a deep breath and leaped.
The current was so strong and could feel myself doing the ‘still fish’ – swimming forward but being dragged back. I have never kicked my legs and arms so fast in my life. It was so hard to stay above water but gradually I could feel myself getting closer to the half way point – an area of rocks that stood between were we were standing and where Andrea was standing. I managed to get one foot on the rock and pull myself up with the rope. I though “Yes! Almost there, keep going!” but I slipped, on the black rocks, and my head went under. It was almost like watching myself through someone else's eyes – the current completely took me and the more I tried to pull myself forward toward Andrea, the more the current swept me back. Being an asthmatic, I tried not to panic and I knew this would set my asthma off and there was no way I would survive an asthma attack in this water. As much as I told myself not to panic, I panicked. My head starting dipping under the water. Every time I was able to lift myself up above the water, I tried to take a deep breath – but I would quickly get sucked back in and ended up swallowing more water than I could take in air. I felt my body filling with water and started choking. Whenever I was able to get my head even an inch above water, I could hear my friends frantically screaming “Help her!” “She’s drowning!” “Oh my god!” – I couldn’t work out who’s voice was who’s and I couldn’t see them either. The only person I could see was Andrea. Staring at me as if I was just taking a swim. I have never been so angry with another human being in my life. I could not comprehend why the hell he was literally chilling on the rock, watching me drown. This man is qualified right? This man knows what he is doing right? Why the hell didn’t he help me??
My body started getting weak and I knew I was not going to get out of this water alive if he didn’t jump in to save me or if I remained in the same place drowning to death. I thought ‘But if I let go of the rope, surely I will drown!’ – I then got an almighty cramp in my right leg – ‘Great – I can’t breath, I cant see or hear any more, and now I have a cramp. NOW I’m going to die.’ I started trying to scream for help as Andrea surely wasn’t going to get off of his ass to help me. I couldn’t even scream because my mouth was filling with water. I just remember trying to scream but letting out a strange, deep groaning noise every time I breathed out. It was at this point that I realised that my chest was getting tight, my air supply was more than scarce and I started wheezing (whilst still bobbing up and down and swallowing water) – I was having an asthma attack.
I let go of the rope.
Jesus Took the Wheel
I’m not sure if I blacked out for a couple of seconds or not but I remember seeing shapes and hearing my friends screaming horrifically – my vision was going in and out of blurriness and I remember sticking my arms out to try and grab hold of one of them as I was dragged downstream. They had their arms out as well to grab me but I was too far away and missed.
In all honesty, I cannot remember how I ended up next to them after that. I don’t know if I missed whoever’s arm was out first and caught the last person, I’m not sure if someone else nearby pushed me to safety, but I remember being pushed up against the rocks next to my friends. My chest was still tight and I was wheezing and tears were streaming down my eyes. Chereece was shouting angrily “What the hell?! Why didn’t he help you? WHY IS HE JUST SITTING THERE?”. Ami was pretty much crying with me, I remember trying to tell them that I was having an asthma attack and that I had a cramp in my leg and could not move it properly. Then I had a panic attack and starting shaking uncontrollably and realising that I was actually still alive and didn’t die as I so surely thought I would. I have never been so scared and angry in my life.
Ami started tapping me and saying “Jaz. Look at me, it’s Ami, it’s Ami. Breathe Jaz, breathe!” I guess I wasn’t looking at her as she kept repeating “Look at me Jaz! Look at me!” I was trying so hard to control my breathing, stop the asthma attack, stop the panic attack and not put pressure on my aching leg.
“I Almost Died!”
During this time – the drowning, the asthma attack, the panic attack, the cramp.. there was NO SIGHT of Andrea. Ridiculous. It took me a while to realise this ridiculousness and I remember shouting (or trying to shout) “WTF?! Chereece, he didn’t help me. Why didn’t he help me! I almost died!” over and over again. At this point, another man was standing behind me. Chereece had been trying to communicate with him that I was having a panic/asthma attack whilst I was drowning in the water – again, the language barrier proved difficult but he eventually understood and shouted “AH! HEART! HEART!” He waded over to me as quickly as possible and unbuckled my life jacket and indicated for me to breathe. I have never inhaled so deeply and groaned loudly! Why didn’t I think to unbuckle my life jacket? Duh! I thanked him and he began supporting me, helping me to stand as he had realised there was something wrong with my leg. I explained to my friends that I had a really bad cramp in my leg which they tried to help rub out.
Andrea slowly walked over and looked at us all. He said something along the lines of “We go now!”. I literally saw red and completely went off on one – how could he possibly be so ignorant as to think that I would want to continue after what just happened? I soon realised I was wasting my time as he was looking at me puzzled – most likely because he didn’t understand what I was shouting about. The gentleman who was still supporting me told him that we would not be continuing due to my injury/attacks. He asked Chereece and Ami what they wanted to and they told him they would stay with me – Andrea then told us to “Wait!” and disappeared. We were left confused, assuming he was going to continue with the other two in our party of five – but how long would we need to wait for? Was this really the safest place to wait – right next to the harsh current?
The Waiting Game
We were waiting for about ten minutes before realising that another group was heading towards us with their guide. We watched as he showed them where to step, where not to step, where to put their feet, where to avoid, etc. He was actually teaching them to avoid the current and to go around it using the rocks – this took us all by surprise as Andrea had us directly swimming and diving through the harshest parts of the current! Their guide – who’s name we regrettably didn’t catch – was very nice and asked why we were standing in this “dangerous part” – we explained what happened to him and he showed us where to sit on the rocks in an area which was further away from the current. He managed to help me up to sit down before saying that he would be off now. He confirmed that our guide would be back as once you reach the end, there is only one way back – the way you came. So we waited, and waited, and eventually, along floated Andrea, heading towards us downstream.
Floating like Otters
By now I had calmed down, my breathing was OK and I felt confident enough to be able to make my way back to the start. To be honest, this was the part I was looking forward to – the part I saw when I was researching on YouTube – the floating and sliding back towards the starting point. Andrea didn’t stop – he motioned to us to get in and literally floated past us. I made it my goal to enjoy what was left of this activity and that I did!
It was the best part of the whole day! I remembered being told briefly by one of the guides back at the camp to cross both arms over your chest, lay back and stiffen your legs and go with the direction of the current. It was great – all five of us were drifting smoothly down the river with the tide. Every now and then the water would get so shallow that the rocks at the bottom would scrape our bums as we drifted along. There were even little ‘slide’ where we would gently dip underwater and resurface again. It was as if none of the above had even happened – the strangest feeling in the world to go from feeling such thrill, to fear, to anger, to bliss. Absolutely strange and MORE than bitter-sweet.
The Aftermath
Eventually, we made our way back to the area where our clothes and bags were locked away. Andrea was silent the whole way back and I thought it was best that I held my tongue until I got back to the base and then I could file a formal complaint - only when we did get back, Andrea was the only member of staff there – which was extremely frustrating as there was nobody to talk to about what had just gone down. I just feel that the managers/owners and yourselves reading need to know about Andrea's lack of professionalism when it came to this very literal LIFE OR DEATH situation in the water. Even after we had changed and grabbed a quick drink, there was still no one to complain to – so we left.
The websites are still in Italian/Sicilian for the company we used and I know that online translators will not translate this whole post 100% accurately so I will be posting a Tripadvisor review and I am hoping that the manager or owner of the company will be able to come forward after today with some sort of explanation or at least an apology for this traumatic experience I had.
I completely understand that this is a team building activity, designed to test your strengths and
weaknesses in the water and that it is not supposed to be easy but at the same time, I believe that;
The guides should speak both Italian AND English – mainly due to the fact that English speaking people are most likely their biggest tourists – its seems ridiculous that this company would even employ someone who only speaks Italian (I cannot fault Andrea for this)..
Even with the language barrier, it does not take a genius to see that someone is drowning. Besides passing out or dying, there is nothing else I could have done to get our guide's attention and even my friends were frantically screaming and panicking because nobody would help me. One of the main responsibilities as a guide is to keep people safe during the whole tour and to react quickly in an emergency situation. He FAILED to keep me out of danger when I slipped back in to the water and began panicking and he FAILED to do ANYTHING to help even afterwards when it became apparent that I was drowning. This is something I found 100% unacceptable, unforgivable and damn well disappointing.
Resolution
That being said. I am not trying to put anyone off of visiting Alcantara Gorge. The good parts of this trip were absolutely amazing and I would highly recommend this fantastic team building activity. But I will always remain true to my readers and most importantly, remain true to myself and I could never lie about or skip out this huge flaw in the experience. I believe people need to know what they are getting themselves into before embarking on an adventure like this and should try to be as prepared as possible. Please, PLEASE book this trip with a guide and do not attempt to go from start to finish on your own/unsupervised. And if you are booking a guide, PLEASE do not forget to ask for an ENGLISH SPEAKING GUIDE upon booking. Make sure you feel 100% comfortable with everything before paying! I really do wish I had someone to tell me all of these things before I went – it's crazy how I literally did have a split 50/50 experience where as I said before, the good parts were insanely amazing and the bad parts were almost the worst imaginable.
On a brighter, less depressing note, I did manage to film the best parts of my trip on my GoPro – you can watch the video here. Of course, my horrific drowning is not on the video (it probably would have been if I left the camera to record from start to finish, but I turned it off whenever I would need to use a lot of strength or both hands). I have edited this video to show the best of Alcantara Gorge as I do not want this whole post to be focussed solely on the worst parts. I wanted to show that this was also an incredible experience – one that I will surely remember for the rest of my life (for the good, and for the bad).
Enjoy!
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to get in touch. I would love to hear about your experience at Gole Alcantara / Alcantara Gorge. Or maybe you have a question about a trip you have already planned, or are just curious? Either way, I would love to hear from you!
