Love the Sea?
This Summer Vicenza's Outdoor Recreation (ODR) takes you to Italy's wonderful coastlines. Find out more by downloading the complete Spring/Summer 2011 Catalog (.pdf, 2.12 MB).

Scuba
Instructional classes make up a large part of the Vicenza Outdoor Recreation's program. Participants have the opportunity to become certified in Basic SCUBA diving and have the added option of continuing their training to the instructor level. Outdoor Recreation offers scuba diving trips and an array of scuba gear for check-out.

Open Water Course
This course will teach you everything you need to know to safely and independently scuba dive.

Continuing Education Courses
The Advanced Scuba, Rescue Diver and Master Scuba Diver courses qualify for college credit. Ask our staff for details.

Specialty Courses
Nitrox, Night Diver, Deep Diver, Wreck Diver, Underwater Photographer, Navigation, Search/Recovery and Dry Suit Diver courses are offered through Outdoor Recreation.

Professional Leadership Courses
Designed for professional divers or aspiring professionals, Dive-Master, Assistant Instructor and Instructor courses teach advanced techniques and leadership skills.

Registration Details
Cost and time required vary depending on course. Sign up at Outdoor Recreation at least seven days prior to course start date. Private courses, scheduled at your convenience, are also available.

Fishing
Offshore boat fishing (Open Water Fishing) in the Northern Adriatic Sea for ODR customers is usually done on Charter Fishing Boats that hold between 25 to 50 fishermen. The boats we use are in Chioggia and Rosalina Mare. After approximately an hour trip from the berth, the boat anchors in 20-30 meters of water. The rods used by our customers are light tackle, with 8 Kg (18 pound) test line. Boat Captains provide the bait, and also have chum bags over the side(s) of the boat to assist in attracting fish. The fish normally caught are Mackerel and an occasional Bonita Tuna (2-6 pound range). Some of the boats we use also provide lunch on board.

Kayaking
In the Spring and Summer seasons Outdoor Recreation hosts several local trips to Lake Garda. Trip leaders offer kayaking instruction. From the sea kayak you're afforded a unique view of the lake and can enjoy relaxed views of Garda and its surroundings.

Kayaks were originally developed by the indigenous people living in the Arctic regions who used the boats to hunt on inland lakes, rivers and the coastal waters of the Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic, Bering Sea and North Pacific oceans. These first kayaks were constructed from stitched animal skins (typically seal) stretched over a wooden frame made from collected driftwood as many of the areas of their construction were treeless.

Hydrospeed
Riverboarding is the North American name for a boardsport in which the participant is prone on the board with fins on his/her feet for propulsion and steering. This sport is also known as Hydrospeed in Europe. Hydrospeed includes recreational practice of using a high-flotation riverboard, designed for buoyancy in highly aerated water.

Riverboarding is believed to have originated in the late 1970s. It is claimed to have originated in France when raft guides stuffed a burlap mail sack with life vests and went down rapids. Soon riders adapted a personal submarine shell for their molds and the plastic version of the riverboard was born. European riders also developed a foam version (called a hydrospeed ) of the plastic board to reduce weight and avoid injuring each other during collisions that sometimes resulted from one rider travelling downstream and another facing upstream while surfing a hydraulic. Today homemade foam hydrospeeds are found primarily among European riders. A growing sport in North America, riverboarding has grown in popularity from media exposure and the emergence of commercial operators running riverboard trips.

Whitewater Rafting
Rafting or whitewater rafting is a challenging recreational activity utilizing a raft to navigate a river or other bodies of water. This is usually done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. The development of this activity as a leisure sport has become popular since the mid 1970s. Rafts were originally the simplest form of man’s transportation in water and were then made of several logs, planks or reeds which were fastened together. Inflatable boats were used as rafts which were later adopted by the military for beach assaults. Nowadays rafts come in a few different forms. In Europe the most common is the symmetrical raft steered with a paddle at the stern.