Diving in Croatia

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Thanks for the quick reply. All that sounds good even the prices. It will be my third time diving Croatia, but first time in Istria and i hope to get out to a few of the wrecks as I love the history and stories behind the wrecks. If you ever get a chance to dive southern North Carolina, please do you will be blown away :)



I think diving in Istria will be nice for you, as you have experience in challenging dives. Luckily the beginning of September is a great time to visit the region.
The price? Well, there are dive centers who says the price of boat diving is about 25 euros. Not that much, but sometimes it doesn't include rental of the tank (5-8 euros because I guess you won't travel with tanks...), and the extra price for specific wrecks (8-15 euros) so a single boat dive can be as much as 50 euros, but at least 35.
Because of the prices, we usually prefer cheaper diving in the southern Adriatic where the water is warmer and the visibility is better. So I don't have that much experience in the Istria, but I heard about some reliable dive centers:
Vitez Wrecks Website
Diving Center Indie
Orca dive center - diving Pula, Istria, Croatia
 
Hey, who don't want to dive in North Carolina?:) Someday I surely will.
I travel to Croatia quite often. We well go there for 10 days in May-June, maybe a week more in July or September. It's close to us, I know many dive centers, and they know me. I plan my dives, I know what to look for in the different spots, so I enjoy diving in Croatia more than the usual divers. Certainly it's different in the Istria where the wreck dives are exciting in themselves for everyone, you don't have to look for the small animals.:) I think the Baron Gautsch is a must, but they don't dive every wrecks from every locations in the Istria. The Coriolanus or the Numidia is too far away from Pula, but maybe you'll have the chance to dive the U-82 submarine remains.
 
I will try to make it out to the Baron Gautsch for sure. I am excited for the opportunity to dive a few of the deeper wrecks. My previous diving experience in Croatia was diving close to the dive shop with a bunch of rank amateurs that should have still been in the pool practicing their skills. :D. These guys were unbelievable, but the dive master told me that is a common problem.


I am going to be in Istanbul for a week in late August, have you dove the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, or Aegean Sea in that area?

Hey, who don't want to dive in North Carolina?:) Someday I surely will.
I travel to Croatia quite often. We well go there for 10 days in May-June, maybe a week more in July or September. It's close to us, I know many dive centers, and they know me. I plan my dives, I know what to look for in the different spots, so I enjoy diving in Croatia more than the usual divers. Certainly it's different in the Istria where the wreck dives are exciting in themselves for everyone, you don't have to look for the small animals.:) I think the Baron Gautsch is a must, but they don't dive every wrecks from every locations in the Istria. The Coriolanus or the Numidia is too far away from Pula, but maybe you'll have the chance to dive the U-82 submarine remains.
 
Sadly I haven't been there to dive yet, only to Suthern Turkey: Bodrum and Alanya.
 
We're seriously considering heading to Croatia for the summer vacation this year too. For an avid wreck diver, which wrecks would people recommend diving if possible?

R..
 
...
Because of the prices, we usually prefer cheaper diving in the southern Adriatic where the water is warmer and the visibility is better.

I just came back from a trip in Murter (dive shop: najada), it was great diving, expect they don't have any smoking rules:(. The vis was so-so, lots of plankton. They have nicely grown walls, sea fans and lots of fish (saw a moray about 1m long!)

What do you think about the Kvarner region? (Cres, Losinj, Krk, Rab) Or the other extreme, southern Dalmatia (Mljet, Lastovo - or even Korfu)?
 
For wrecks I'd definitely recommend Istrian Peninsula. The most famous wrecks are the Baron Gautsch, the Hans Schmidt, the Coreolanus, the Guiseppe Dezza... I don't think it's easy to say which is the "best", depends on the visibility etc. And not all local dive centers dive all of these. Usually only the Baron Gautsch is considered as a "must dive". Here you can find a nice list of the wrecks in Northern Croatia:
Wreck diving - Diving Center Shark - Diving in Croatia

Another good destination is Vis island with a few famous wrecks, but some of them can be dived only for technical divers. If somebody travels to Krk island, can dive the Peltastis wreck at Silo and Lina wreck at the neghbouring Cres island. There are some other nice wrecks like the Tihany at Mali Losinj or the Francesca di Rimini at Kaprije, but there aren't other wrecks, and these ones aren't enough for a wreck trip in my opinion. For wreck enthusiasts I'd suggest a trip to Istria, for technical divers Vis island.

There is a really nice website about Croatian diving with a detailed map of dive sites:
DIVING IN CROATIA

---------- Post added May 15th, 2013 at 06:41 AM ----------

Nice to hear! I hope Anna and Kurt organized some nice dives for you. Yes, sometimes there are more plankton in the Adriatic in May, but you never know what to expect.

Korfu? I've been to there, but for me it's very different than Croatia as I wouldn't go there by car. There aren't much fish in the sea and it isn't warmer than Dalmatia, so only for diving I know better places in Croatia. (Anyway, if you go there, stay in Paleokastritsa town, the best dives sites are on the rocky western shore.) But Greece is nice, and as I'm a fan of Gerald Durrell's books I had a nice time there- with a few average dives. There was only one really memorable dive site, a cave:
A cave to remember - divingiscool.com

Krk and Cres diving is very similar, simply because from Krk they dive often the walls of Cres island. The most famous wreck is the Lina at Cres what they dive from Krk too. Krk island is a lively place with some nice towns and villages, I spent nice holidays there, and I know some dive centers. In Krk I did daily 2 tank dive trips and some nice 1 tank dives as well, I usually don't prefer spending the whole day on a boat. I don't know too much about Losinj, I think it's must be similar to the other Kvarner dive sites.

I think diving at Rab island is more similar to Pag, although I've been there only for a short trip. I know more about Pag, there is a village called Stara Novalja where half dozen dive centers work: they dive the opposite walls with fast RIB's, and some of them has nice house reefs as well with seahorses. I'd go here for some nice and affordable Adriatic diving experience, but it's a small village, there are much less bars, restaurants, etc. In the beginning of June we will go there for a special UW photo trip, because the location is ideal for that and we are not interested that much in sightseeing this time.

Mljet, Lastovo? In the past the adventorous divers went there but they are so far away! And the experts say you won't see more than in the islands of Southern Dalmatia like Vis, Brac, Korcula. So I confess I had only plans too, but never traveled to these remote islands. I had some really nice dives in the Rogoznica area where the water was always warmer too. Oh yes, another idea for nice wall diving experience: Dugi Otok. They dive sometimes the Kornati as the centers in Murter or Biograd, but the walls in the western side of Dugi Otok as nice as well, and I had my best diving experience there during a liveaboard trip. There was a reef called Kampanel Misnjak with colorful sponges, huge crabs and scorpionfish, morays, etc.

I know some dive centers so if you would like to go somewhere, maybe I can recommend a reliable one.
 
Che, Thanks for the detailed info!
Dugi seems to be the realistic target for June. Heard anything about Kornati-Diving (Zaglav, Dugi otok)?

My holiday time is very limited and looking for a place, where I can do 3 (or even 4) dives a day, thus distance from the sites counts. I don't know if there are some nice shore dives near Zaglav...

As for the rest: Lastovo came into my mind because I was there on holiday 2 years ago, and liked it pretty much. No mass-turism, like on the popular islands... Wasn't diving though, I might go back once. The trip is not that bad, you can sit back on the Split-Lastovo ferry:)
 
Yes I know them, I had very good experiences with this center. The owner was a local guy whose family live in Dugi Otok for ages, he knows everything about Adriatic sea, and they offered good services. I've been to them 2 years ago, I hope they still have the nice, comfortable boat. In Dugi Otok I think they usually do daily trips with 2 dives, and someday they dive from the shore- but not too often. This island isn't too crowded, you can have a relaxing holiday here.
 

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