Diving in Greece?

[Ytsejam]

I also saw this place when walking around, but I'm not sure I would dive with them:

The sign merely indicates that upon completion, that building will serve as the information/booking kiosk of the dive center

 

[labaum]

I know this is more of the same, but I just got back from a trip to Greece (well, part of it) and my wife and I noticed (alas, this was not a dive trip) that there was a dive shop at every one of our stops; Athens, Mykonos, Santorini, and Rhodes.

 

[Starlet]

Such lovely pics!

Does anyone know of a liveaboard around Greece?

Starlet

 

[Ytsejam]

Such lovely pics!

Does anyone know of a liveaboard around Greece?

Starlet

I will find out if there are liveboards here and post here. The thing to remember is that there are over 2,000 islands in Greece, so it's fairly easy and quick to dive in one place, then catch a boat to the next island and dive some more and so on.

 

[Starlet]

That's true Ytsejam, thanks.

 

[Owen Butler]

Sadly we don't have any sharks in Santorini. There are 5 dive centers. The diving in the caldera is actually quite good with lots of wall dives but the volcano itself is not the best diving due to the bare volcanic rock and sulphur from the hot springs. The hot springs are the only spots where the water is warmer. Our highlight is a caves area amid a 3,000 year old lava floe on the south coast, very dramatic scenery. Other good sites include the wall dives of Adiavatous reef (said by one german magazine to be the best dive in the mediterranean) and white island, wall dives in the caldera.

 

[Owen Butler]

p.s. the photo of mediterranean dive club was when they tried to operate their boat trips from Athinios port and that was to be the gear storage etc. Main store is elsewhere

 

[String]

Greece - lovely country to live and holiday, awful diving.

Pretty much no fish life (all been dynamited, spear fished, posioned, trawled and eaten) so very good visibility but looks like the surface of the moon -barren.

Lots of dive centres are lazy and despite the laws changing AGES ago still refuse to dive the wrecks and other areas that are now legal preferring instead to save fuel and dive very close to shore. As its mainly occasional holiday divers they get away with that (and make money out of DSDs).

Basically if you do 1-2 dives you'll be happy, do a lot more you'll be bored by the blandness of it all. Forget diving ancient sites - all illegal.

Water temps range from 16c or so in some parts in March to 28c in August. Expect strong thermoclines. 7mm or 5mm full for summer, drysuit for winter or early season.

(i worked in greece for several years diving)

 

[Owen Butler]

It depends what you're into I guess. I've worked all over the world for many years and Greece si the only place i've come back to. No, there's not many fish, the water is so clear here (30m vis most days) becuase there's not many nutrients in it and we fight a constant battle with the fishermen to try and educate people about the damage that they are doing. To say it is barren is unfair though, there's a lot of life on the rocks: Sponges, sea stars, tube worms, octopus (on almost every dive), morays and many many nudibranch. And in Santorini its mostly about the scenery; caverns canyons and swim-throughs in a 3,000 year old lava floe that you won't find in many places. I have one diver today making his 7th and 8th dives with us and several that come back every year. If you're used to diving in the tropics, with the diversity of life that you find on coral reefs you may be disappointed with the lack of fish. If you're a UK or Swedish diver you're in for a real treat.