Mediterranean Cruise Diving

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Drgnfiend

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Messages
9
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0
Location
Oakton, VA
# of dives
50 - 99
My girlfriend and I have booked a cruise in April that will be stopping off in Croatia, Turkey, and Greece. As all of my diving has been confined to the US and the Caribbean, and I've never considered a trip across the pond I know nothing of diving in any of these areas. Our original plan was just to rely on the cruise excursions for SCUBA, but it turns out they don't offer any. I'm looking for any information about diving in these areas as well as local shops that people may suggest for some good diving while we're there for the day.

I've listed the time we'll be in each port below. I've got just over 80 dives done and am a rescue diver, however my girlfriend will just have her BOW cert and her check out dives only. As she's just getting into this, we won't be diving at all ports that have the option to do so, therefore any suggestions on one location over the other are greatly appreciated.

Dubrovnik, Croatia: 10:30am - 6:30pm, Docked
Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey: 8:00am - 6:00pm, Docked
Santorini, Greece: 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Tendered
Corfu, Greece: 1:00 PM - 8:30 PM, Docked

Thanks in advance
 
My girlfriend and I have booked a cruise in April that will be stopping off in Croatia, Turkey, and Greece. As all of my diving has been confined to the US and the Caribbean, and I've never considered a trip across the pond I know nothing of diving in any of these areas. Our original plan was just to rely on the cruise excursions for SCUBA, but it turns out they don't offer any. I'm looking for any information about diving in these areas as well as local shops that people may suggest for some good diving while we're there for the day.

I've listed the time we'll be in each port below. I've got just over 80 dives done and am a rescue diver, however my girlfriend will just have her BOW cert and her check out dives only. As she's just getting into this, we won't be diving at all ports that have the option to do so, therefore any suggestions on one location over the other are greatly appreciated.

Dubrovnik, Croatia: 10:30am - 6:30pm, Docked
Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey: 8:00am - 6:00pm, Docked
Santorini, Greece: 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Tendered
Corfu, Greece: 1:00 PM - 8:30 PM, Docked

Thanks in advance

The water looks beautiful, but when we were in Dubrovnik a cruise a couple of years ago, there didn't seem to be any dive operators nearby, and it didn't look like you could easily get to any dive sites.

I'm sure there's diving there (the water is gorgeous), but you'll probably need to make complete arrangements for diving and transportation before you arrive.

OTOH, it's a really cool city, and you might want to just skip the diving and go look around.

I don't know anything about the other ports. Sorry.

Terry
 
In Santorini you may want to take a dive into the underwater volcano. I've never been there, but I've watched a little vid posted at youtube. I think it is worth a look.
 
The volcano is not the best dive in Santorini; bare rocks and not much life, but there is some absolutely amazing caves/caverns/canyons etc on the south coast in a 3,000 year old lava floe. Also some excellent wall dives inside the caldera. Water temp will be low in April, about 16 degrees, but ok with a good wetsuit. Have a look at Navys Waterworld Scuba Diving Center | Kamari, Santorini, one of the few operators open at that time of year
 
You have to remember that in Croatia you cannot dive without the permit. And, what's more, local police controlls this. So either you dive with the diving centre nad then the annual permit costs around 30 euro, or you divie on your own and then annual permit costs around 1000 euro.

As far as Santorini is concerned - most of the dive I did there were boring (including the vulcano). Greece few years ago lifted its rather heavy regulations (diving ancient sites were forbiden), so it's worth looking for such locations.
Unfortunately I can't be of any help as far as Turkey is concerned because I don't go there (it's my private protest against Turkish governemnt and their attitude towards Kurds).
 
Individual diving permit in Croatia is 320 Eur/year if you want to have something like that, same price per individual or per center/club. This is actually called a concession, not a permit and it's not at all required if you use diving operator services.

The one of 30/15 Eur you're referring to is no longer valid. Who ever tries to sell is, is just either selling BS or wants to get rid of it as they also had to purchase it in quantities...
 
Our original plan was just to rely on the cruise excursions for SCUBA, but it turns out they don't offer any.

You were probably better off anyways booking your dive directly with a local dive shop versus through the cruise line.

I just returned from from a cruise that had two stops in Croatia (Dubrovnik and Split). I scheduled through the cruise line a dive trip in Dubrovnik. The night before we docked in Dubrovnik, I was notified that the "excursion" was canceled. This gave me no time to track down a local dive shop.

As much as I love diving and was initially disappointed, I can say that Dubrovnik was awesome.
 
you probably won't have enough time to dive in Dubrovnik but if still try there is a dive center in Cavtat (near dubrovnik) that you can use... Don't think you'll find any DC in the old city...
 
Hey Drgnfiend,

My wife and I just got back from Croatia a few weeks ago. While in Dubrovnik we did a 2 tank boat dive with Blue Planet Diving, which is right in Dubrovnik. Our dive package included pickup at the Hilton hotel next to old town, but they're located an easy 10 or 15 minute bus ride from old town, if you want to go that route. Check out their website - they have great directions on how to reach them (blueplanet-diving.com)

Our dive started at 9:00 AM, but other groups arrived later, so I would guess you could set up something for later in the morning. A word of advice - make sure you bring your log books, as they wanted to see ours to gauge our experience. We didn't have ours, as I wasn't sure we would actually get to dive on this trip, and the Divemaster wasn't too impressed by that. But we got to go out anyway, and really enjoyed our dives. DM and staff were great, and clearly take their diving seriously. Not a ton to see compared to the diving I've done elsewhere, but worth it for the new experience.

That all having been said, Dubrovnik is an amazing town, and with only one day there, I'd recommend checking out the city rather than diving. Make sure you get up on the walls. Great views.
 

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