Crete in June

[pinstripe1]

Hi Folks,

I will be in Crete in late June and am looking to get in some diving before my conference starts. I'll be in Hersonissos, about 24 Km east of Heraklion.

Searching the Web turned up three dive operations that appear to be reasonably close:

Scuba Kreta Diving Club
Big Blue Diving School
and Aqualand Kreta

Does anyone have experience with any of these operators? Or somebody else to recommend?

Also, what might the water temperatures be and is there anything special I should bring along, make sure I visit, not do, etc.

Thanks much,

-- Michael

 

[Conor]

I qualified with dive centre Creta Maris in Hersonissos (attached to the creta maris hotel). Great people, nice chilled out attitude, their own hard boat and a beach front location.

I was diving in September and the water was 20+ degrees. If I understand it right the Greek Authorities limit the number of dive sites and so the variety from the centre was limited to a few nearby reefs, still very nice diving though.

I think all centres suffer from the same. You may want to start at one centre and move on after a few days. If you can bring your own equipment then I probably would, the stuff available was good and servicable but some of the suits were a bit the worse for wear.

Didn't do anything in crete except dive (and go to Pubs etc.) but really enjoyed it

try
http://www.scubaspots.com/Listings.asp?Location=Crete
Have fun

Conor

 

[alexeames]

I just got back from a trip to Crete.

Was a family holiday so I only got one dive in :upset:

I went out with Big Blue Diving School in Kato Gouves.
40 Euros for 1 boat dive including full gear (no discount for having my own suit, mask, fins, boots & computer).
We went out in an RIB 7 miles north to the island of DIA.

Viz was quite good, about 15-20 metres. Water 21 C.
Dive was somewhat spoiled by the ratio of open water students to instructors/guides.

There were about 8 students and 2 instructors in one group.
Myself and another more exerienced diver were to go with another guide deeper and in a different direction. But unfortunately, two of the students either bolted for the surface
or never got below it right at the start of the dive.

This meant that our guide had to lead the entire group and we were stuck in a group of students - until we figured out that the guide would let us go a few metres deeper than the rest.

Just bad luck I guess :upset:

They had to prioritise safety. Still, there was no reason for them to make us exit after only 46 minutes with 70 bar left in the tank.

There were some fish and some excellent nudibranch, but having dived the red sea, I'm spoiled. It was my first dive in a year and a half, and I'm glad I went, but things could have gone a lot better.