Cyprus any good???

[Andoman]

I lived there from 89-91 and dove all over the eastern side of the island. The best dive is by far the Zenobia. It used to be you could only dive it if you had a permit as the vessel was still in insurance litigation due to the suspicious way it went down. It is a very large ferry that was transporting a bunch of semi-trucks full of goods (like mercedes parts). That might all be staightened out by now. Most of the salvage (illegal) was done at night and there are some great stories about what was pulled off of it. It sits on its side about 130' down on the bottom end (I think) and one of the best parts of the dive was swimming through the hold. I've seen some lage schools of fish while on this dive. Lots of diesel fuel coming off it back then though.

There was a great place to find clay artifacts just north of Cape Gkreko. I dubbed one place Amphora Bay as it was once an old harbor and the boats would dump wine jugs that had broken during the voyage. Another place just west of Gkreko was one I dubbed Cave Cove as it had caves all around it. It was a bit hard to climb down into. The beaches in Aya Napa are by far the best. Nissi Beach on a hot summer day is beautiful.

Hickdive is absolutely right about the Cypriot spear-finshing comment. I once watched a guy break a little fish in two when he speared it. He quickly grabbed both pieces and put them in his suit.

There's a great little pub in Larnaca called the Globe near the seafront. Stop in and tell Yodi hello.

 

[spiderpig]

Not really. A country that offers 1 decent dive site gets dull fast. Cyprus is like a lot of that part of the med - devoid of much in the way of fish life as its all been blown up/poisoned or just overfished. Good vis but nothing to see. Greece is pretty much identical. Very nice if you enjoy looking at bare rocks underwater.

Despite the PR on some of the websites the sites are all very samey - seen one, seen them all.

If going to Cyprus its ok for 1 maybe 2 days away from family to dive but thats about it. Certainly wouldn't choose it as a destination for a diving holiday.

Zenobia is one of the best wreck in the world, thats for sure.
I've been going to Cyprus since 1990 and diving Zenobia and i'm never bored. evey now and then i find out something interesting for myself.

Someone said that you need a licence but hey, lets face it - from who?
The swedish company that is a few 100 miles away? No one controls it, marine police does not control it, swedes don't...all local DCs are taking people there, starting from russian-operated SADKO with their Queen Zenobia boat to small DCs like Alpha Divers.

Also, Cyprus is the home of one of the BEST TDI instructors i've came accross from my 15+ years of diving, Chirs Demetroiu. he is the guy who really knows the wreck. every inch of the wreck. he saved a bunch of people who got lost there and couldn;t find their way back so usually their diving operator would go asking Chris to find pople and get them back.
On the instructor side, Chris is one of the toughest guys around and if you do your TDI training with him, he WILL tore you a**hole apart but you WILL be able to get yourself out of the hazardous situation if you find yourself in one.
A friend of mine went on Tx courses with him in May 2008, he had this weird situation at 50meters, at some point water started flooding his lungs (I guess he got spasms of some kind), his mask went off and his contacts went off as well, he couldn't breathe, he coudn't see, 50m dive, deco situation. He says that if it weren't for Chris and Andy by his side, he would either inflate his BCD and probably ended up in the chamber, or would get drowned down there. Those guys really give you a huge ammount of security underwater, uch more then some other people that I was diving with.
personally, being a cave diver for quite some time and doing a huge ammount of cave mapping, i find the Zen top wreck in Europe. never got bored, never got dull, always something new to see. And its a pleasure to dive with guy like Chris.

Oh, and also, during the summer season Queen Zen bring some goodlooking female divers as well

 

[Hutch]

Also, Cyprus is the home of one of the BEST TDI instructors i've came accross from my 15+ years of diving, Chirs Demetroiu. he is the guy who really knows the wreck. every inch of the wreck. he saved a bunch of people who got lost there and couldn;t find their way back so usually their diving operator would go asking Chris to find pople and get them back.
On the instructor side, Chris is one of the toughest guys around and if you do your TDI training with him, he WILL tore you a**hole apart but you WILL be able to get yourself out of the hazardous situation if you find yourself in one.
A friend of mine went on Tx courses with him in May 2008, he had this weird situation at 50meters, at some point water started flooding his lungs (I guess he got spasms of some kind), his mask went off and his contacts went off as well, he couldn't breathe, he coudn't see, 50m dive, deco situation. He says that if it weren't for Chris and Andy by his side, he would either inflate his BCD and probably ended up in the chamber, or would get drowned down there. Those guys really give you a huge ammount of security underwater, uch more then some other people that I was diving with.
personally, being a cave diver for quite some time and doing a huge ammount of cave mapping, i find the Zen top wreck in Europe. never got bored, never got dull, always something new to see. And its a pleasure to dive with guy like Chris.

Oh, and also, during the summer season Queen Zen bring some goodlooking female divers as well

What dive show does Chris work out of? I'm headed to Cyprus in a couple months, and I have no reviews of the dive companies that operate out of Cyprus. I'm concerned about the safety standards of the tour companies.

Anyone have any suggestions or reviews of companies in Cyprus? I've been looking at Cydive so far. Let me know what you guys think.

Hutch

 

[AmRus]

I just returned (yesterday) from Cyprus. Even the divemasters selling the product had to agree: it's mostly about just getting wet. From Limassol (diving behind the Four Seasons Hotel), the depth is 6 meters only. As I understand, the locals went into net fishing in a big way and scoured the ocean floor clean. Mostly what you get is a sandy bottom - lots of sand. Great place to practice your compass navigation skills (I'm stretching here) - as often there aren't any notable features to help guide you back to your origin. The Zen's a great dive, but at 135 Euros for two dives and a lunch, I find it a bit expensive. Dive-In (hq'd in Limassol) does Platinum training, including their own dive college: in seven years of going there (for Russian visa renewals) I've always found the staff first rate.