Dive restrictions in Croatia?

[Grajan]

I have been trying to organize a charter yacht based dive trip to Croatia but got the following response from the charterer when I enquired about renting tanks and weights to go diving without using the local dive ops.

QUOTE
In case you want to make diving alone you would need to buy Individual diving licence for Croatia, that cost 2400 Kn per person (apr. 320 EUR). With that permit you can dive in all areas except protected area like island Vis, Mljet, Kornati Archipelago where the most interesting locations are and where only organised diving is allowed due to these locations being national or nature parks.. In case you wish to dive in area of Vis for example, you would need to take local dive guide from any of the diving centers.
END QUOTE

Is there anyone on the board who can confirm this or correct it? On the face of it our trip is dead. The reason we charter is to get away from commercial dive ops.

Thanks

Graham

 

[mania]

As far as I know yes it's correct. This is the fee you have to pay to dive in an unorganized way or if you want to take your students and teach them. If you dive with diving centre that's located in Croatia then every diver has to have a permission card that costs 150 kuna and it's valid for a year. So the solution is to find a partner - Croatian diving centre. Of course that would also mean paying the centre for dives. You may contact for instance this centre:
http://www.ist-diving.com/onasENG.htm
and contact Bratko vel Muky. Tell him you got this from Maria form Poland - maybe he would be able to help you.
Mania

 

[Grajan]

I am not bothered by the fee but the total lack of independant access to the (apparently) best diving locations will be a no-go.

We will not have any students - it is a private trip and will just be experienced divers and snorkellers.

I will contact BratKo and get more details.

Graham

As far as I know yes it's correct. This is the fee you have to pay to dive in an unorganized way or if you want to take your students and teach them. If you dive with diving centre that's located in Croatia then every diver has to have a permission card that costs 150 kuna and it's valid for a year. So the solution is to find a partner - Croatian diving centre. Of course that would also mean paying the centre for dives. You may contact for instance this centre:
http://www.ist-diving.com/onasENG.htm
and contact Bratko vel Muky. Tell him you got this from Maria form Poland - maybe he would be able to help you.
Mania

 

[FireM]

Yes it's true and every dive must have permission card that costs 100 kuna and it's valid for a year.

FireM
http://www.dckostrena.hr

 

[mania]

Graham - there are two owners - so contact either Bratko or Roberto - Roberto is more reliable as answering mail are concerned. Bratko is more of an diving artist - so a great diver but a bit crazy - as an artist. Roberto is more down to the ground.
Both of them are really good divers and can be much of help
Mania

 

[MonkSeal]

If you're interested in diving in protected area of island Vis you can contact Lorenz from diving center Manta www.manta-diving.com . Although his web site is not as fresh as it can be, he's pretty quick regarding e-mail replies. I'll probably see him during the weekend and if you want I can talk with him about this. He usualy has guests during summer that come to Vis with their charter boats and then dive with him.

 

[vjongene]

QUOTE
In case you want to make diving alone you would need to buy Individual diving licence for Croatia, that cost 2400 Kn per person (apr. 320 EUR). With that permit you can dive in all areas except protected area like island Vis, Mljet, Kornati Archipelago where the most interesting locations are and where only organised diving is allowed due to these locations being national or nature parks.. In case you wish to dive in area of Vis for example, you would need to take local dive guide from any of the diving centers.
END QUOTE

The same thing happened to two friends of mine who went to Croatia with their own RIB. They didn't know about the "individual diving licenses", which are IMHO an attempt by Croatian dive centers to make sure that they get a take on all diving in the area. They paid the fee, but swore that this was the last time they would dive in Croatia. I cannot really blame them.

 

[MonkSeal]

The same thing happened to two friends of mine who went to Croatia with their own RIB. They didn't know about the "individual diving licenses", which are IMHO an attempt by Croatian dive centers to make sure that they get a take on all diving in the area. They paid the fee, but swore that this was the last time they would dive in Croatia. I cannot really blame them.

The reason that government gives for this fee is "increasing the safety" i.e. to stimulate divers to go for organized diving (through diving centers). Of course, the real reason is that group of people that own diving centers put a pressure on government to release such law because they thought that will earn more. Of course, they were wrong because they can't attract more divers because they are incompetent. No law can solve their problem. We've been fighting for three years to change this BS but without success.

 

[spere]

I have been trying to organize a charter yacht based dive trip to Croatia but got the following response from the charterer when I enquired about renting tanks and weights to go diving without using the local dive ops.

QUOTE
In case you want to make diving alone you would need to buy Individual diving licence for Croatia, that cost 2400 Kn per person (apr. 320 EUR). With that permit you can dive in all areas except protected area like island Vis, Mljet, Kornati Archipelago where the most interesting locations are and where only organised diving is allowed due to these locations being national or nature parks.. In case you wish to dive in area of Vis for example, you would need to take local dive guide from any of the diving centers.
END QUOTE

Is there anyone on the board who can confirm this or correct it? On the face of it our trip is dead. The reason we charter is to get away from commercial dive ops.

Thanks

Graham

Check http://www.croatiadivecruising.com Great charter offer.

 

[MonkSeal]

Check http://www.croatiadivecruising.com Great charter offer.

I took a look on this site and noticed one thing: diving in protected area (Vis). AFAIK diving in this area is alowed only with registered diving centers which Hera definitely isn't.