Diving (sea and lake) in Croatia and the Balkans

[Sbiriguda]

Anyway not a big deal, if you dive in the fresh water you will have to check that your regs are fine or rent them from the diving center

 

[stepfen]

any diving around crete?

Do you mean Crete in Greece?
I'm from Chania in west Crete. There is a very good dive store ( http://www.chaniadiving.gr/ ) which caters all levels from snorkelers up to trimix and rebreather diving.
Their usual dives are some very easy (OW level) and nice caverns and rock formations with swim throughs etc.
There is a also a very nice easily accessible "cave". Entrance is at 12 meters then you pass through a wide (but still hard overhead) passage ~10 meters long and then the cave opens up to maybe 30m tall and some 300m long filled with breathable air. Water in the cave is about 1.5m deep, hence you actually walk around. It is called elephant cave. In it you can see petrified leftovers of the skeleton of a prehistoric elephant/ mammoth as well as very nice stalactite and stalagmite formations.
On top of these, there are more advanced sites like caves, deep ship and airplane wrecks from WWII etc.
Generally the conditions are swimming pool like: clear water, no currents, not much fish, though there is some macro life (nudies etc) if you are careful enough.
I haven't dived anywhere else around the island, but I've heard that diving in the central part of the island (Heraklion area) is more lively (more fish). In the east part of the island (Agios Nikolaos area) there are supposed to be the ruins of an ancient city/village submerged so you can dive through them - but I haven't been there either so I can't comment.
South side of the island has even more crystal clear waters and nicer/wilder terrain, but fewer operators dive there.
If you come let me know, so maybe we can meet/dive or have a drink together!
Regards

 

[Wingy]

Thanks - I usually travel with aqualung micron but have a home set of Legend LX that may be more suitable. Opinions?

Stepfan - thank you. Yes, Crete in Greece. Crete is part of this personal pilgrimage ive been on for a few years tracing my grandfathers antics in the war that led him to eventually being in Colditz after many escapes, a touch of saboutage (he was fond of blowing up bridges) and his initial capture was on Crete. His war records state he refusd to surrender at the fall of crete and took off up into the hills of Redondo for a few months and continued sniping with the locals. Id love to meet up for a dive - I have a 70 year old debt of gratitude to thank you guys for. Someone would have helped him with food and perhaps something to lie his head on at night. So this is the reason I am going to zip over to Crete. He wouldve done so personally but unfortunately passed away 45 years ago - id love to show someone there his war records where he mentions crete locals and his unlucky capture.
Thanks for your lovely offer. The diving sounds perfect - im a big fan of underwater topography and those caverns sound wonderful.

 

[admikar]

Unless you're doing ice diving, micron should be fine. If staying in Kotor, most likely you will do sea dives.
Great story about your grandfather, it seems he held a great influence over you.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Is there much diving in the Plitvice Lakes area? I was lucky enough to spend a day hiking there back in 1990. I was amazed by the above water features, and would suspect it would be an attraction to cave divers.

 

[admikar]

I might be wrong, but there is no diving in Plitvice national park, except for state authorized research.

 

[Wingy]

Thanks @ admikar - He was a gentle sweet man who apparently was also a badass rebel during the war - I have no real idea why I started this quest other than the Australian war memorial having pretty crappy records and continually insisting there were no privates in Colditz even though we have a portrait painted of him in Colditz by another POW with the third reich censorship stamps on the back so I decided to put things straight. It was a long way from getting off a LOB and flying from Tual in West Papua to Prague then hiring a car to drive to Colditz for Remembrance day...I got to stand infront of the gatehouse and read In Flanders Field with 16 minutes to spare. Colditz history society verified the painting and explained they destroyed all their records before the allies took the castle as they knew the russians were coming. I ended up getting the red cross to digitize his war records so the next year I went to Oflag 7a and 7b where he remembered to blow up the bridge after his last escape before sneaking around germany for 8 months until being captured again and destroying a truck with sand in the fuel tank which lead the germans to say - Right, off to Colditz for you.
I think he wouldve had a smirk when I managed to get to all three camps and trick my way into 7b which is now a police academy without permission and Colditz without paying for a "tour"

The closeness of Montenegro to Crete made it too good an offer not to take up....and I can add to my list of countries dived.

No plans on ice diving...yet

 

[admikar]

Wow, what a story.....
When do you plan on being in Crna Gora?

 

[Wingy]

Im not sure yet - I have some work to get on top of and part of me likes to avoid the Australian summer because I enjoy the cold but Spain has a conference I should attend in February or there is a Madrid conference in March even though i know it wont be optimum dive season. I try and avoid peak tourism season.

As far as diving goes - im fine with overheads & love wrecks...I have no idea how many dives ive done so I just used countries Ive dived (even that now needs changing).

 

[stepfen]

I have a 70 year old debt of gratitude to thank you guys for. Someone would have helped him with food and perhaps something to lie his head on at night.

I think it is us that ow to your father a lot. He risked his own life fighting evil while defending our land and our freedom. You should be so proud of him.

Do you know which areas of Crete he was positioned? The area I'm living right now (called Galatas) was a very strategically important hill just outside the city of Chania and a lot of battles took place nearby. Actually my house is built exactly on top of an ammunition storage used by the Germans. Nothing too fancy - just a hole dug in the soil on the side of a hill. We use to play in it as kids. Now it lost somewhere below the foundations of our house. After the fall of Crete I'm sure your father tried to move further up the mountains where he might have been arrested. Lucky him he survived all this hell.

Once you settle your schedule let me know. I'll be very glad to meet you and offer any help that I can. As for diving February/March have the coldest water here (usually down to ~15oC/60oF). At least in March usually topside is getting a bit warm(ish) with few days of sunshine etc. It is usually quite nice, but it can also get quite miserable. April/May is much much better. Warmer (but not too warm), less rain and not yet crowded.