evil_xander
Contributor
So, as several members of SB already asked me about diving in Croatia, I figured I'll try do write some useful info and descriptions, but I also expect several other Croatian SB members to chime in and add their input about the locations they dive frequently. 
Most of my dives are located in the north Adriatic sea, around the Istrian peninsula and region known as Kvarner, where the sea is not so blue and warm as it is further down south, but has it's appeal definetly. If you click the link in my signature, you can see some general underwater photos from these locations (limited equipment so no wreck photos, yet).
There's usually a thermocline in this specific area at about 20-25 m which can bring down the temperature 5-10 degrees C down from the one at shallow depths (during the summer we're talking about 22-25 degrees C on the surface). During winter, if the wind is not blowing too strong, you can go dive with a wetsuit, but it's more comfortable to get a drysuit (mine is on the way). We've had sea temperature in January/February of about 13 degrees C at some 20m depth, but the problem was on the surface, with temperature of 7 degrees C and strong cold wind blowing.
Location wise, there's plenty of things to see and visit if you just walk in from the coast at some points, but the wrecks require you to go there by boat. We have several really nice wrecks nearby my hometown of Rijeka (http://www.tz-rijeka.hr/english/default.asp), which has good connectivity to the rest of the country, being 2nd or 3rd largest city in Croatia, and is an hour and a half by car from the state capital, Zagreb.
You can go diving either through Diving Centers or Diving Clubs (non profit organizations), centers can get you places and rent you gear, clubs usually don't have that much gear to give around and are open to members only. You can also check your local PADI/SSI centers, there's plenty of them.
Nitrox is available, at some places for the same price as air fills, at others at a tad higher prices. Trimix is also available at some centers, but I advise you to check upfront before making any plans and arriving on site... Most centers rent only steel tanks (12L or 15L 200 bar tanks being the common size), din or yoke is not a problem. Aluminium is not too frequent in these parts, we use thick wetsuits anyway (2 piece 5mm is appropriate for both summer, fall and part of the winter, depends from one person to another).
Recreational diving (using air) is limited to 40m, but there's no scuba police down there.
In this area, I can definetly suggest you visit the following locations/wrecks, found on the links below (I don't endorse these centers, but they have the info I need to present you with):
http://www.diver.hr/rovinj.asp?lng=en - wreck Baron Gautsch
http://www.scubacenter.de/lina_gb.php?id=030202 - wreck Lina
http://www.marinesport.hr/english/EnglishFiles/divesites/location_vis.htm - wreck Vis
Also, some general locations are listed here:
http://www.divecity.net/html/eng/dive_sites.htm
There's also some info available here:
http://www.diving.hr/main/kako.asp?L=eng
Due to the coast configurations, there are plenty of walls do dive along, usually going from 10-60+ meters depth. Don't expect Red Sea kind of colours around you, as the water is murky a bit, visibility usually ranging at <20m.
Rules and regulations regarding the annual permit and fees are currently in the transition period, we should know new rules of the game by January 2008. Current ones just have to change as they are completly useless and silly and expensive (dive using a center or a club and bypass these nonsenses).
This concludes part 1.
Most of my dives are located in the north Adriatic sea, around the Istrian peninsula and region known as Kvarner, where the sea is not so blue and warm as it is further down south, but has it's appeal definetly. If you click the link in my signature, you can see some general underwater photos from these locations (limited equipment so no wreck photos, yet).
There's usually a thermocline in this specific area at about 20-25 m which can bring down the temperature 5-10 degrees C down from the one at shallow depths (during the summer we're talking about 22-25 degrees C on the surface). During winter, if the wind is not blowing too strong, you can go dive with a wetsuit, but it's more comfortable to get a drysuit (mine is on the way
). We've had sea temperature in January/February of about 13 degrees C at some 20m depth, but the problem was on the surface, with temperature of 7 degrees C and strong cold wind blowing.Location wise, there's plenty of things to see and visit if you just walk in from the coast at some points, but the wrecks require you to go there by boat. We have several really nice wrecks nearby my hometown of Rijeka (http://www.tz-rijeka.hr/english/default.asp), which has good connectivity to the rest of the country, being 2nd or 3rd largest city in Croatia, and is an hour and a half by car from the state capital, Zagreb.
You can go diving either through Diving Centers or Diving Clubs (non profit organizations), centers can get you places and rent you gear, clubs usually don't have that much gear to give around and are open to members only. You can also check your local PADI/SSI centers, there's plenty of them.
Nitrox is available, at some places for the same price as air fills, at others at a tad higher prices. Trimix is also available at some centers, but I advise you to check upfront before making any plans and arriving on site... Most centers rent only steel tanks (12L or 15L 200 bar tanks being the common size), din or yoke is not a problem. Aluminium is not too frequent in these parts, we use thick wetsuits anyway (2 piece 5mm is appropriate for both summer, fall and part of the winter, depends from one person to another).
Recreational diving (using air) is limited to 40m, but there's no scuba police down there.
In this area, I can definetly suggest you visit the following locations/wrecks, found on the links below (I don't endorse these centers, but they have the info I need to present you with):
http://www.diver.hr/rovinj.asp?lng=en - wreck Baron Gautsch
http://www.scubacenter.de/lina_gb.php?id=030202 - wreck Lina
http://www.marinesport.hr/english/EnglishFiles/divesites/location_vis.htm - wreck Vis
Also, some general locations are listed here:
http://www.divecity.net/html/eng/dive_sites.htm
There's also some info available here:
http://www.diving.hr/main/kako.asp?L=eng
Due to the coast configurations, there are plenty of walls do dive along, usually going from 10-60+ meters depth. Don't expect Red Sea kind of colours around you, as the water is murky a bit, visibility usually ranging at <20m.
Rules and regulations regarding the annual permit and fees are currently in the transition period, we should know new rules of the game by January 2008. Current ones just have to change as they are completly useless and silly and expensive (dive using a center or a club and bypass these nonsenses).
This concludes part 1.
