Moving to Crete, Greece…diving suggestions?

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Seems like we need to arrange a SB meeting here :)



For September dry suit sounds a bit of an overkill as the water (and topside) is still quite warm.
In June water is still a bit cool (20-22oC) so a drysuit is doable with thin undergament especially if you do longer/deeper dives. Top side might be hot as hell though but I don't know if it is manageable (I got my first dry suit last November so I don't know yet how it feels during summer).

Kosta I will be glad to meet you, so please let me know if/when you get some free time during your visit for some meze or ouzo or whatever.
You must understand that I get cold in a 5 mil and hood after 50 minutes in 27 C water. We will not be diving very deep, only 30 meters max, but I found the temperature dropped below 20 C at those depths. Again, I am a wimp when it comes to cold temperature. I absolutely love heat.

June will be a reconnaissance expedition and with a scales down team to evaluate the work required to prepare historical but not ancient wrecks for laser scanning.

We have some evidence of an ancient wreck that we will be investigating. If we can find it in June, we will include it during the laser scanning expedition in September.

I expect to be doing only about four or five days of diving in June (weather permitting) with two one-hour dives on average.

As we will not be working very much, I'll have my wife and daughter with me so getting together is a possibility. My cousin also lives in Chania and I look forward to seeing her after many years and our kids playing together.
 
Dry suit is an overkill for diving between June and September. 5mm wet suit should be more than enough.
Δε μου ξερεις φιλε. Αμα το νερο δεν ειναι ζεστο, κλαιω σαν μορο!
 
Yeap I think so. By July water near the surface is usually around 25oC. Around 18m there is usually a thermocline and further down the temperature can drop to around 20oC but generally people can do this with 5mm or even shorties (remember top side it is usually very hot by then hence some cool water feels very refreshing). Of course we are talking about rec dives. Extended bottom times and/or deeper than rec depths will require better insulation.

Here is an overview of dive sites around my home town (Chania / west part of Crete):

- The highlight is Elephant cave. It as big cave (125x25 or so meters) with only the first 10 or so meters of its' entrance underwater/overhead. Once inside the cave you can practically walk or surface swim all of it. Bring as many lights as possible because the rock formations are big and need strong lights to fully enjoy them.

- Agios Onoufrios area is the most visited area because it is nice and easily accessible. One can do several dives including a wall, few easy / OW caves, swim throughs and caverns (with 18 meters or less access to the surface), one a bit more advanced but easy cave etc

- Souda bay was a very busy port during WW1 and WW2 hence there are several shipwrecks. Unfortunately most of them are outside rec limits. Within rec limits there is only the leftovers or Minnewaska ship from WW1. The ship was 183m long but most of it was looted for scrap. Only some parts of it (still quite nice to see) remain in place today at around 20m. There is also a Messerschmitt Bf109 airplane at exactly 40m for more advanced divers. All that area has a bottom of quite steep sandy slope hence it has characteristics of muck diving including some macro life for those interested. Problem is the visibility is usually quite limited (for local standards) and the bottom can be very easily disturbed reducing it even more.

- There are other sites scattered around. Most of them include some easy caverns or swimtroughs and other nice rock formations. There are also dive sites on the south or west coast of the island but those are more remote and difficult to access.

More can be seen here: Dive Sites | Chania Diving Center

Usually there is good visibility and no currents at all (we don't have noticeable tides). There is a lack of big fish life (due to overfishing). Occasionally there are some groupers , moray eels, octopuses, scorpion fish etc. Recently there is an increasing number of lion fish (they recently invaded Mediterranean sea through the Suez canal and they are spreading like the plague ). I've seen some tuna, amberjack and rays but those are rare sightings. There is also macro life for those who bother looking for it.

Unfortunately most nice sites are accessible only by boat and I don't have one. I only dive wherever I can access by my car and nowadays I dive mostly solo (I don't mind diving with others but I don't have buddies matching my strange hours off work).

As for dive stores there are several. As I said earlier only one (Chania diving) is open year long and also caters tec divers (on top of the usual rec stuff). It is the only one offering nitrox in the area. The other big dive store is Omega divers which mainly does elephant cave because it is the nearest one there. Other smaller dive stores are scattered around and each specializes around its' area. They all mostly do morning trips (2 dives) starting around 9am and returning around 2pm. Of course one can arrange afternoon and/or night dives as well.

I hope these help. Let me know if you need more info.
Thank you for this helpful information. We'll be in Greece late May - early June and are exploring options.

If you have other recommendations, please share them.
 
Thank you for this helpful information. We'll be in Greece late May - early June and are exploring options.

If you have other recommendations, please share them.
I’ll also be in Greece may-June, but in Naxos. Thanks for the info everyone.

Personally I’m going to try to do a 3mm wetsuit with a 5 or 7mm hood. Hope that’s enough for me :)
 
I’ll also be in Greece may-June, but in Naxos. Thanks for the info everyone.

Personally I’m going to try to do a 3mm wetsuit with a 5 or 7mm hood. Hope that’s enough for me :)
Naxos is where I'd like to open a dive center but it won't be for years. I haven't actually been diving there yet. Now the diving in Greece isn't outstanding. Great viz, but marginal sea life

I've only spoken to Nikos, owner of Nima Diving Center. Tell him hello from Kosta, the crazy guy from the US working on underwater archaeology projects.

I think you are overly optimistic about exposure protection but I'm an absolute wimp.

In late August, early September, our first expedition will take place (i need to update HAES | Hellenic Archaeological Exploration Society) but I'll be in a dry suit. Water temp at 30 meters is around 16 C at that depth. Again I'm a total wimp.

I last spent 8 days on Naxos in 2020 and happy to provide suggestions. You'll need some time to explore the island. You definitely need to rent a car to explore. Feel free to DM me if you'd like suggestions or have questions. Happy to help any way I can.
 
Looks like work might be sending me to Chania in Mid May for a week. I'd like to get some dives in while I'm there. Does anyone know what the water temps might be? Will a 3MM be enough?

Jim
 
Looks like work might be sending me to Chania in Mid May for a week. I'd like to get some dives in while I'm there. Does anyone know what the water temps might be? Will a 3MM be enough?

Jim

Wow. Crete is nice!
 
Looks like work might be sending me to Chania in Mid May for a week. I'd like to get some dives in while I'm there. Does anyone know what the water temps might be? Will a 3MM be enough?

Jim
Crete should be no different from Cyprus, temperature-wise. Expect 17-18°C for the bottom, based on today‘s readings

Moi, I only dive dry, but 3mm sounds brave
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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