Need information on European diving

[sus9nr]

I have started planning our vacations for 2010 and as I was looking through possible places I noticed that some of the resorts had scuba diving listed. In areas like Costa Del Sol and some of the greek islands. We have never been to Europe before so I am clueless about where the best diving would be. What the water temperature tends to be and what would be the best time of yesr to go. We are used to diving in the Caribbean and Hawaii so don't usually hit water colder then 76. Any information to help usdecide if we should try a European dive trip would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Susan

 

[Diver0001]

Just some general thoughts:

Summer is the best time to go. I think water temps in the Mediterranean in the summer are genearlly in the low to mid 20's celsius

The best places in the main part of Europe to dive are definitely along the coast of the Mediterranean. Conditions in Northern Europe are ... lets just say they don't attract a lot of tourists.

There are some Marine parks around. Esterdit comes to mind if you don't mind the tourist thing. More off the beaten track might be Malta. Nice wrecks but not much in the way of critters. Turkey is nice if you like old stuff, rocks and caverns but they make you dive with a guide because they're worried you'll take stuff. Croatia is good for deep wrecks, France and Spain for caves. More to the north if you really feel like going for the full whammy is to try some of the North sea wrecks. You can take a boat from Beligium or Holland. They're almost all deep 30-40m but it's authentic chest hair growing experience. I haven't been diving in Greece since they openend it up but it's probably worth look too.

R..

 

[Boa Gialla]

Just some general thoughts:

Summer is the best time to go. I think water temps in the Mediterranean in the summer are genearlly in the low to mid 20's celsius

The best places in the main part of Europe to dive are definitely along the coast of the Mediterranean. Conditions in Northern Europe are ... lets just say they don't attract a lot of tourists.

There are some Marine parks around. Esterdit comes to mind if you don't mind the tourist thing. More off the beaten track might be Malta. Nice wrecks but not much in the way of critters. Turkey is nice if you like old stuff, rocks and caverns but they make you dive with a guide because they're worried you'll take stuff. Croatia is good for deep wrecks, France and Spain for caves. More to the north if you really feel like going for the full whammy is to try some of the North sea wrecks. You can take a boat from Beligium or Holland. They're almost all deep 30-40m but it's authentic chest hair growing experience. I haven't been diving in Greece since they openend it up but it's probably worth look too.

R..

Mostly correct.

Obviously () I suggest Italy too. Italy has about 7000 km of coast, and it
has really many diving sites.

There are marine parks, lot of wrecks (from -18 to -100 mt.), the best caves in mediterranean sea (I'm thinking about Alghero in Sardinia and Palinuro, close to Naples), an incredible bio-diversity.

About Spain, I agree that the marine park at L'Estartit (Medas isles) is a wonderful place, and the south of France too.
Croatia has lot of wrecks, as Italy, and some special cliff.

I never dove in Greece, neither in Turkey, so I can't give information about these places.

Ciao.
A.

 

[sus9nr]

Thanks this is great information. I will see what I can find in the late summer.

Thanks Again

Susan

 

[vickobcn]

You have another vote here for the Medas Islands on the Costa Brava in Spain. Any time from June to August is extremely busy with most boats being fully booked on the weekends and almost full during the week so it is definitely worthwhile booking in advance. Although the majority of boats going out to the Medas leave from L'Estartit, there are also some boats that leave from L'Escala (up the coast from L'Estartit) and do trips to the Medas as well as La Costa de Montgrí.

My favourite dive sites on the Costa Brava are actually just down the coast from the Medas with boats leaving from Begur, Llafranc and Palamos. These sites tend to have fewer divers than the Medas which is a nice change. If you get a chance, check out the dive sites Ullastres and Canons de Tamariu. The amount of marine life that you see on all these dives along the Costa Brava is amazing, huge schools of fish (grouper, tuna etc), awesome invertebrates (massive amounts of gorgonias, lesser amounts of red coral, nudibranchs etc), and the vis is generally pretty good in summer. As someone has already mentioned, there are lost of caves and swim throughs all up and down the coast. A few of these are also accessible on shore dives.

Water temperature in May was 16 degree celcius, in June and July went up to 20-22 degrees celcius, and in August it was between about 21-25 degrees celcius (this is all going off my computer log...).

If you have any questions about these dive spots or want a dive centre recommendation, feel free to send me a PM! Happy diving!

 

[memorex77]

I have started planning our vacations for 2010 and as I was looking through possible places I noticed that some of the resorts had scuba diving listed. In areas like Costa Del Sol and some of the greek islands. We have never been to Europe before so I am clueless about where the best diving would be. What the water temperature tends to be and what would be the best time of yesr to go. We are used to diving in the Caribbean and Hawaii so don't usually hit water colder then 76. Any information to help usdecide if we should try a European dive trip would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Susan

Like most others here I can only recommend the Medas Islands. When you mention Carribean and Hawaii I take it that you like looking at fish, and not so much at wrecks and stuff. On the Greek islands I only know fantastic walls and swarm fish, nice when you're into that.

Most divers here would stretch the definition of Europe enough to regard the Red Sea as kind of included here, too. That's certainly closer to your temperature range, just a thought.

I really do like lake Constance where I'll go for a quick dive tomorrow, air temp -1°, water temp 4°C. Just Google-maps "47.66474,9.262619". In the summer that's beautiful with the mountains close by, below 20m the water will stay around 4°C, though. It really depends on what you're looking for.

Good luck!

 

[raya]

I also fully reccomend the medas island off the costa brava, I worked there for a dive center for 7 years so please feel free to ask me any questions about the sites, the town l'estartit and accomodation.

 

[Marcel Steuermann]

Islas Medas is indeed a good spot for diving. Many caves, full of fish and invertebrates.
Also liked the southern coast of France pretty much. We have been to Cap de Drammont close to St. Raphael for a couple of times.
What I can recommend is Corsica. The island of beauty. above and under the Sea. I have been to the northwestern area of La Scandola and loved the diving, especially close to shore.
Many italians also prefer Ustica, a small islet north of Sicily.
________
Marcel
my Corsica UW-video here:
www.marinevideo.eu - Diving Corsica

 

[Big Blue Diving]

Often missed but very memorable is the diving off Normandy where the D Day Landings took place! Viz is a bit crap but the wrecks are very ... emotional!