Diving in the Greek Islands?

[Ali]

Hi,
I am going to be booking my holidays soon to one of the Greek Islands. We are thinking of going to Skiathos, Thassos or Samos. Has anyone been to any of these island and know if they have diving?
I went to Kefalonia 2 years ago and the place was lovely but the dive centres were sh***.

Ali

[cod3r]

Hi Ali

I have not dived those islands, but can recommend a few good sites off Athens if you're passing by.

Generally I find most dive shops overly beginner friendly; they would not touch the more exciting dives on offer. Shop around.


cod3r

[Colin Marriott]

Zakynthos (Zante) is supposedly good (if you like turtles!).

I was on Kefalonia early last year diving out of Agia Efimia, with Kiriakos and Dawn (New Zealander .... NOT an Australian!!!!!!), but there wasn't much to see

On a trip around the Island, the dive outfit up north in Fiscardo sounded OK (English) and were talking about diving undersea caves( hmmm, should've booked there in hindsight).

Been to Rhodes non-diving, there is only one place where diving takes place there, that's in Kalathea Bay.

Had a holiday on Samos pre-dive days, the snorkelling was exellent. Stayed in a place called Kambos, which is away from all the real touristy places. Can't recall seeing any dive outfits there, but then I wasn't looking at the time.

Where and who did you dive with on Kefalonia?


ColinM

[Ali]

I dived with Bubbles in Skala. There attitude seem to be you dive when we want to dive. It was also 1 dive 40 euro, I did 3 dives all at the same site. Cape would have been more fun
I also arranged to dive with the guys you went with, I drove there from Skala on the Fri and booked the dives for 12 and 3pm on the Mon, I arrived at the dive centre at 11.30 on the Mon to be told that the rib had just come back in and would only be going back out at 3pm for 1 more dive! Boy was I pissed. I just said forget it turned my back and walked out.
The holiday was saved with snorkeling at Antisamos beach though.

Ali

Nearly forgot, I read an artical in Diver giving a dive centre a real bad right up and it turned out to be Bubbles

[DIVE BUDDHA]

hi ya mate just wanna throw my 2 peneth in on this one (rhodes) most dive boats leave from mandraki harbour and theres quite a few boats diving well off shore as for land based sites u can only dive the spar town of killithea which is about 15 miles south of rhodes town although i wouldnt recoment this site as there is very little life with all the divers that congregate here especialy in high season when ya get all the idiots on day trip from falaraki ?? ive holidayed in (zante) and am aware o the turtles as ive swam with them at a place called vassilikos which is south east side of zante ,but u will find most watersports and dive clubs are based in lagganas which is like blackpool with sun lol?? (crete ) now ive done about 40 dives in crete over the last few years and its brilliant especilay around the island of nissos dia which is approx 13 miles directly accross the bay from resorts like gouves, kokkini hani stalis and malia also on that island sysem is an island called paximadia which is a little rock about 100 foot accross but stunning life around it is and understatement !!! there are so many dives in this area including dives closer to the shore line including kirri reef and st georges at herssonissos so plenty of diving i hope u get what ya want but theres plenty of diving on the greek isles

[nikos]

Originally Posted by Ali

Hi,
I am going to be booking my holidays soon to one of the Greek Islands. We are thinking of going to Skiathos, Thassos or Samos. Has anyone been to any of these island and know if they have diving?
I went to Kefalonia 2 years ago and the place was lovely but the dive centres were sh***.

Ali

Yes, Kefallonia does not offer good diving! Although there is a great submarine wreck nearby HMS Perseus (see www.navy.gr).....I'm not sure how you would set about getting permission to dive on it.

Paros followed by Zakynthos are to be recommended.....I posted some inferior photos in a YD album of Paros....if you want more info PM me. Crete is quite good too.

There is not too much diving around Greece due to the restrictions placed by the authorities...the situation with the law has become a bit confused but essentially you cannot dive anywhere at all except at sites which have been approved by the Ministry of Culture...the coast guard there are not a friendly bunch.....more likely than not they would confiscate your gear if they suspected that you had been diving "illegally".

I thought I saw a centre on Samos on the 'net....haven't dived there.

N

[Ali]

Thanks for the replies, I think we have decided on Thassos. May be they will have diving but if not I can still snorkel
I quite fancy Tenerife in November for a week and I know they have good diving there!
Bubbles did mention that there is a sub in 50m, they said that they would get the 15 Ltrs out for that shot it and hang tanks for deco, + pony for redundancy. Seemed quite sparce when you are used to diving twins and sides

Ali