Cyprus (Larnaca) in late July

[john.bryant]

I am off to Larnaca in late July, and intend to have a few dives on the Zenobia.
Answers to the following would be greatly appreciated

1. Can you reccomend a good school in the Larnaca area? Just basic recreational diving, no technical aspirations (yet)
2. Water temp/recommended suit thickness?
3. Are there any other decent dives in that area, as i dived in Paphos two years ago, and was v.disapointed with the wildlife (or lack of it should I say!!)

All comments gratefully received

Many Thanks

John

[AlanP]

Chris is a good bloke and will look after you. Cyprus Scuba Diving Cyprus PADI-BSAC Cyprus Diving

He has his own boat etc and pool. Just dont stay at the hotel next door called the Marandy!

Its full of easten european whore who moan all night and party.

Wildlife N/A. Some good sea caves, and the Zen. Chris is an expert guide on the Zen.

[Drew]

Won't recommend a place (biased as I work in a dive centre in Larnaca) - but it's nice and warm this year (hotter already than last year) - and in July last year I was back in a 3mm wetsuit with temperatures at the bottom of the Zenobia about 21 degrees (same inside mainly) and much more on the safety stops. Bear in mind that I'm a softy after having got used to diving in the balmy temperatures over here. Any queries about diving Zenobia, or anything in general over here, send me a pm. Hope you have a great trip.

By the way - sea life on the wreck is superb - not standard fare - it's a (relatively) safe haven for the marine stuff - we normally spot turtles on the way out at that time of year as well.

[brian russell]

was there in june and i always wear a 5 mil shortie and never find it cold

[Treerat]

I lead a club trip to Cyprus last Easter, we stayed and dived with Chris at Alpha Divers - Cyprus Scuba Diving Cyprus PADI-BSAC Cyprus Diving

Had some good dives and we were well looked after by the team at Alpha. We did stay at the hotel next door - it was OK, quite and clean.Food in the area was great and the weather was warm. The Dm is a lad called Stuart, his first week and he had to look after a group of UK divers that knew the dive sites better than him!!

The Zen has plenty of life on it, they just love eggs! Morey, Grouper, Jacks and plenty of small stuff in big groups. There are a couple of other wrecks close by that again have plenty of life on them.

Shore diving - again plenty of life but non of it big. We had octopus and scorpian fish on nearly all dives along with a range of small fish.

Only ever been there at Easter so can't comment on the water temp - I'm sure the centre will advise.
Andy

[dodgepot]

No hesitation in recommending Dive-In at Larnaca.

Did some training there last year and thoroughly enjoyed it - well organised and a good laugh to boot.

They do everything from fun diving to full tech training

3mm suit for me was no problem although I do have naturally occurring insulation

Check out their website for more info including some coverage from Mark Bishop - a frequenter of these boards scuba diving cyprus|scuba diving in cyprus|scuba driver training cyprus|deep sea diving

cheers
mark

[Drew]

Why thank you kind sir - there's one for the mutual appreciation society!

As for other sites in the area - Larnaca bay has a couple of scenic wrecks and there are nice sites at Cape Grecko - the beauty of the Zenobia is that it's a haven for fish life as well as being an awesome wreck. There again, I'm biased as I dive it nearly every day.