Kalymnos trip May 10-23

[Blue Straggler]

Hello.
Three of us occasional posters are off to Kalymnos in May for a fortnight, for a bit of casual training.
Been doing a search of the forums and articles for tips on accommodation locations and dive locations, but didn't really find much.I see that the DeeperBlue July course recommends staying at Hotel Kandouni Beach, presumably this in the Kantouni area of the island and thus we should look to be staying around here? Any recommendations for lower cost apartments would be appreciate (we are a trio of cheapos and accommodation requirements are basic, and I've often found Greek mainland and island accommodation at about 8 Euros per night each for a share...)

I am hoping to get some climbing done to, and I gather that the climbing is centred around Massouri, which doesn't look too far. Would be simpler for us to stay near the freediving then perhaps I can bike up to Massouri with a rope and some quickdraws on my "dry" days

Incidentally, being a trio of cheapos, we got flights to Rhodes at £116 and will take the ferry from there. Kos was looking to be closer to £200, and I don't mind a few more hours on the ferry. Thought I'd mention that, might be useful.

Would of course be good to meet up with any other DeeperBlue folk out there

[jxltogo]

Hey, nice idea to go to Kalymnos, I´ve already been there, it´s great!!!
Do you want to rent a boat out there?

[Blue Straggler]

Originally Posted by jxltogo

Do you want to rent a boat out there?

Hi. I have no idea! Do we need to rent a boat? We are probably 30m max. Are boats required to get to any useful depth? My only open water has been in a quarry and in Dahab so I am kind of used to entering from shore, but I have not really fully explored the details of Kalymnos (hence this thread!)

Thanks for reply :-)

[jxltogo]

NO, you dont´t really have to, but best spearfishing spots are located on reefs about 1.5 km from shore, but for the best places from shore there is a water taxi runnung you can use that service to acces good spots!!!

[Blue Straggler]

Thanks again. Anyone else care to contribute? :-)

So Kantouni is where we should base ourselves is it?

[Blue Straggler]

Another forlorn bump. Surely some more of you have been to Kalymnos?!

jxltogo, is this "water taxi" based in Kantouni? Thanks again for your replies

[Stavros]

Hi Blue Straggler,
I cannot really help with specific details about Kalymnos but there are a couple of things I need to point out if you are interested in spearfishing as jxltogo mentioned.

1. May is the only month in the year when it is illegal to spearfish anywhere in Greece.

Having said that it is illegal to spearfish anyway without a personal spearfishing license which gets issued by the coast guard and takes 5-10 days to issue after you make a written application (cost is something like 30-40 euro/person)...BUT there is no legal framework to either issue licenses OR write tickets for violations to non-Greeks so you will not have any trouble spearfishing without a license (ie they will not write you a ticket even if they catch you). But I am not sure what will happen as it is May and no-one is supposed to be in the water with a speargun (I assume if coast guard spots you spearfishing they will ask you to stop and exit the water - no you will not end up in a Greek jail for spearfishing illegally - this is Greece :-) - Now if they spot you doing it ten days in a row you will of course be asking for it ;-) ).

[In general keep in mind that the coast guard will not hassle you being a tourist in places like Kalymnos which depend on tourists as their main source of revenue]

2. Kalymnos is not really a good (or even decent) place to spearfish as it is the home base of the only Greek fleet of fishing boats which fish with divers using surface compressors (ie spearfish at depths from 0-50m all day with air supply from the surface). So its shores are kind of stripped from any decent fish to hunt for.

All the above are of course of interest to you only if its spearfishing and not recreational freediving you are interested in.

One thing I need to point out is that whatever you plan to do in the water in Greece, always (and I mean always) have a dive buoy with you and get one that is as big as possible, as bright as possible and with the biggest dive flag you can get. The reason for this is that you get a lot of boat traffic in Greek waters and most boat captains have no idea that there might actually be people diving in the water (...now why would anyone want to do that). Oh and keep the buoy as close to you and your dive buddy as you can

I hope the above info might be useful - I hope you enjoy your trip

Cheers Stavros

[Blue Straggler]

Efcharisto poli, Stavros :-)

Helpful information. We have a buoy, we must get a flag.

One of us (not me) wanted to spearfish, I think he wanted to save money on food :-) I'll bring him some tins of tuna, he can dive for them.

[Roy]

So - how was it?

I'm Going to Kalymnos for a deeperblue course in july, and would really like to know more about the island!

[John P]

It was an awesome holiday. Thanks to Kenny for most of the organising etc.

The water is clear and gets deep quickley. I'm not too sure if the spellings correct but Therma and Vlahadia are very good.

Therma is just west of Pothia and gets very deep near to the shore, so very good for depth training.

Vlahadia is good for diving around the rocky coast. There's a few caves and a volcano to explore. There is a small dive shop and museum there.

Hope that is of some use, just ask if you want more details.


John.

[Blue Straggler]

Roy, I am drafting a little trip report, been a bit too busy to spend much time on it but hopefully I can write some stuff on Sunday and Monday as I will be stuck in dreary hotel room (going on a course, sadly not a freediving course!)

In the meantime, what specifically do you need to know? I imagine your days will be filled with freediving and I'm not sure what Deeperblue provides you with in terms of transport, accommodation tips etc. Send me a message via my profile with any specific questions!

Cheers
Blue Straggler

[turtle]

Nice one kenny, hope it all went well & look forward to reading about the trip.
f

[Blue Straggler]

Hey Fred. Sorry I didn't make it to Arch Wall's opening night, I didn't manage to escape Stoke Newington all that weekend!

Watch this space :-)

[Blue Straggler]

OK
I need to tidy up the formatting, edit the wording a bit and put it into .htm format (I did this and it all got corrupted) but for now
click here for a .pdf report on our Kalymnos trip

[Gwaihir]

cool reading about your Kalymnos trip !