Croatia Croatia Croatia!

[Blue Straggler]

Happy New Year everyone!

I am trying to plan a trip to Croatia, mainly for myself and two freediving buddies, we are around the 30 - 35m mark. I keep hearing that Croatia is great for freediving but I've not found too many specifics. Deeperblue poster shingsaland has given me some good information regarding eastern Istria which sounds very promising, and we can fly from the UK direct to Pula or (more likely due to price and a better airline) Ljubljana - we'd be renting a car anyway...)

However another option is Split - again shinsaland has mentioned beautiful caves on the islands of Vis and Hvar. I guess we'd need to hire boats and boatmen for these?

We also want to spend some time rock climbing, in fact I hope to to bring some friends who are keen climbers but who don't dive at all. So my first thought was the Istria peninsula for a good compromise, but if we are in the Split area and have a car, then the Paklenica national park is within reasonable reach too.

Sorry this is not a very focused post is it!
In summary - for 30-35m freedivers who fancy some depth training and a bit of nice grotto/swim-through action PLUS some rock climbing, is Istria the best bet?

Thanks!

 

[petar_dj]

Hi!

try submania.com

this is a croation spearfishing/freediving forum, which also has an english speaking subforum. you will probably get most useful information there.
in eastern istra there is a fasmous place medveja, which is very popular with scuba divers.

hope that was useful

regards

petar

 

[Blue Straggler]

Thanks Petar. I'll have a look later. I've also been recommended Brsec as a base.

 

[Kinky]

Hi mate,
I've been in Croatia few times. I visited Hvar and Vis. Both islands are good for freediving. At Hvar you can easily rent a boat.

Have a good time!!!

 

[Gunnar]

When do you plan to go?
I will be there in April and we (my girl and I) have a sailboat. We could take you to Vis or Hvar. I looked up some very good spots (mostly caves) and would be happy to have company...

Cheers
Gunnar

P.S. If you are planning on diving further north (Dugi Otok and Kornat area) I could tell you some nice spots.

 

[Blue Straggler]

Thanks Gunnar for your kind offer! However we will be there from May 1 to May 10. We are flying into Ljubljana from the UK and renting a car, and will be staying in Brsec for the whole trip.

Petar I have not posted on submania yet - I keep meaning to do so though!

Two new questions - can anyone recommend a dive store where we can go and rent a load of weights? We'll need weights for our belts and also for our dive line. We have to go to Pula on our first day to pick up another friend from the airport there, so a shop in Pula would be fine, though Opatija / Medveja would be even better.

And the second question - we will hire a second car once we are in Croatia (picking up one car in Slovenia but we will need two cars for most of the trip).
Are there any good hire places near Brsec or am I best off picking up a car at Pula airport when I pick up our sixth man?

Thank you!

 

[petar_dj]

Diving/spearfishing stores, copied directly from the submania forum::thankyou:thankyou
.................................................................
Scuba Ri
Prvog maja 30
51000 Rijeka

051/ 551-233
091/ 483-62-68
....................................................................

Profunditas grupa d.o.o.

Kralja Zvonimira 85
21000 Split
HRVATSKA

Tel: 021 549 277
Fax: 021 543 734

E-mail: info@profunditas.hr
........................................................................

Di nautika split
shop no. 1 & servis:
Uvala Baluni BB, 21000 Split
Telefon: 021/322-005
Telefax: 021/ 398-569

shop no. 2:
Poljudsko šetalište BB, 21000 Split
Telefon: 021/381-021
..........................................................................

Iglun Split

http://www.bracomarine.hr/maloprodaja.htm

Address:
Obala kneza Domagoja 1,
br tel: ++385-21-338-510.
.................................................................................

www.sototajer.com

Split, Viška 5
.............................................................................

Baracuda No1.
Trumbičeva obala 13
Split
..........................................................................


APNEA d.o.o.

http://www.du-apnea.hr/

Dr. A. Starčevića 89
20000 Dubrovnik

tel/fax.
020/357-316

mob. 098/765-685
mob. 098/518-186

e-mail : du-apnea@inet.hr
....................................................................

NAUTIC SHOP MARITIMO-MAKARSKA
ZRINSKO FRANKOPANSKA S7/1
617-774,
098/804-094
........................................................................

Scuba diving directory - Croatia diving centers


hope this helps.

regarding car rental, try link below:


Uniline rent a car in Croatia - car hire in Croatia and car rental in Croatia, models and prices

 

[Blue Straggler]

octopus from this board has told me that the first weekend in May is a national holiday in Croatia and a lot of things will be closed! Is this likely to include all the dive stores??! (and food stores, cafes, bars etc....!)

Well I guess I could contact the dive stores and ask, but just thought I'd ask if this is generally to be expected. We arrive on May 1...

 

[Vedrana]

octopus from this board has told me that the first weekend in May is a national holiday in Croatia and a lot of things will be closed! Is this likely to include all the dive stores??! (and food stores, cafes, bars etc....!)

Well I guess I could contact the dive stores and ask, but just thought I'd ask if this is generally to be expected. We arrive on May 1...

Caffe bars are always open :friday:friday

10.04. - 13.04. is national holiday , i will freedive all 4 days , 2 times a day
so if someone is near Split....
apnea.fanatik@gmail.com

This is new forum for Free and spear Naslovnica

 

[TimoP]

After some googling, I found that Croatian freediving website is
www.submania.hr
not .com (there were subwoofers etc...)

Menu in English
Submania - Homepage
But, there is no info in English, yet. Or maybe I just didn't found it.

 

[H.Balázs]

Caffe bars are always open :friday:friday

10.04. - 13.04. is national holiday , i will freedive all 4 days , 2 times a day
so if someone is near Split....
apnea.fanatik@gmail.com

This is new forum for Free and spear Naslovnica

Hi Vedrana,

I'm planning a trip to Sibenik between 21.07-01.08, and would be good to know, if there is anyone in the near, who wants to freedive.

Please let me know, if you could advise something.....

Thanks in advance,
Balázs

 

[Vedrana]

Hi
In that time i will be in Hvar , i have house there so ...i will be there all summer ....

Vedrana

ps: from Šibenik is Kristijan Curavic , you can contact him about freediving

Kike - TheFreeDiver.com

 

[H.Balázs]

Thanks Vedrana!

Regards,
Balázs

 

[Kinky]

Hi Vedrana,
I love Hvar. It's an a wonderful island. I've been twice.
I dove at Hvar area and had a lot of fun.

It's also a wild city.

Where about you?

 

[_Karol_]

In July (1st-14th) i'm going on Pag island in Croatia, maybe someone from you is going there too ? I'm looking for a buddy to freedive with.

On Rab island close to Pag there will be freediving competition "RAB DIVE OFF" 3-5 July, unluckily the competitors list already is full.

 

[Blue Straggler]

I forgot to return to this thread to thank people for their advice!

We had a great time both rock climbing and freediving. We stayed in Zagorje, 2km from Brsec, and travelled to various climbing crags around Istria. Diving was off Moscenicka Draga and Brsec. We didn't follow any strict training regime, it was meant to be a fun holiday after all but 2 out of 3 of us got new PBs (a major milestone for me, breaking through the 30m "barrier", my PB before the trip was 23.3 (the bottom of our training quarry), soon put this to 25m then straight away 32m (the stopper on our line). Felt so good having a proper long sink phase, was perfectly comfortable though I won't claim it was easy! I know that getting from 30m to 40m is where you really need to learn some proper equalisation techniques, so it's time to start work on that.

I uploaded some photos of the trip here, there's a few diving shots

www.blue-straggler.net/Croatia_May2009_Overview/

 

[_Karol_]

I'm looking for a buddy to freedive with.
If someone from you is going on Pag island in first half of July text me +48602660589