Spots in Croatia??????

[johnnyb]

Hi. I would be interested in any info. on spots to dive in croatia. Visibility, marine life, other things of interest (wrecks, etc.)- the more specific, the better. Will be with wife, son (11 - already several intros in various places).

Also, will be driving from France - to the extent it's possible to book or have an idea of accomodation, would be very helpful. Chreap and simple would be the theme (extremely cheap). But willing to listen to anything.

Personally would be interested in freediving as much as strapping tanks on, but not courses or anything formal.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance....

 

[Manuel]

Hello johnnyb!

Especially in the north of Croatia, there are many wrecks: all are between 30 and 40 m because the sea over big regions isn't deeper than 40 m. The most famous are Baron Gautsch, Coreolanus, Giuseppe Dezza, Istra and Maona. For some you need a special licence (about 10 Euro).
The general diving licence costs 15 Euro (when you dive with a dive center) and 500 Euro/year (when you dive alone).
There are also some places with drop-offs and caves, but marine life isn't the best there (especially no pelagic fish).
Marine life and visibility get better the more you go to the south.

Here you can find the GPS-dates for most wrecks:
http://tauchen.nullzeit.at/Content.Node/wissenswertes/wracks/kroatien/wracks_kroatien_gps-daten.php

MANUEL

 

[immerlustig]

greetings, sire!

my thoughts:

you best avoid traffic by staying on side roads and driving at night. also, the faster you drive the shorter your exposure time to traffic.

r.

ps: when do you plan to go? i'll be in austria for the whole of september for some speeding.

 

[SanSan]

Hi

Im from Slovenia so i guess u'll drive through my country. Just the first advice: dont try to travel on friday or over the weekend because the traffic is auful if u dont know the local roads.

As for diving in croatia the marine life isnt so good as Manuel said but the wrecks are awesome. I usualy dive with a dive center called "Vitez Diving". There's an older guy who was a navy diver and knows loads of wrecks and good dive spots and the prices are also ok. He has some apartment availiable also. If ud like i could find his nuber. The center is located in Premantura, thats a few KM outside Pula.
I also dove on islan Krk and liked it very much. I was in a town called "šilo" and the guy there has a new and big diving center. Liked it very much and it also wasnt too expensive.
Then I also liked island Hvar and the "pakleni otoci" near by.

Thats from my personal experience.
U should defenitly find a good diving center and there are tons of them with realy different prices and dont forget to bargan. As for freediving there are lots of good places usulaly right by the shore. Just look for a rocky type shore . The depths are mostly over 20m.

 

[Manuel]

Last week I read a very interesting article about "Vitez-Diving" in the magazine "tauchen" with some amazing photos af the wrecks.
I also found his website: www.vitezwrecks.com
I'll also be in northern Croatia from 27. August 2005...

MANUEL

 

[Vlado]

I'll be on Brac starting next week doing some freediving with buddies..

 

[SanSan]

I am on Krk this weekend coz a friend is getting married there. If anybody will be around let me know i'd love to go for a few rounds.

 

[Manuel]

just a short update:
Just came home from Rovinj where I have visited some wrecks:
Baron Gautsch, Hans Schmidt, Varese, John Gilmour and HMS Coreolanus.
visibility: 20m+ (bottom: 5m)
water temperature: 24 °C (bottom 14 °C)
land temperature: 30 °C, sunny
From boat I've even seen some dolphins and a turtle. Both are not seen very often in this region.

MANUEL

 

[Manuel]

Here's a picture of a nice sunset...

 

[Jee]

From boat I've even seen some dolphins and a turtle. Both are not seen very often in this region.

MANUEL

Turtle in the Adriatic? Wow!! Lucky you!

 

[Manuel]

@ Lee:

The turtle was seen very far offshore (Pula). Our boat was searching for the lost buoy that marks the position of the wreck "John Gilmour". There we saw it first, bur only for a few seconds. After the wreck-dive it appeared again, but this time for almost a whole minute about 5m near our boat. If my fins, mask and camera (which wasn't of course in the uw case :waterwork ) weren't on the other side of the boat, I would have jumped immediatly in the water...
Nevertheless a great experience...

MANUEL