The Island of Crete September 2006

by Charles Stirling

The Mediterranean, Greece, Crete - who would think to chose this as a destination for a dive holiday? With the liberalisation of laws relating to scuba diving in Greece I went with my buddy/partner Jenny Fowler. OK, this was more than just a diving holiday, but the diving was good and it could make a diving holiday in its own right.



First off, Crete seems to meet the expectations of the Med's reputation - being fished out, large fish are gone. They went onto someone's table some time ago, along with most other larger and not so large edible marine life. Spear fishing is still prevalent, but so are numerous picturesque fishing boats. It's a way of life. So it's not the place for divers only wanting lots of large marine life, but there is still plenty of life to be seen it just takes a little bit of looking. Wrecks? - Not many identified compared to the UK, at least not at recreational depths but with relaxing of the laws more will be found. So why go? It has incredibly clear water, the water really is blue, and it has some spectacular caverns, big walls, and it's opening up of some interesting historical sites will add to this. It also offers all of the land based activity which has attracted so many visitors for so long.

We went the last day of August into early September. Timing sounds critical! For massive crowds go about mid July through nearly the end of August when most things will need to be booked well in advance, when everything is so crowded service becomes less good, but evidently it's great for party time. Diving really starts as early as April to May with cooler waters, fewer divers and the island is green and covered in wildflowers. September to October maybe into November the weather is still great while the numbers of tourists has dropped dramatically and, as at the beginning of the season, service is back to more individual attention.

Diving? Yes
We were diving with Diver's Club Crete staying in the associated Capsis Beach Hotel located in Agia Pelagia not too far from Heraklion or the airport (about 20 km to either). The location is on a small sheltered peninsula with bay, a number of white sand beaches and enough of a tourist oriented village to keep a family happy for a weeks holiday while divers are off doing their own thing. The hotel has a large, clean, saltwater pool (and 3 fresh water ones) used in part for diver training with the dive centre located next to it. You can use the dive centre without staying at the Capsis.

Diving is from either of two hard boats, we used both. One is a 10m x 3.5m beam inboard diesel which they use for up to 20 divers and call their cruising boat. The other is a 7.5m speedboat with a big outboard engine for up to 12 divers. Both are purpose built for diving and seemed well equipped and comfortable for the short trips normally taken to local dive sites morning and early mid-day. Mr. Dimitris Drakos, owner and manager of Diver's Club Crete, was very helpful and if you had a group he would probably be able to organise things specially for the group if it was not high season. Both he and his staff all spoke excellent English (as did most/many of the staff in the hotel).

They frequent about 30 dive sites along the north coast all within about 20 miles of Aghia Pelaghia so boat rides are generally not long. The longest is probably to Dia Island which is east of Heraklion, done as a day trip. My personal recommendation is try and do as many of the cave / cavern dives as possible, really stunning. The seabed generally isn't silty so the caverns stay clear water even with divers, the ones they go to are BIG, none of the tight squeeze through stuff is offered. So even with only limited experience they are possible, but they are overhead environments even though its possible to see your way out.

On the "Blue Cave" dive it was a quick trip out by speedboat, the anchor was dropped not far off a cliff face which continued down below the surface to 100m with a few shelves. We kitted up, did the checks and rolled in to meet on the surface before submerging with a free descent to find the entrance at 12m. The entrance is 12m diameter but we were first doing "the sump" just inside the big cave. The sump, with a tunnel about 2m x 3m, meant entering single file for the 15m or so to a larger chamber. In the dark of this chamber small fissures and holes looked out to the stunning bright blue of the open sea beyond. Like looking at the intense blue of a stained glass window, spectacular. Returning to the larger cave we continued the exploration with time bobbing up and down through a halocline produced with fresh water entering at the back of cave, examined stalactites and played with shrimp to see if they would clean a finger. The dive continued outside on the rocky wall and around large boulders on a ledge with fish, sponges, even a lobster to see.

Weather and Diving don't always mix well
We only had 1 day for diving Crete at this time before being off to Paros Island by high speed cat ferry for a week of diving there, then returning for another 5 days in Crete. We had more dives planned with Diver's Club and also a days diving planned with Dimitris Peppas at Big Blue Crete in Kato Gouves on the other side of Heraklion. This is where the weather took hold. Most of the time in Paros it was windy, like force 5 to 7 occasionally gusting to 8 but we could get in using sheltered bays (see Paros trip report). On our return to Crete the wind followed (Paros now being calm) and Diver's Club couldn't venture out of their bay, Big Blue couldn't get out of their harbour. One advantage of Paros, Crete didn't seem to have windy weather alternatives so even when it's a great sunny day if strong winds are present diving can be called off.

We did have a visit with Big Blue, which is a BSAC Resort Centre. They are associated with the Aphrodite Hotel, use that pool for training, and dive locally but again will take divers staying at other locations. They set up in this location as Kato Gouves is more or less just opposite the protected Dia Island which gives them easy access to both a cargo ship wreck and an aeroplane wreck along with a number of archaeological sites and caves on Dia Is. Their setup is near perfect with a shop literally yards from the beach and the small harbour with their RIB. With Diver's Club the shop is a few minutes walk along a path and down steps to the dock.

Why? It was great fun
So, back to why go to Crete to dive, who would be interested? We flew to Crete as we could do it from our local airport (Bristol) with XL airlines and could get to Paros by a 5 hr ferry ride quicker, cheaper and easier then using another airport and going via Athens. We found that Crete would be a great place to introduce anyone to diving and was still fun as an experienced diver. Slightly off season it's not crowded and dive sites will never be as crowded as most in the Red Sea. Big Blue will happily work with BSAC clubs having their own instructors. The accommodation at the Capsis was great, but we ate out as food and drink were both a bit expensive in the hotel and, heck, we wanted to explore anyway.

Equipment: Wetsuit, a 5mm was about right in Sep. a 3mm might be OK in July - Aug but worth taking your own particularly if you're an uncommon size. Hire equipment seemed fine.

We hired a car, just after getting off the ferry, for the second part of our time, from Motor Club Car Rentals in Heraklion. They reduced the rental rate substantially with tough negotiating but others could still be less if you can look around, down to about £18/day for multiple days. This is an island so petrol was expensive, only a third less than the UK :-).

The taxi from the airport to the hotel was a days car rental cost. Roads were good to excellent. Eating in a variety of small tavernas the food was typical Greek, costs a little lower than in the UK. The Capsis is a single resort complex with a variety of separate hotels/bungalows available, off peak from about £35++/night.

Diver's Club Crete Website
Capsis Beach Hotel Website
Big Blue Dive Center Website
Email me at cstirling@eco22.plus.com

Photos by Charles Stirling: