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 Issa Dive Centre is situated in Komiza, it is a small town, very scenic with medieval style architecture, the beach is comfortable but pebbly, not sand, the geology of the area limestone forming the classic Karst topography, no rivers taking silt into the sea which helped achieve 20m plus visibility. Getting There 
You can catch a plane to Split direct from Manchester, we flew with Thomas Cook air, but you can also fly direct from Gatwick and Heathrow. On arrival at Split you need to catch a bus to the Port, simple enough and there is a regular service, cost either 5 euros or 50 Kuna (£1= 10.62 Kuna's). At the port you need to go to the kiosk for the Jadrolinija Ferry Company, it is clearly positioned, about fifty yards from the bus stop and purchase a ticket for Vis, they only accept Kuna but do have a capability for switch and credit card payments, cost for a one way ticket is approximately 35 Kuna or £3.50. It is about a two hundred yard walk from the kiosk to the ferry berth. There is one ferry every day of the week except on Sunday and also a hydrofoil service in the evening if your flight time does not coincide with the ferry sailing time, although this is more expensive. The ferry journey is two and a half hours and has a café and bar with comfortable seating. We had arranged a lift to the Hotel from the Port for which we were charged 5 euros each.The accommodation 
We booked with the dive centre which offers various packages, we took the 7 day half board with 10 dives, cost 330 euros. The Hotel Bisevo was comfortable, had a bar and situated on the beach. Unfortunately it does not have a pool, but the sea is warm and inviting and a bar right next to the beach. There are private apartments also available. The hotel food however did leave quite a bit to be desired, so much so after the first night we switched our booking to bed and breakfast and went into town for the evening meal. There are a number of bars and restaurants within the town. The food at the restaurants was excellent I would definitely recommend the fish, though the steak is also worth a try, a good meal plus drinks is approximately 150 kuna (£15).
On the Island you would be better off with kuna rather than euros, although you can pay the dive centre in euros. There is only one bank which closes at 2pm and a cash point, a word of caution the cash point limits withdrawals to 2000 kuna a day and one person in the group had a problem withdrawing cash off his credit card, the bank does not have a chip and pin facility.The group members The trip was organised by members of Droylsden BSAC in Greater Manchester, all the members were Sports divers and above with at least fifty dives under our belts. The diving at Vis is varied and rewarding but I would not recommend it for the beginner, minimum would be Sports with fifty plus dives. The dive centre 
Issa Diving Centre on Vis is run by Sinisha, an ex navy diver who is very professional; he his helped by his young son and several other divers who act as dive masters. The dive centre is situated only about 30m from the hotel. They have one hard boat, a converted fishing vessel and two inflatable's, although we only used the hard boat it has been very thoughtfully converted for divers, a low ramp at the rear to make it easier to jump off and climb up, the side seats have a circle cut into the seat where you can securely place your cylinder with enough room for a fellow dive next to you to kit up comfortably. The dive centre has its own compressor it also has a nitrox capability but let Sinisha know the day before if you want a nitrox mix. We also took advantage of the cheapness of a nitrox course, £80 whilst a similar course would have cost approximately £200 in the UK. The boat has a radio plus oxygen for emergency, since some of the diving is deep Sinisha, if requested can put a cylinder at 6m for emergency purposes. The dive centre can cater for compressed air divers, techies and gas mix for the deeper wrecks such as the B-17. The dives Vis offers diving to suit all tastes from techie to wreckie, scenic, cave and archaeological. I will describe a few of the dives on offer; Wrecks 
The majority of the wrecks are deep but are certainly worth it. The Teti is a exception, the depth ranging from 10m to 34m it is a wreck of a 72m by 8m cargo steamship that sank after hitting a reef in the 1930's it is well preserved the bows at 10m pointing to the reef that caused its demise, you can follow the wreck to the stern where the wheel is still in place (great for group photos) and the propellers at the wreck base. Penetration is possible in the mid hold area, which is full of what appears to be cobbles, the light penetrating the portholes on the side of the ship make an eerie sight. The wreck is full of life; I have managed to get some mean movie clips of my buddy enticing a Conger out of some wreckage with his torch lanyard.
The Vasillios was a 100m by 16m cargo ship that ran onto the rocky shoreline, drifted off and sank. It lies on its side bows pointing to the shoreline at its shallowest depth at 25m, the stern the deepest point at 55m. Penetration is possible in and out of the cargo holds which are empty but care has to be taken at there is still oil in places. The highlight of the dive is the spare propeller in the rear cargo hold. Watch your air consumption and depth as it is easy to get carried away on a wreck this large, request to Sinisha to put a cylinder on a line at 6m, just in case you do run short.For you techies there is the wreck of the B17 which Sinisha can organise for you. Scenic and Caves 
Sinisha starts you off with a gentle scenic dive to make sure you are up to speed, generally the scenic are shallow, and average about 20m and there is plenty of fish life with some soft coral. The caves are mostly small hollows in the side of the reef, but there is one, the aptly named Blue Cave in an island off Vis which is quite a way into the island. You always can surface inside the cave and tourist boats enter sometimes you can see them above you. Archaeology 
The only disappointment on the dives was the so called "archaeological" dives, which proved to be a dive on an area which has obviously been used as a dumping ground for thousands of years. The "archaeology" proved to range from broken amphora's (I am sure they are genuine) to more recent discarded soft drink bottles. There is some rare fish life though. The attached photo is a kind of fish I have not seen before and was told is very rare. Tips 
* The dive outfit is well organised and equipped and run by staff who genuinely wishes you to have a good time and Sinisha is obviously well known in the island. * I would also recommend you spend some of your time not diving to have a look round the town its medieval architecture is worth a look * If you feel you maybe going on a dive beyond your experience, talk to Sinisha, they will accommodate all groups of divers. Dive Centre Website General information about diving in Croatia Website Ferry website Website Written by Michael Moore BSAC Dive Leader Email: MichMoor9@aol.com 10/01/2007 Return to Main Croatia Page | ||||
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Island of Vis, Croatia