Paros, Greece

by Charles Stirling

Greece and its many islands doesn't seem to be within all that many a diver's periscope. Maybe a missed opportunity as it was good diving. Paros Island, in the Aegean Sea, south of Athens ended up in my view partly due to the relaxation of the laws on diving in Greece which started to come into effect at the beginning of 2006. Before this time most areas were officially out of bounds, particularly for visitors. The change was due to open all areas except limited designated ones, a reversal in policy. It also opened the industry to non Greek nationals opening dive centres or working as dive guides.

My findings in early 2006 were that changes are occurring, particularly in regard to the centres. The older Greek run centres had some time ago found ways to dive many sites within their patch but now some new ones were also opening. The new, non-Greek, centres moved in quickly with inevitably some better than others but resulting in a shake up of the whole diving scene which will probably be good for visitors but we will need to check out their experience.

Paros Island has the attraction of The Aegean Diving College run by Peter Nicolaides and it was here that my partner I went diving in September of 2006. Peter is a diver with much varied experience from early trimix commercial diving in the Mediterranean, Red and North Seas; filming with David Bellamy for National Geographic; diving on Cousteau's Calypso team for the Aegean dives; one of the first on the Britannic; discoverer of various wrecks and now involved in teaching hands-on marine environmental and archaeological programs along with "just diving" dives.

Peter's establishment isn't some big commercial outfit as might be expected from his past, but a small courtyard, partly covered, where most of the activity takes place. Off this is an office, the kit and compressor room and changing / shower rooms. The Greek weather makes this both a friendly and very convenient setup. Coffee, sometimes wine, is taken while talking diving on a plastic table under the bamboo covered area in the courtyard, kit washing in the uncovered space. It seems to normally run with Peter, one assistant and maybe a trainee dive guide so it's very personal attention. This complex is located a few hundred yards up along a small road, past two tavernas, from the Golden Sands beach which is the normal entry point for diving. Yes, there is a bit of walking with dive kit, at least it's nearly level ground.

Much of the normal diving is done from Peter's large, rather fast, RIB which almost masquerades as a hardboat. This is moored in shoulder depth water off the gently shelving beach so it's a wet walk out to the boat and up its stern ladder. The boat is well equipped with safety and navigational gear.

As too often happens on my dive trips the weather for my week was unusually poor, bright warm sunny days with winds whipping the sea into rather more than just chop - it was rough! This meant shore dives or short boat trips staying along the protected coast, at least it proved possible to dive even in force 7 to 8 winds. The assurances were that though these winds do sometimes occur in September - October they aren't that common and normally only last a couple of days (except when I visit).

Shore dives were done a few miles from base by car at the small well protected bay of Pirghos which we also visited by boat on one day. Not deep but the site of a number of wrecks possibly dating back 2000 year. The site used by Peter for teaching underwater archaeology and mapping with many piles of broken amphora. It isn't going to lead to new discoveries by us visiting divers but is still a lot of fun to "find" and explore something older then WWII iron. Some of the finds might not even be ancient, but fun nonetheless and their wasn't a worry about touching. Nothing is brought out, if a shard was found buried in the sand it was reburied. The marine life at this location was a reasonable mix of smaller fish and some good nudibranchs and a few other invertebrates.

With wind dictated limits for locations we were still able to use the boat to dive some sea caverns both along the main island's shore and also on another very small island, Paderonisi, just off the shore of Paros. These were spectacular, very worth doing. The islands are limestone, where much of the fine marble for some of the famous Greek statuary has come from hundreds to thousands of years ago. The sea levels were much lower then allowing formations of extensive and numerous caves to form by fresh water erosion.

The cave or cavern at Paderonisi has a large opening at about 12m leading almost immediately into a large chamber extending up above sea level so a fresh air pocket. At the back and in some of the smaller side extensions exquisite marble curtains, stalactites and stalagmites exist. If anyone has never been into confined conditions this is a perfect place to have a first experience. The visibility was well in excess of 30m, no chance of stirring up sediment (you're in a marble chamber) and something exciting to look at both under and above water. The small side tunnels can be explored by the more experienced and a small exit at about 20 m puts you outside on a 35 m vertical wall.

The cavern at Tyrpiti, on Paros Island itself, is behind a natural marble arch, only reachable by boat, towering above the sea offering a truly sheltered little bay ideal for swimming or snorkelling as well as the diving. As a cavern it wasn't up the the standards of Paderonisi's but as a whole another great site. Here the diving was as much along vertical walls with deep fissures and stone reefs outside as within the shallow cavern.

On these windy days other locations were stone reefs or island walls, some offering glimpses of amphora shards and just very pleasant diving in good visibility.

On the final morning before an afternoon departure the wind had subsided just enough to make the crossing to the adjoining island of Naxos in Peter's boat to dive a modern wreck of a cargo freighter. This had gone down on the rocks of a small lighthouse in 1981, supposedly after a number of attempts at trying to sink her. It's in two sections, the main mast still stands above water with this section of hull in about 18 m and the stern at about 25 m a short distance away. A good dive on something looking like a ship. In even slightly better weather conditions Peter has access to a number of other wrecks of various ages.
Marine life was present! No, not completely gone as some seem to think, but nothing large particularly if it is remotely edible. Diving here is more for the good visibility and topography than marine life which is a bit of a pity but setting up a complete no take zone sanctuary will need a cultural shift. Many of the local sports divers, anyone with a boat, even visitors to the shores are after octopus or something else for the pot.






Greek Island experience:
This part, the Cyclades, had great underwater visibility, too far to really estimate but it could be near 60m even in these windy conditions. Water temperatures wanted a full length wetsuit in September but a couple of weeks earlier Peter was happy in a shortie. Land temperature was shorts weather even in the evening. Food and drink was plentiful Greek from tavernas or restaurants. Our accommodation was in a small family run apartment, at £18 per night, other possibilities exist.

Getting around, we hired a car for the week which allowed exploring the island and I would recommend this but a reasonable bus system exists for about half the island including to Golden Sands Beach. The main town of Parikia is on the opposite, NW, side of Paros about a half hour drive away and though relatively small has much more shopping. The nightlife capital is Naousa in the NE and attracts big hordes of both the jet set and trendy during the peak months of July and August. In Golden Sands windsurfing is a big thing, other places have most of the other water sports.

Paros Island has the typical white buildings, little alleyways, numerous small fishing harbours (hence the comment on only small fish) of the typical postcard Greek Island. Their is plenty to do when not diving. If you can get up to the village of Lefkes it's the ultimate "old world" small Greek village.

When:
Peak season is end of June through July and August and probably best to avoid if you can, that is unless you want crowds and lots of socialising and partying. If you do go peak time its worth booking in advance as the whole island can be relatively full. From the end of April and on through about the end of September or early October both the diving and general tourism are catered for. We had a few other divers join us for a day or two but never saw another dive boat in September.

Getting to Paros: The easiest is via Athens and a high speed ferry. We took a rather more awkward route of flying to Crete then a 5 hour high speed catamaran ferry. This allowed us to fly out of Bristol, local airport, and have another island while being no more expensive than the direct route. OK, the long ferry ride is just a little boring and with every seat booked not as good as hoped for catching up on sleep. Paros only has a tiny airport for the occasional local plane, probably not the best option for divers.

The Aegean Diving College Website

Article and Photographs: Charles Stirling