diving in eastern Med

[shahara]

There seem to be lots of posts for diving in the Caribbean but little on the Med. Anyone have any experience/recommendations/warnings for diving on Santorini or Samos? With 4 cruise ships and many thousands of passengers in Santorini the day we are scheduled to be there, I'm afraid the land will be a bit crowded so thought an undersea adventure might be more fun.

[Murrhers]

We went to Croatia in late June(actually the Adriatic Sea ther). When looking at the dive shop pics of the their dives, every diver had gloves, wetsuit, hood. Turns out the Med is cold. Check dive shops online and see the water temps. We could hardly swim, it was so cold!

[gliner]

I dove the Med off the coast of Mercin, Turkey once. The water was not especially cold, but there was nothing much to see. Sure, it is cool to be able to say that I have dove the Med, but I could have seen more diving in a local lake.

[Motorcycle Gma]

There seem to be lots of posts for diving in the Caribbean but little on the Med. Anyone have any experience/recommendations/warnings for diving on Santorini or Samos? With 4 cruise ships and many thousands of passengers in Santorini the day we are scheduled to be there, I'm afraid the land will be a bit crowded so thought an undersea adventure might be more fun.

 

I looked into diving the med. last year about this time. We were in ports around Italy, Rhodes, Greece and Egypt. While I would have loved to dive in Alexandria (Cleopatra's underwater palace), I determined the dive shop was too unsafe (3rd world country!). We had planned to dive the Blue Grotto in either Capri or Taormina, Sicily; unfortunately, weather didn't cooperate. In Sept. they recommended a full wet suit. I would have loved to see the Blue Grottos, so if you're anywhere near there, check it out!

 

Re: Greece diving, there may not be many cool reefs to see, but you might see some ancient Greek ruins, statues, etc. I would check the dive operator's sites there to see what they say. There use to be government rules about diving the ancient areas, but I think they've lifted them somewhat. Good luck and please report back!!