Santorini

[Dave Hurd]

Could anyone please tell me what the diving is like on the island of Santorini?

Thanks in advance

[Mark_H]

Could anyone please tell me what the diving is like on the island of Santorini?

Hi Dave,

I did a couple of couple of dives on Santorini when I was there in 2003. Most of the diving offered is inside the caldera (I assume you're aware of the geography of Santorini) and from what I saw was all reef stuff. Diving on the lava in the middle of the caldera is quite dramatic because it's all black rock and you get the sun shining over it but there's not that much to see. The dives I did were 20 and 25m and there'd have been little point in going any deeper. What I'd say is that the diving is pleasant enough but unless you really like rocks then you propbably wouldn't want to do that much of it - there isn't even a lot of life. Although, I'd only got my qualification a couple of days before so I thought it was great!

There didn't seem to be a lot in way of wrecks (if anything), so if that's what you like, this probably isn't the best place.

I dived with the Santorini Dive Centre based in Perissa, although I only chose them because I was staying in Perissa, I knew nothing else about them and I believe there is at least one other dive centre on the island.

I was there in late August and we were diving in 5mm full suits to give you an idea of temperature.

One of my clearest memories is actually of the drive to the beach where they ran the RIB from. Health and safety not being the same in Greece as here, the 'transport' involved sitting on an upturned beer crate in the back of a van amongst the dive kit, and if you know what the hair pin bends on the roads into the caldera down the cliff faces are like, you'll know that's pretty hair-raising! To add to that, one person had to have their foot jammed against the sliding door to hold it open in order to keep the van at a survivable temperature!

Hope that helps,

Any more questions, give me a shout,

Mark