Greek Islands are NOT a bad Diving destination

[ManosK]

Hi Crispos & Kosmas,

I think you are both talking about similar things. In my opinion, the waters from Piraeus to Glyfada are not the best. If they are not polluted there is moste definately something wrong with them.
The waters from Vouliagmeni to Cape Sounion and all the way round Nea Makri and Rafina are fine.
In general In Attiki most of the coast line is fine is just the WSW side of it that is not nice.

 

[crispos]

OK, let's not create a war... There is an old saying, that in Hell :bigglasse , the Greeks are not helping each other, but pulling other Greeks into the firepit :furious:

My logs, maps etc of my Greek diving are in Greece with my parents. I had some very nice dives off Lagonisi in February and I think the horizontal visibility was maybe 20m. Of course, I will dive in 2C lake water with 5 feet visibility in December, and think that is fun also....

I just got back from the island of Cozumel in Mexico, and had some fine drift diving there. You could argue that Cozumel reefs have also gone "down" over the years. It is all relative.

Can I now start a Greek dive center as a PADI Instructor, or even take people into the water, legally? Before, you had to be EOUDATK or OYK.

And can PADI Instructors establish Greek Dive Centres without the required 2 Greek ***CMAS Instructors? Have the Ministry of Merchant Marine rules now changed?

 

[sher]

wow ,I love the pictures ,this time of year all I can do is dreamscuba .thanx for the dream

 

[ManosK]

Crispos as far as I know (and I'm not an expert on the subject) if you are an EU citizen or if you hold an EU recognised professional diving certificate and you are an EU citizen you can start anything you want in Greece or any other EU country.
However, I may be wtrong. Bit a friend of mine who wants to start this operation in Greece (he is Feench/Italian and French citizen) he says that he can do it with his professional qualifications only and some paper work formalities in Greece.

 

[ScubaTexan]

I would love to dive the Aegean someday, but I was wondering....what is the average water temperature there in the summer?

 

[ManosK]

Hi ScubaTexan,
I think the average temperature is about 25-28 deg C. Don't ask me what is that in F scale!! For a dive up to 15 mtrs you don't need even a suit. I usually have a shorty and 3 mil April/May, mid Oct/Nov and 4.5 mil Dec/Jan/Feb all wetsuits not dry or semi dry. I like getting wet LOLOL )))

 

[crispos]

Crispos as far as I know (and I'm not an expert on the subject) if you are an EU citizen or if you hold an EU recognised professional diving certificate and you are an EU citizen you can start anything you want in Greece or any other EU country.
However, I may be wtrong. Bit a friend of mine who wants to start this operation in Greece (he is Feench/Italian and French citizen) he says that he can do it with his professional qualifications only and some paper work formalities in Greece.

Thanks Manos, but I think you have to know the details. As of Spring 2002, you had to be Greek CMAS to start a dive centre, or hire 2 Greek CMAS Instructors and pay them to hold the license while you taught scuba (illegally)....I know the Frenchman at Aghia Pelagia in Crete was in this situation. He was PADI and French CMAS and had to do this to run his dive operation.

 

[ManosK]

I am not arguing as I do not know this subject very well but is it the case that all business in Greece are deregulated due to the EU memebership? I'll ask anyway because what you say will affect my friend in a negatve way. However, he was very sure that he could open a dive centre just by himself.
This needs more investigation I recon.

 

[String]

Just to butt in slightly here.

From talking to the dive operators in zakynthos apparently the rules were changed in the last 2-3 years to allow anyone to open a dive centre with a licence. Before it required a qualified greek ministry approved diver. This means foreign owned and run are popping up everywhere.

Just to go back to the reuglations thing - if either of you do manage to speak to the ministry in charge can you find out if they are lifting the restrictions on wrecks and night dives ? Ive failed miserably to find any contact details of someone to know and want to know before i commit myself to 2 weeks over there.

 

[ManosK]

String in a couple of days will be going to Greece on business and will check to see which authority knows what and let you all know.