Ocean Addict

Firstly, a little bit about George...

George first learnt to dive under Selsey Lifeboat Station in 1997 and has been activly diving ever since. In 2001 he qualified as an instructor and has since worked both at home in the UK and in Oz. He is currently learning to dive all over again on a KISS rebreather.

Where:Vis,Croatia                                                                     

Why: To dive the B17 wreck.

Overall impression: Good diving with a relaxed but professional dive centre. Best for experienced/ advanced divers. Most dives were over 30 metres, though there were no real currents. Issa Dive Centre also caters for technical divers.

About 6 years ago, while working in Oz I met a German by the name of Jorge. We were both diving on the Great Barrier Reef and both a little disappointed by what we were, or were not seeing. The majority of his diving had been in Croatia which he rated very highly, not just for the dives available but for the freedom you had compared with what was on offer in the busier dive locations of Oz and the Red Sea. A few years later I heard about the B17 flying fortress that had been found off the Island of Vis. I don’t know what it is about planes and subs - as boring a dive as they should be for the diver they seem to capture our imaginations, and so this did mine. An intact Flying Fortress in 70 odd metres of clear blue water. So when my partner and I decided this year to go to Croatia, we knew exactly where we were going! Where is Vis? The island of Vis is reached by ferry from Split on the Adriatic coast. We got there by flying from Bristol to Split with Easy Jet and then taking a ferry for several hours, followed by another short bus journey to Komiza, home of Issa Diving Centre.

THE DIVING:

DAY 1: DIVE : 1                                            

Six metre reef. Check out dive with Peter the Dive Master and a group of six other divers. The dive centre was busier than I expected. Descended on to a large reef with the top at six metres. Not a huge amount of life on this dive. The group was not hugely experienced so Sue and I followed from a distance. The water was a lot cooler than I expected, 19C down to 15 metres and then a fairly massive thermocline and temp drop to 15C. Nasty! Apparently the temp has dropped in the last few weeks thanks to an almost constant north wind. The temp normally doesn’t drop until after Oct. 15degrees is the winter temp. We headed clockwise around the pinnacle. Lots of fans and sea pens. We did see a crayfish at about 45 metres which is the first I've seen in the Med/Adriatic.                      

DIVE 2:                                                                                                                                                                                  

Teti. The weather is still bad. Doh! Nearly dived another reef but luckily ended up on the wreck of the Teti. Teti was a 72 metre long cargo steam ship that sank after hitting the reef in the 1930s. We descended on the opposite side of the small island that the Teti hit thanks to the weather and had a 10 minute under water swim to get around the bows which lie smashed flat in 10 metres. As we headed to the stern of the wreck becomes more intact with the stern lying on its Port side. The wreck itself is not too exciting, you can see the boilers etc and in the holds you can see piles of square cut rocks that cover the whole wreck site. What makes this dive unusual for the Adriatic is the amount of life on it. We saw several older barnacled lobsters as well as plenty of nudibranchs, goat fish and free swimming congers which have been fed in the past and not only have no fear of divers but come and ‘play’, swimming under your arms and coming scarily close to your mask!! Another nice quirk of this dive is the wheel which every diver seems to pose next to! This dive ranges from 10 to 34 metres and is the only shallow wreck off Komiza.

DAY 2: DIVE 3:                                                 

Vassillos. This was a nice dive. The Vassillos is a 100 metre long cargo ship that sank in 1938/39. It somehow managed to run into the shore in apparently relatively calm seas. Many people think it was sunk as an insurance scam as its cargo of coal was heavily insured and the Vassillos itself was still very new - only 8 years old at its time of sinking. We descended to the shallowest point at 20 metres on the top of the bow. The wreck lies on its port side and is very intact. We headed off to the stern popping into hold 1 and 2 along the way. Not a huge amount to see but there is still coal littered all over the sea bed. Also had a quick look in the bridge area but we were again with a group following our guide Evan. The plan was to cross from hold 3 to 4 where we could see a huge spare prop stored but the dive seemed a little disorganised and despite Sue and I popping in for a quick look, we some how missed it. The stern however was very impressive and lying at about 55 metres to the bed. I tried to get some pictures but I’m no U/W photographer and as usual my pictures were a little ropey! We followed what is now the top of the wreck (what was the starboard side) back to the bow where we cut across to the wall to do our deco. Very poxy cold in my 7mm wetsuit!

DIVE 4:                                                                

Three metre reef. Sue sat this one out as she’s not too bothered about Med reefs. It was a pleasant dive though similar to the other reef we dived. Headed anti-clockwise with the group to around 45 metres poking about in the over hangs. At around 40 metres I noticed all the sea fans seemed to have mermaids purses with their four long tendrils wound around the fans and reef walls. Back in the shallows of the reef there are large nets covered in algae which are no threat to divers but quite attractive in their own way. Again there were octopus and plenty of nudis about to see.

DAY3: DIVE 5:

Dubinica. For the third day in a row now, out of our 3 here so far the weather has not been great. That said this was a really nice reef dive. The group of Slovenian divers has now left so this was much more relaxed with just Sue, me, the Austrian bear and Peter as our guide. Descended into the shallows and finned out over a sloping bottom to 30ish metres where we came to a drop off that goes to 90 odd metres. I know that diving sites such as Shark/Yolanda in Egypt with 800+ metres drop off are much loved but I think these walls in the Med can be even more beautiful and impressive. Especially when you can see the bottom and can make out old nets and fishing gear which always seems to be a part of the scenery in the Med. Peter and I found a tree sticking out of the sea bed at 55 meters which made us laugh! It was just a very large branch that had some how landed so it looked like it had grown out of the bed! Although there wasn’t a huge amount of fish life on this dive we again saw several large crayfish and in the shallows towards the end of the dive again octopus and a number of nudis.

DIVE 6:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Krizna Punta. This is just about the only dive that’s available thanks to the weather. It was nothing special and to be honest I was a bit bored but it still beats no diving. We descended with a new group to around 30 metres where there were two large anchors and some smashed amphoras. I would have liked to have had more of a look around but the group soon shot off hardly looking about. We descended to 40ish metres before following the wall around. We saw a few morays and at one point about mid dive a school of 20, one to one and a half foot tuna went by over head which was pretty cool. Otherwise there was not a lot else.

DAY 4: DIVE 7:                                      

Vassillos. Time is running out to dive the B17 and I'm getting twitchy! The weather is good today but for some reason we didn’t do it. They are going to get a group together and dive it tomorrow apparently. We dived the Vassillos again which was a spot of luck as I had hoped to do this wreck again. This time Sue and I dived as a buddy pair so much more freedom (and deco!). We descended to the bridge and had a longer, closer look about in there. Found a shell of a giant Tun which is the largest snail found in the Med but unfortunately there was no Tun in it. This time we also saw the spare prop in hold 4. I had thought it would have fallen down onto what is now the floor but it is still attached to the hold wall between 3 and 4. Could have done with a torch to have had more of a look about, but mine has packed up so never mind! We headed to the stern and tried to get some pictures again…ha! I really should read a book on U/W photography. As we were looking at the stern I thought I could see a plate laying a way out on the sea bed so went to check it out. It was in 60 metres but was an intact plate with a thick blue band around it. Quite a nice find. Instead of heading all the way back to the bow we headed straight for the wall and started our deco there.

DIVE 8:                                                        

Vassillos reef. We dived the reef about 100 metres before the Vassillos wreck on this dive as there is a chance of seeing the Giant Tun snail in the sea grass beds. Evan was our guide on this dive with just Sue and me. We descended on to a reef wall and headed out to some large sponge and fan covered boulders in about 35 metres. Again here the sea fans were covered in mermaid’s purses.

We carried on heading out until we were on a flat plain sea bed where you can see the snails. Evan found an empty shell pretty quickly but after a good look we still hadn’t seen any. I did find a broken bowl which was made by the Yugoslavian porcelain company. I showed Sue but she didn’t seem impressed! As we ascended up a slope covered in grass, Evan spotted a giant Tun which didn’t turn out to look all that exciting after all. I’d seen a Triton snail a few years back off Kas in Turkey which had looked really cool and are generally quite rare so had thought the Tun would be equally impressive. Oh well, I was happy having seen my broken bowl and snail, even if Sue thinks I’m a bit odd!

DAY 5: DIVE 9:

Teti. The Teti again. This was a nicer dive than the last one here as the weather is much better. This time we dropped onto the wreck and headed straight down to where the congers were hanging about. There were about 5 free swimming and bumping into us. No lobster this time but a lot more fish life in the shallows like goat fish etc. Dive 10: Three meter shoal Another dive at three meter shoal. Same sort of dive as last time. Still very nice but nothing new and not too much life. This was the last dive of this trip. Doh!

As you can see from my log book we never actually got to dive the B17. The dive centre tried but in the end I was just unlucky. The weather was bad for the first three days and then for the last couple the dive centre was busy with an unexpected group that had come in by yacht and needed a dive master. Even without the B17 it was a really nice weeks diving and I was impressed with both the quality of the dive sites and the dive centre. My only issue was the some times lack of communications…we didn’t tend to be told what was going on and so missed diving a couple of sites we would have liked to have dived, though all the guides spoke good English. As to whether I would recommend Croatia, Sue and I have already planned our next trip back, with a weeks diving in Vis again (B17!) followed by a week near Dubrovnik to dive the S57 German torpedo boat and another wreck with its cargo of tractors scattered over the sea bed in 55 meters! Getting there and costs. You can fly to Split from most major, and many not so major UK air ports. We flew with Easy Jet from Bristol for £200 including easy boarding to beat the queues. There are buses fairly regularly from Split airport to Split town. The bus drops you at the post where you can buy your ferry tickets. A bus meets the incoming ferry on Viz which takes you the last 15 minutes to Komiza. See http://www.jadrolinija.hr for ferry schedules. Ferry tickets cost from £2.50 to £4.00 each way depending on whether you take the fast or slow ferry (1 hour or 2 hours). We booked these in Croatia on the day of travel as we were unable to book them prior to the arrival online. We went during the off season and paid 35 Euros a night for a two person apartments which we booked through Issa diving. The apartment was fantastic with sea views, a double room, TV, living room/kitchen, balcony and toilet with shower. Meals out cost around £15 per person along the sea front, though we often cooked our own meals. Diving cost 200 Euros for a ten dive package with tanks (15 and 18 litre) and weights. Nitrox and Trimix were available. See Issa diving website at: www.scubadiving.hr We spent a total of £600 each all in for what was a really nice dive trip!