Scuba Diving in Greece: Athens July 14, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : OceanDiving, Travel , add a comment
I mentioned yesterday about a trip report written regarding diving in the Aegean Sea, and exploring the Hellenic Underwater Times a little deeper I found some great information regarding diving in Athens. Diving in Greek waters was effectively banned until recently when the Greek authorities changed the legislation to lift many of the restrictions, and so diving in Athens might become popular as it is essentially an unspoilt environment;
There are at least 4 modern wrecks in depths permitted to recreational divers and other 4 in depths reached easily by technical divers and most dive sites are accessible by car. Many more may wait to be found once the area they rest is dived a few times…
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Scuba diving in Greece: Samothraki July 13, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : OceanDiving, Travel , 1 comment so far
I have never really considered the Aegean Sea as a place to go scuba diving. I guess we are bombarded with so much information about the Red Sea, Maldives, and places like that rather than some of the lesser known areas of the world. As Greece has recently changed its law to make it easier for scuba divers, then I think we might be hearing more about the diving opportunities in and around Greece.
Dimitris Kotsifakis visited Samothraki last year, which is in the northeastern part of the Aegean Sea, and wrote a trip report. In his words ‘Samothraki is an island blessed with marvelous natural beauty, luxuriant vegetation mixed with waterfalls, unique beaches, ancient monuments, picturesque villages and most of all, openhearted people that are always willing to welcome you.’ Sounds very cool.
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Diving with Hammerheads in the Galapagos June 27, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Travel , add a comment
On Yorkshire Divers forum, adrianwd75 has written up a great report on his recent trip to the Galapagos Islands. The great thing about this report is that it not only provides the positives about what is the world’s top diving destination, but also some downsides, meaning that should you ever get the opportunity to go, you can read Adrians report and prepare yourself. As for the diving, here is what Adrian said about diving with hundreds of Hammerhead sharks near Darwin Island;
The buzz on the boat was very good..we had four top dive..the water temp had risen between 26 – 28c…I had bought my 1mm skin..so I took a load of weight off my belt and put my dry suit away..all I needed now was some coke to go with the rum I had..I will tell u now rum and fanta is horrible..ow and then we ran out of fanta..After one day at Wolf we do the 12 mile trip to Darwin…the Arch and Darwin itself are amazing.
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Scuba diving to become tourist attraction in Algarve June 26, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Travel , add a comment
At the moment there are around 25,000 dives completed each year in the Algarve, and the Portuguese authorities are hoping ot increase this. From the Press Release;
IPIMAR, THE Portuguese institute of investigation of fishing activities and the sea, has announced its desire to promote scuba diving to Algarve tourists, in order to make the activity more sustainable in the region.
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Port Ghalib to become Red Sea’s next resort? June 22, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : Travel , 1 comment so farPort Ghalib, on the Southern Red Sea Coast, looks like it will be the next resort to attract scuba divers in search of pristine Red Sea diving. 220 km south of Hurghada, Port Ghalib is now marketing its first prime residential units on what is called the Sun resort. From a report at DiveNews;
This Sun resort will sit alongside Port Ghalib’s Corniche and Khan area in the heart of the Port Ghalib International Marina. Already in operation is the Port Ghalib Coral Beach Diving Hotel, a dedicated diving resort that opened in September 2005. This hotel with its quay-side location in the Port Ghalib marina is already becoming a favorite destination of European and regional divers…
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Scuba Diving into history in King Herod’s harbor June 9, 2006
Posted by Andy Carroll in : OceanDiving, Travel , 1 comment so farI am sure that many scuba divers all at some point imagine swimming through a submerged city, at least I do. This story from Reuters highlights a dive site which might just satisfy this dream. Caesarea is an Isreali city and is host to an ancient harbor which is believed to have existed for 2,000 years.;
The Romans conquered Caesarea in 63 BC. King Herod named the port city in 22 BC to honor his patron Caesar Augustus and commissioned the building of the harbor, as well as other major projects, the remains of which are now on display.
The city later became the Roman provincial capital of Judea, a region which now encompasses Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Sarah Arenson, a maritime historian involved in the project, said the ancient harbor first opened in 10 BC and served for more than a century as the main gateway for goods such as exotic spices, textiles, dyes and cosmetics shipped to the Roman Empire from places as distant as the Far East.
“It probably overshadowed the old and very important ports of the eastern Mediterranean,” Arenson said. “Caesarea eclipsed these old famous harbors in economic importance and splendor.”
