Halkidiki (Dive Sites)

Earlier this year, June to be precise, I went on holiday to Halkidiki, Greece, with my family. It was a big family trip, including my Mum and Dad, myself and my son Alex, My sister Caradawn, her boyfriend and my gorgeous niece Angel!

We had a glorious 2 weeks in the sunshine, including many days lazing on the beach, going on day trips and plenty of snorkeling off the beach. However, for some of us there had to be a little scuba diving!
...for dive centres. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to dive somewhere different from the Caribbean. I am not brave enough to dive in England yet!

We found the Triton dive centre, who had outlets in our resort and the next resort down. They are based in the town of Paliouri. My son, my Mum and I all booked either resort dives or in my case a regular dive.

The resort dive cost my Mum and son 50 Euros each, which included ... more

Earlier this year, June to be precise, I went on holiday to Halkidiki, Greece, with my family. It was a big family trip, including my Mum and Dad, myself and my son Alex, My sister Caradawn, her boyfriend and my gorgeous niece Angel!

We had a glorious 2 weeks in the sunshine, including many days lazing on the beach, going on day trips and plenty of snorkeling off the beach. However, for some of us there had to be a little scuba diving!

Soon after we arrived, I looked around for dive centres. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to dive somewhere different from the Caribbean. I am not brave enough to dive in England yet!

We found the Triton dive centre, who had outlets in our resort and the next resort down. They are based in the town of Paliouri. My son, my Mum and I all booked either resort dives or in my case a regular dive.

The resort dive cost my Mum and son 50 Euros each, which included a session in the pool and then a dive in the sea. I paid 80 Euros for 2 dives in one day. These prices included all of the equipment.

We were collected from out resort by the rather attractive dive master, Charis! He took us to the dive centre and introduced us to the remaining dive masters, who I must point out, were all young, attractive Greek men! My mum and I were in heaven!!

While my Mum and son were having their pool session, I sat and talked with a fellow diver, named Giorgos, who was going to be my dive buddy for the day. He was a regular to the dive centre and told me all sorts about the Greeks, their history, their present problems, their friendliness, etc. I was also fed a lot of very sweet Turkish delight!

During my visit, I went to 2 dive sites, Porto Valista and Kakia Skala. The morning that we all went diving together, we went to Porto Valista. We went out on their rather nice boat, a large rubber dinghy with motor.

My son found the idea of diving off a boat a bit nerve wracking, so he never got down very far. My mum was rather disappointed, as she didn't get to do much as a result. I have advised her that getting her dive qualifications is probably the best route. Even if you don't want to dive in Britain, you can do the pool sessions in England and the sea sessions abroad.

The first difference between diving in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean is that in the Med you have to wear a wetsuit! Once you get down a little way, you hit an isotherm, and it becomes very, very cold! Thankfully they supplied wetsuits which worked very well. Apart from the initial wave of cold, I only noticed the cold when I moved my hands out from the warmth of my armpits!

The second difference is the type of life that you see. There isn't as much variety of life to see, but then you would see huge shoals of fish swim up the wall and over the top.

Both dives were wall dives. For those that don't know, this means that you swim along a steep drop, with the wide open sea on one side and the wall covered in life on the other. It can be a little nerve wracking, if you start worrying about sharks and big things coming out of the blue! Unlikely though!!

I tend to be too involved with what I am seeing to worry about these sorts of things. At Porto Valista, I touched an octopus. We disturbed one, so Giorgos picked it up and I actually felt the suckers on my hands!

The fish were really not frightened of the divers. They only moved out the way when you came right up to them. There were so many different coloured fish and I saw my first jellyfish too!

There were incredible amounts of starfish, mainly red ones, but some yellow ones. Sea cucumbers were everywhere and I touched one of those too! They look a little like large funny coloured turds, but when they move they are so cute!! The largest fish I saw at this site was a 1.5 ft green fish with black stripes on it.

At Kakia Skala I saw many of the same type of creatures. I saw an octopus every dive, shoals of all different types of fish. Starfish, sea cucumbers, but I also so a huge clam too! When you waft the water near them, they close their shells!!

On the second dive I saw these beautiful, tiny little luminous blue fish, which huddled in a crack and a red/green striped fish! I sat face to face with a fish in a clearing, which just looked back at me, until he got fed up and swam off!!

It was an incredible two days, in which I saw some amazing sea life and met some brilliant people. The people at the dive centre were fun and friendly, and very attractive!! I met fellow divers from Greece, England and Germany, who you can compare dive sites and stories with.

I would strongly recommend this dive centre to anyone travelling to Halkidiki. their rates are good, their staff are great and I will certainly use them again if I am down that way!
 

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