Currency: Kuna (HRK), but euro is widely accepted too Recompression Chambers: Pula, Split, Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Crikvenica Emergency Number: 112 Best Time to Travel: May-September

Some people say Croatia is the new hot-spot of European diving tourism. But it has a nice reputation amongst fans of underwater world for decades: the cradle of Central European diving was the Adriatic shoreline.

This country in the northern Adriatic area is close to the hearts of ancient world: Athens and Rome. There were ship routes thousands of years ago and many local museums have ancient Greek artifacts. During its history Croatia was strongly connected to Hungary, Italy, Austria and there are many Middle Ages buildings from north to south in charming towns like Rovinj, Trogir or Dubrovnik. After the first World War, Croatia joined Serbia and Slovenia- later they united as Yugoslavia. The Adriatic Sea was one of the places where scuba diving had a good reputation and attracted many foreigners who explored underwater world since the 1960’s. Though diving was ruled strictly many Central European divers arrived here in the summer, they spent weeks in the country and they dived as much as they could on their own. The disintegration of Yugoslavia was bloody, the tensions between the nations resulted long wars.

After the Croatian war the diving life flourished. Croatia decided to rule the underwater activities from 2003. The new rules finished the uncontrolled diving and since then most of the visitors need to dive with a local company. It made the diving much more expensive. Nowadays the guests can dive the whole shoreline from the very north to the southeast point of Dalmatia with dive centers who offer quality services.

The huge area means it’s impossible to dive all the interesting spots of the country during a single trip. In the north there is the Istrian peninsula where the water is a bit colder and sometimes the visibility is worse but as a reward you’ll find some of the most famous wrecks of the Adriatic here. The Baron Gautsch lies in 28-40 meters (90-130 feet) depth, the huge, 85 meters (280 feet) long passenger steamboat sank in 1914. Some people call it "The Titanic of the Adriatic". There are other wrecks from the WW I (Istra and Giuseppe Dezza) and WW II (Coreolanus, Maona). The typical maximum depth of them is 30-35 meters (100-115 feet) so only experienced divers can enjoy these wrecks. While the sunken ships make the Istrian diving special, the sometimes disappointing conditions and the most expensive dives of the country don’t make it that popular.

The Kvarner area can be easily reached from the capital, Zagreb. The largest island, Krk has many diving centers who offer a wreck dive to the Peltastis cargo boat and many wall dives- some of them to the shore of the neighboring island, Cres. The southern part of the Croatian Adriatic called Dalmatia where Mediterranean charm, historical towns and picturesque small villages attract the guests, depending on their diving and sightseeing plans. Cliffs, beaches, bright white houses, resorts all along the road down to Dubrovnik- it’s one of the most spectacular coasts of Europe. There are the most beloved islands of the south: Brac, Hvar, Korcula and Vis. The wreck enthusiasts praise Vis island, especially those who do technical dives: B-17 and B-24 planes, the Teti, Vassilios T, Ursus and other boats lie on the bottom.

Nowadays there is a handful of larger, better equipped liveaboard dive boats of high standard. From Zadar the boat can make a round trip which reaches the famous Kornati national park and several wrecks, from Dubrovnik it’s possible to sail to the remote islands of Mljet and Lastovo and there are many more possibilities for those who want to dive more.

Getting to Croatia is easy, as there are motorways, trains and a few airports. But most of the dive centers offer their services only if you go to their office directly. You won’t find the typical "from door to door" transfers of the Mediterranean in every island. While the water temperature on the surface is 23-26 Celsius degrees in the summer, a few meters below it starts to drop fast. And the divers need to descend deep to find the interesting sights- so expect only 11-14 degrees at 30 meters even in August.

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