I Love Hellas: Scuba Diving Greece

What is scuba diving?

Underwater explorations using diving equipment and uided by expert trainers - divers
Humans have practiced breath-hold diving for thousands of years, as evidenced by undersea artifacts found on land as well as on depictions of divers in ancient drawings.

In ancient Greece, breath-hold divers are known to have hunted for sponges and engaged in military exploits, such as the Greek Scyllas (around 500B.C.) who dove from a ship of the invading Persian fleet and remained underwater with the aid of a hollow reed as snorkel, before surfacing hours later to alert his compatriots about the enemy attack. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, also relates how at the siege of Tyre, in 332 BC, Alexander the Great was lowered in a diving bell “a very fine barrel made entirely of white glass” which was towed out to sea and lowered into the water.

The desire to go under water has probably always existed, but until humans found a way to breathe underwater, each dive was necessarily short and frantic. In the 16th century people began to use diving bells, while in the 19th century, improvement in technology made it possible for people to stay under water for long periods. However, a breakthrough in diving was made in 1943, when French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and a Parisian engineer Emile Gagnan made history with the “Aqua Lung”, a regulator with simple design and solid construction that provided a reliable unit for sport diving.

There are four separate methods of diving: Breath-hold diving (free-diving, skin diving), diving in a heavy-walled vessel, diving with compressed air supplied from the surface and scuba diving. Diving and scuba diving in Greece is overwhelming. Terrific dive sites, clear water, teeming marine life, caves, shipwrecks and seabed formations attract thousands of scuba divers to Greek waters and have made diving and scuba diving in Greece a thriving sport.

Many Greek diving and scuba dive centers offer courses and yacht-based diving tours. The instructors are very experienced and PADI certified, operating out of fully equipped training centers that are very well equipped. The centers offer dive and snorkeling in small groups for beginners to full professional PADI diving certification.

Until 2005, divers were given access to just 620 miles of the 10,000 miles of Greek coastline. Then the legislation changed and diving is now allowed throughout the seas of Greece.

Where can I dive?

There are many Scuba diving Centers in Greece:
• Ionian - Corfu, Paxoi, Kefalonia, Zakynthos, Lefkada
• Cyclades - Mykonos, Santorini, Paros, Milos, Syros, Tinos
• Peloponnese - Kalamata, Loutraki, Kiato, Porto Heli, Ermioni
• Dodecannese - Rhodos, Kos, Patmos, Leros, Kalymnos, Karpathos
• Lesvos
• Chios
• Evia- Chalkida
• Parga- Sivota
• Macedonia- Chalkidiki, Katerini, Thessaloniki
• Thrace - Kavala
• Crete
• Attica, Saronic Islands

Participation Requirements

In order to participate in Scuba Diving, you must know how to swim and be in good physical condition.
What do I need to carry with me?You just need to have your swimming suit and sun lotion.

Necessary Equipment for Scuba Diving
Specialised equipment includes neoprene suit, mask, oxygen bottles, weights, flippers, buoyancy compensators and regulator.
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