lbmary

My husband and I are avid SCUBA divers and snorkelers. We're planning a six week trip to Greece from late Aug. to early Oct. 2018. We'll be visiting Athens, Skopelos, Nafplion, Santorini, Rhodes, and several Cyclades and Dodecanese Islands. We enjoy food, wine, interacting with local people, beaches, and some culture/museums/historical sites. We were originally planning on bringing our masks, snorkels, fins and wetsuits to do some snorkeling and diving but this is a lot to haul around for six weeks if we won't use it much.

We've snorkeled and dived in Palau, Indonesia, Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii, and all over the Caribbean but never in the Med. I'm a bit concerned about water temp, which looks to be about 75F in Sept, much cooler than usual for us. Having said that, if there are unique things to see that make it worth spending some time in the water, we're happy to do it. If our time would be better spent doing other things, we may leave the snorkeling equipment at home. Thoughts?

brotherleelove2004

Around Santorini there's nothing to see under water except seagrasses and algae-covered rocks.

mjs

I have both snorkled and done scuba when I lived in Europe. Prefer to do both other places.

Heimdall

I always bring my mask & snorkel when going to Greece, as they are easy to pack. If you plan to SCUBA, you can use the dive company's own fins and wet suits, but I like to have my own mask & snorkel. I enjoy snorkelling in crystal-clear water looking at rocks and small fish, and it's easy to acclimatise to sea temperatures when they are at the warmest in late Aug-Sep.

Having myself snorkelled on Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, I can assure you that Greece is nothing like that, so don't have too high expectations. Here is a video from Blue Island Divers, a company on Antiparos, my favourite island:
-For The Best Scuba Diving in Greece | BLUE ISLAND DIVERS

Odin

I'm an advanced open water diver and have also dived all over the world, Caribbean, Hawaii, South Africa, Kenya, Thailand, Red Sea etc and also in the Med, around Santorini and other places in Greece and Cyprus. It's nothing like diving in the places you have been, the Med doesn't have much going on underwater anymore, lots of sand, sea grasses, occasional thing of interest, occasional fish. Wreck dives can be quite good if you can find some (will be going to Corsica at some point for that, the Zenobia in Cyprus is supposedly one of the top dive sites in the world).
I also prefer to take my own mask and snorkel, I do not take my own regulators, BCD & wetsuit for a Med holiday but I do when going to the Caribbean - there are differences in equipment between European and US scuba equipment to be aware of. Don't need a wetsuit for snorkelling but you do need one for scuba and a thicker one than you use in the Caribbean - easier to rent one along with the rest of the equipment.
I think it is worth doing a scuba trip or two, just for the experience, the views from the sea, interaction with the local dive masters, keeping up the scuba stamps in the log book, as long as you are realistic about what to expect.

lbmary

Thank you for all of these replies. Sounds like we should spend our time above sea level.

nukesafe

It is a desert, only underwater. Almost totally fished out or the fish killed by pollution years ago, and no coral. Now perhaps that is a bit harsh, as my experience, which took me under water almost every day all across the Med, was 40 some years ago, and I understand much has been done to preserve fish stock and limit dumping stuff in the sea in recent years.

Back in the day I recall asking an English skipper if the entrance to Naples was tricky. He answered, "Really a snap, old boy. Just follow the millions of empty plastic olive oil bottles coming out of the harbor and you can't miss it." Later I got the same sort of answer when I asked about Beirut. In that case I was told to look for the oranges. An orange juice plant discharged the squeezed orange husks directly into the sea, and as we sailed in we passed through what looked like a square mile carpet of floating oranges; interspersed with the occasional dead goat. I think Italy has cleaned up its act since then. Not so sure about Lebanon.

lbmary

Wow this video really helped. You are right, nothing like the other places we've been diving - very underwhelming. Originally we did not plan to dive in Greece, but then we found a sailing cruise that included diving so we were considering it. I think we'll pass for sure. Thanks!