Vela Luka, Korcula, Croatia Divers

Think the title says it all. I was expecting to have a nice time diving in Croatia but unfortunately that wasnt to be the case. Below is a list of things that pi$$ed me off about this particular club.

1)Excessive amount of staff that didnt really seem to be doing anything. Some ppl may say that this is a good thing but their wages come from the cost of the dives.

2)Dives were expensive.

3)If you dont have ur own equipment, expect to get stung for that as well.

4)THE BEST ONE, NO REFUNDS for cancelled dives. This also covers scenarios where ur not able to dive due to headaches etc.

5)Their dives sites arent as interesting as advertised. On two occasions we went to their wreck dive site. Locals rubbish tip would be a more accurate explaination of what it really was. I was actually quite surprised at how much rubbish there is in the sea here. Ive dived in the Carribean, UK, Australia and Norway and this is by far the worst for garbage. Its a real shame tbh.

6) No offer of a drink (tea, coffee etc) when you first arrive.

7) No offer of a drink when you return.

8) 30kn for a bottle of water.

9) Weather was really nice on the first day we went diving. We wanted to go to the blue hole but they insisted on doing 2 basic dives to see how we were in the water. Needless to say this pi$$ed me off. What the hell is the point in spend a large amount of money on padis open and advanced open water courses, if it still means ur first two dives are shallow dives. They could have easily thrown us into the marina and given us a coupld simple exercises n then said yeah or no. Instead we got humped for two dives.

10) When i asked the owner if we could go to the blue whole tomorrow and if , in their oppinion there had been any problems with these two simple dives, i got some BS answer about the weather looks great (the next day was the only stormy day we had for the whole week here) and there are no problems with ppls skills, the instructors are there to help fill any deficiencies. Basically he completely skirted around the question.

Now if i ask a question like the above n expect some constructive criticism, i expect to get an honest answer, not some lame ass response. Ive been diving since i was 10, and although there are some gaps of a yr or two between dives, if a 10yr old can safely dive, then its not rocket science. Potentially dangerous, yes, but so is crossing the road.

11) we returned to the boat with 80 bar on one dive. One person actually had over 100 bar left. Of course the dive duration is dictated by the person who consumes their air the fastest but as far as i was aware, noone was under 70bar. All other clubs ive been too, we started coming up to our safety stop at around 50bar, not 100ish.

12)A typical trip on the boat involves two dives. The first is a little short. The second is seriously taking the pi$$. Each day felt like we were in some sort of industrial machine, where it was more about how rapidly they could squeeze the two dives together, than actually giving ppl value for money.

13)There was always someone waiting on the boat. This person did nothing while we were diving bar kick back, relax and have a smoke. Each dive site we were at, the sea was calm, we deployed an anchor and we were no more than 15m from the shore. Why is an additional person required? If we were out were there was a chance the boat could break loose of its mooring then sure, but a calm bay.... bit of a joke if u ask me.

The good points:

1)The two instructors we had, both were pretty friendly and had obv made an effort to remember everyones names which was nice.

So 13/1 (i could probably add a couple more to the negative but i think i have made my point. Needless to say i wont be coming back to the club again, and i wish we had gone to one of the other dive centre or had gone to dive on the s57 torpedo boat wreck.

P.S. the Korkula hotel is really nice and the staff were very good. As for the other accomodation booked in conjunction with the dive centre, one hotel asked the dive centre if they could ask their two remaining guests (ppl who had booked through the dive centre) to leave. Tbh i found this extremely surprising.

I did my OWD and AOWD with Croatia Divers and have been going back every summer for 3 years now.

This centre is great! The staff do go that certain extra mile to make sure your diving is good and your stay enjoyable. All the instructors know their stuff inside out and make you feel like a part of the team :)

The diving sites are many, with two exceptional experiences:

The Blue Hole has deep and shallower entrances/exits with an inner cave at the back. The Cathedral a bit further out and subject to wind conditions is another cave dive with closed ceiling but air inside so you can actually surface while in the cave! The ceiling looks great. The top water inside the cave is sweet, which gives and extra bit of excitement to the surfacing...

Looking forward to the excitement of taking the rib out of the port and riding out to the sea again this summer!

I've just retured from a fantastic diving holiday in Vela Luka. I went diving with Croatia Divers who were very friendly and professional. The centre was always clean & tidy and the staff were always cheerful & happy to help. The dive sites were great, especially The Blue Hole! The briefings were excellent and covered all aspects. I was invited to a BBQ with the crew where the staff play guitars and sing all evening! One of the best nights I had out there!

I shall be returing next year. =]

Thank you Croatia Divers for an excellent holiday!

Just returned from 2 weeks in Vela Luka and we had a fantastic time. We will return! The dive center Croatia Divers - right next door to our hotel Posejdon - was very professional and their Instructors and Dive-masters are in one word great and so were the dives we have made during our stay. Crew was fantastic. It was a great atmosphere - very friendly but professional so I was never worried for the safety of my daughters while they were diving (like I was in Mexico). We were invited for a BBQ with the team in the last week and we played guitar and sang songs until midnight! Really a great (diving) holiday!!

I have dived in many parts of the world and I would rate this very highly. If you enjoy interesting topographical dives, the island of Korcula offers spectacular walls, overhangs and caves. The owners of Croatia Diving are very professional with a personal touch and safety is their first priority. The friendly staff were very helpful and well qualified, trained & supervised. I used mostly my own equipment but the centre was very well equipped and has recently purchased much new gear. The dive sites were interesting and easy. Views were very good and whilst the wildlife was not in the red sea class, there was lots to sea if you kept your eyes peeled. On one dive I saw a beautiful large blue and yellow Moray. Octopus were common and many different species of nudibranch. The dives were organised into well defined groups according to experience & qualification which meant a good balance of safety and diving interest.

I enjoyed my stay very much. Also after diving we had a good time with the Croatia Divers Crew as we joined them with diner in a Pizza restaurant and after that we had a couple of drinks. The dive sites are good, enough variation as this year June it will be my third year diving with them and I'm sure I haven't seen it all yet! My daughters will start her Junior Open water course with Croatia Divers as I know she is in very good hands.

We were on our honeymoon and had decided to do a bit of diving as we were already divers. The owner seemed quite friendly but there was a lot of 'sales talk' - in fact he talked at us for a long time. We ended up doing an Advanced Diver's course, thinking this would be something new to add to our knowledge - which was fine.

When out on the boat they turned out to be less than the laid-back friendly personalities one normally associates with divers. While there is no doubt diving is a risky sport and therefore needs to be treated carefully, theses guy's attitudes in the end made me a nervous wreck, thus probably only contributing to a lack of safety rather than preventing it. They would frequently hurry us on - not what you want on a relaxing break, especially on your honeymoon, and it always felt as if they were just trying to get the dive over with as quickly as possible in order to get back to base to re-fill the boat with the next lot of customers. I've never been so stressed diving and I have been to a few dives sites in Thailand and Fiji.

In fact when getting off the boat I was breathing so hard due to being nervous that I was completely the opposite of the 'relaxed' person you're supposed to be when entering the water. As we hadn't dived for 2 years we were somewhat out of practice. Instead of helping to show us how to gear-up again they just ignored us, but were then impatient and to be honest quite angry sounding when we hadn't done it in time.

When my husband's fin clip fell off (despite one of the members of staff doing it up for him as he was having some problems) they got very tetchy with us and told Mark he was to pay for it. Paying for lost items is normal practice and seems fair enough on the surface of it - but not when the reason it fell off was because the staff hadn't put it on properly and the whole reason for losing it was because they were constantly rushing us.

In the end all the dives I felt very stressed with them around. Some other staff were all absolutely lovely but I noticed a distinct change in attitudes while certain people were around. No one seemed to have any fun any more. They were all great though and if it weren't for them I'm not sure I could have survived the course.

We were told we could do a wreck dive as part of our Advanced course - lured in with this promised treat I should say - and since Croatia's a bit of a mecca for them I did get quite excited about this prospect. Then we heard at the end that they had done this dive the day before with another group so wouldn't be doing it with us. Imagine my disappointment. Fair enough, in the diving world you can not always guarantee to see the things you want to see due to the nature of it, but a wreck is one thing that never goes away! I think this was very unfair to offer it to us and then not even give us a chance to see it.

Another thing that made me believe the whole business is far more about money making than customer satisfaction was their policy on torches. We were told we would need them for a cave dive and that they are 6 euros each to hire. What they didn't tell us was that we would get a few seconds actually looking at the cave walls, for which Mark and I frankly would never have needed a torch each (everyone's else's torches were shining around anyway) or at least could have made do with one between two. If we had had longer they might have been useful, but they were pointless and just another way of adding on cost.

All in all the diving was the worst I've ever had. I was very disappointed. Apart from the real lack of marine life (European diving not for me now!) the way we were treated just made me on edge the whole time. A diving outfit should not be run like this. I hope never to have to experience this again. The only reason we stayed with them is because they have a monopoly on the island and there was no where else to go.

Ironically they made us write in their comments book. I wrote something suitably neutral praising the good staff - hoping they could read between the lines but felt I couldn't write what I really wanted to say because I couldn't face the confrontation when they read it. I haven't written this review until now (honeymoon was last year) because I just wanted to put the whole sad affair behind me but actually now I'd quite like others to know how it was for us.

The Croatia Divers dive centre is situated on the harbour exit of the beautiful Adriatic island of Korkula, Vela Luka. It is fabulous, and I will return.

The location is as quiet or as rowdy as you want. Not a resort (no Easyjet Alicante chav types here). The locals are friendly, and you have access to some of the most lovely parts of Croatia. A bus from the island (I know, there is a bridge...) takes you to Dubrovnik. Well worth a couple of days. Also, do not be afraid of the "sleepy bed" people who approach you at the bus terminals. Some are in the Michelin guide book! Also, you can haggle the price with them hahaha.

Go before they get the Euro, when prices will go up.

my email is [email protected] if you want more info.