natural beauty sits beside
appalling historical brutality
and human suffering.
Our first night in the
country is spent, with the
owners’ permission, in
a restaurant car-park in
a sparsely populated
country village. We buy
a few beers from them.
On day two, with fuzzy
heads, we at last reach the
magnificent Croatian coast,
where mountains dive into
the Adriatic and the road
winds between them.
What we haven’t realised is how many
islands Croatia appears to have collected
(1244!) and with such wonderful
topography we could be in Indonesia were
it not for all the Croatian flags adorning
shops and houses.
We have planned a spread of three dive
locations: first Dubrovnik in the south,
mid-placed Tuçepi and finally Pula, in the
north. Before reaching Dubrovnik, we
have to cross Bosnia, which owns a sliver
of coastline. This means two more border-
control checks.
“If I find something in your vehicle that
you have failed to declare, you will be
taken to prison for seven years, do you
understand?” The guard drops his serious
spiel on us, demanding that we show him
around our cupboards, drawers and
diving equipment.
I begin to feel slightly sweaty, look
unnecessarily guilty and wonder if we
might be carrying too much beer, or
whether our many kitchen knives could
constitute offensive weapons.
I am starting to imagine life in a
Bosnian prison, but eventually our
passports are handed back and the guard
is wishing us an enjoyable journey.
C
ROATIA FOR ME is a top-five coastal-
drive contender, but by the time we
reach Dubrovnik, with its cruise-ship port,
impressive bridge and red-roofed
buildings, we’re ready for some
underwater action.
Blue Planet Dive Centre is at the foot of
the posh-looking Dubrovnik Palace Hotel,
just below the pool and near the rocky
shore. Emails exchanged before the trip
had seemed friendly and supportive, but
communications deteriorate from the
moment we walk through the office door.
As the diving was to be reviewed in
divEr, it had been made clear in advance
that it would be provided free of charge.
Blue Planet had changed its mind,25 divErCROATIA DIVER
Left: A helping hand after
the Pula shore-dive.Above, clockwise from
top left: Croatia or
Indonesia?; Dubrovnik’s city
walls; Will & Ana with their
van and dive-gear.Below: A highlight of the
Dubrovnik dive.however, and insisted on no
more than a small discount,
claiming that it had divers
“queuing out the door all year”
and that it “didn’t need the
exposure”. Fine, but why not say
so before our arrival?
We put ourselves at the back
of a line of hotel guests, mostly
Americans plus a couple of other
Brits, on the morning of our
scheduled diving day, ready to fill
out the usual PADI paperwork.
Most if not all of us have
arrived without logbooks –
I rarely travel with one these days.
With all divers present, we
notice the centre manager begin to grill
everyone in the queue about their diving
history, to a level that seems excessive. Ana
and I exchange raised eyebrows.
Rather than accepting verbal replies,
he continues to interrogate each diver at
length, until he finally comes to us.
He seeks further confirmation of Ana’s
qualification online, apparently not
satisfied by her valid cert card. I dig out
PADI certs of my own and these, along
with my verbal dive-tally, are eventually
accepted but only when I add in my
commercial diving certification.
Had we been newly qualified divers, we
could well have started our Blue Planet
Diving experience on the wrong foot. So,
a bad start with the admin, but what else
could possibly go wrong?
We have read about several easily
accessible wrecks in the area, and mention
the possibility of diving them to the staff.
Yet, rather than the 10 guests being split
into ability groups, we’re all taken by boat
for a whistle-stop underwater tour of the
closest site, which is largely featureless but
for one swim-through.P
OST-DIVE, WE DECIDEthat this
centre is set up mainly for try-divers
and newly qualified guests. Nothing
wrong with that, but we have invested
many hours on the road into our ☛divErNEt.com