TRAVELSPECIAL
Crete
Flights: £ 220 Diving:“ Crete offers some of the best diving in the Mediterranean” boasts a certain website. We would amend that to“ Crete boasts some of the most typical diving in the Mediterranean”. There’ s seagrass, octopus, bream and a few wrecks, but they tend to be quite broken up. We reckon the standout dive is the spectacular Elephant Cave in the Chania area.
PHOTO: YO-HAN CHA
Azores
Flights: £ 270 Diving: An autonomous region of Portugal, the Azores represents the explorers’ choice here. The archipelago consists of nine main volcanic islands, noted for dolphins, whales, mobula rays and blue sharks. BSAC divers visit Pico, home to Twin Peaks dive centre, which specialises in technical training and has competitive pricing.
Eat and stay: Accommodation is generally affordable, with a range of villas and hostels for the wallet-wary. The food used to have a mixed reputation, but you can get some great steaks and seafood in the midprice range. Value: If you’ re after the pelagics it can get very expensive; you’ re paying for long days at sea and a lot of fuel. The local diving is decent, some lovely topography, schooling barracudas, Atlantic reef life. Average cost stats are not available, but probably around £ 150 a day.
Bulgaria
Flights: £ 180 Diving: The Black Sea may not top everyone’ s list, but it does represent a fascinating curveball option on this list. Sozapol, on the Black Sea, is considered the nation’ s diving capital. There are wartime wrecks, caves and seahorses from April to June. Also worth a visit are the underwater ruins of Apollonia, once a Greek town overtaken by the sea. The downside is the visibility – on average about 5m. Eat and stay: Bulgarian food is a blend of Slavic, Ottoman, Greek and Balkan influences. Try the national dish, shopska slata, a refreshing combination of salted tomato, cucumber, black olives, peppers and parsley, topped with grated Sirene cheese. Value: Bulgaria is one of the cheapest countries in Europe; a pint of beer is £ 2.50. You can live reasonably well on £ 50 a day, but factor around £ 98 average daily costs.
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PHOTO: YO-HAN CHA