Amorgos · Greece · Wall
Agi Anna
Flat reef to 18 m, then a wall to about 40 m
Photo: Martin Kraft · CC BY-SA 3.0
Agi Anna is the wall dive under the monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa, on the island The Big Blue is set on. The ground runs flat out to 18 m before the edge falls away to about 40 m, so the profile is a shallow reef swim followed by one deep drop. The dive centre records excellent visibility and no current here, which is what keeps a 40 m wall straightforward.
Where it is and how deep
36.8260° N, 25.9069° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
You drop onto the shelf under the monastery and follow flat ground out to 18 m. That first stretch carries the everyday life of the site: wrasse and parrotfish over the rock, octopus tucked into holes, and several kinds of starfish out on the open surfaces. There is a resident turtle here, so the shallow leg is worth diving slowly rather than treating as a transit to the edge.
At 18 m the ground ends and the wall drops to about 40 m. How far you follow it is a decision about gas and training rather than terrain, and tuna and grouper are the occasional sightings out over the drop. With no current running and visibility good enough to read the whole face, the deep section is a controlled one; come back up onto the 18 m shelf and finish the dive there rather than on the wall.
Background
The site lies under the monastery of Panagia Hozoviotissa, and Amorgos is the island The Big Blue is set on: the film's two divers, Jacques Mayol and Enzo Molinari, grow up here in the 1960s. What is in the water is ordinary Aegean coast rather than anything from the film — shelf out to 18 m, an edge, and a drop to about 40 m, with the monastery on the cliff above it.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Sea turtles
- Groupers
- Tuna
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Good | Good | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Amorgos: Courses and testimonials cluster June to October, with October unpredictable. The meltemi unsettles late summer; winter winds and currents put some sites out of reach without closing the island.
Know before you go
- The wall runs to about 40 m with nothing to level out on, so gas planning and narcosis, not the terrain, set the limits of this dive.
Photos from Agi Anna
Martin Kraft · CC BY-SA 3.0
Questions divers ask
How deep is Agi Anna?+
The reef is flat out to 18 m and the wall below it drops to about 40 m, so the dive is planned around how far you go down the wall rather than around the shallow section.
Is there current at Agi Anna?+
The dive centre that works the site reports no currents and excellent visibility, which is what makes a dive this deep manageable rather than committing.
Sources
- Agi Anna — Scubago / WE SHALL SEA
- The Big Blue — Wikipedia
Photo credits
- Rocky headland dropping into deep blue water on the Amorgos coast near Agia Anna by Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Cliffs and turquoise water along the shoreline of Amorgos near Agia Anna by Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Amorgos
Wreck
A wartime debris trail from 13 m past recreational depth
A pocketed wall sloping to 40 m off Nikouria islet
A cavern at around 25 m on the islet's northern wall
Wall
Bauxite loading gear on an 18 m plateau below the mines
Cave & cavern
A narrow passage under fallen rock, entered at about 18 m
Similar dives elsewhere
A south-facing canyon to 35 m with an old anchor at its base
Drop-off to 40 m with boulders and swim-throughs on an exposed cape
The park's best-known walls, and a cave with an air pocket
Two dives in one: an easier south side to 35 m, a deep north side past 40 m