Vela Garska is a bay on the island of Hvar that pairs a long wall with a shallow cave in one dive. It is rated for everyone from beginners to the more experienced, since the cave sits close to the surface while the wall gives deeper divers colour and sea life further down.
Also known as Vela Garška.
Where it is and how deep
43.1826° N, 16.4080° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The wall runs for 70 m and reaches a maximum depth of 30 m, with colour and sea life along its length. The cave lies only 5 m under the surface and runs 20 m into the rock, the shallowest and best-known part of the site.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Hvar & the Pakleni Islands: Boats run from 1 May to 1 October; no month stands out as best for the diving, and August is the busiest.
Dive videos
Vela Garska Dive in Croatia · Scuba Couple on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Can newly certified divers dive Vela Garska?+
Yes: the site is rated for beginners as well as experienced divers, and its cave lies only 5 m under the surface; the wall goes down to 30 m, which needs Advanced Open Water.
Sources
- Dive Sites - Aqualis Diving Center Hvar — Aqualis Diving Center Hvar
- OpenStreetMap: Vela Garška uvala — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- A large fan-shaped shell crusted with green algae standing upright among seagrass blades on a blue-tinted seabed by nbasargin, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Hvar & the Pakleni Islands
Wall
A bay slope that steps down onto a second sandy terrace
Wall
A big Admiral anchor hanging on the very edge of the cliff
Wall
A gentle slope turning into a wall below the Baba lighthouse
Pinnacle
A bell-tower-shaped underwater mountain at the archipelago's west end
A tunnel crossing beneath the Kabal Peninsula
Pinnacle
A sunlit chimney climbing through the inside of the rock
Wreck
A wooden boat's cargo left on the seabed after the hull rotted away
Wall
A gorgonian wall running from the shore out to open sea
Similar dives elsewhere
Wall
Canyon
Lefkada & Meganisi · Greece
A small cave at 9 m, a haven for large anemones and cardinal fish
A cavern shaped like a three-aisled building
Gullies at 30 m over a ledge past 50 m, with a cave entered by a siphon at 18 m
A cavern at around 25 m on the islet's northern wall