
Istria · Croatia · Reef
Römerbucht
Freshwater springs in the shallows at the Lim Channel mouth
Area photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0
A stepped reef on the south side of the entrance to the Lim Channel, sloping from 5 metres down to 23. In the shallows large holes open in the seabed where fresh water rises through the rock. The site is rated for new and experienced divers alike, and the top of it is shallow enough to snorkel.
Also known as Romerbucht, Roemerbucht.
Where it is and how deep
45.1196° N, 13.6137° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site is on the south side of the entrance to the Lim Channel, and the reef steps down from 5 metres to 23 rather than sloping evenly, so it reads as a series of shelves stacked below one another. That structure makes it easy to run at any level: drop to the depth the group is comfortable with, follow the steps along the slope, and come back over the shallow shelves at the end of the dive.
The feature to look for is in the shallows, where large holes open in the seabed and fresh water rises out of them. It sits in the first few metres, so it costs nothing to leave for the end of the dive. The same shallow ground makes the site usable for snorkelling, and the reef as a whole is rated for new and experienced divers alike rather than being anyone's specialist dive.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Istria: The main season runs 1 May to 31 October; the sea passes 20°C from mid-June to September, and a few sites are diveable only outside the high season.
Sources
- Roemerbucht — Scubago
More dive sites in Istria
Wall
A 200 m wall under sponges, bryozoans and soft corals
Wreck
Scout cruiser mined two weeks after the war ended, at 49 m
Cave & cavern
Limestone tunnels, the first passed one diver at a time
Cave & cavern
Shallow caves at 3 to 8 m inside Kamenjak Nature Park
Wreck
Mined in 1943, bow torn away, lying at 48 m
Wreck
A 40 m cargo wreck on the sand off the San Giovanni light
Reef
A terraced plateau reef that few boats visit
Yellow anemones and sponges on the Sv. Ivan north wall
Similar dives elsewhere
Try-dive shallows at 3-5 m, groupers on the way to 16 m
One of the area's dive highlights, and an ideal night dive
A seabed installation of lost boat anchors, 18 m maximum
White gorgonians, nudibranchs and lobsters in the faults at 18 to 20 m



