Istria · Croatia · Reef
Valovine 1
A ridge run south to 20 m with fish in numbers
Area photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0
A ridge dive on the Istrian west coast, run from a boat anchored close in. You drop to the sandy bottom, turn south and follow the ridge down to 18 or 20 metres, with Mediterranean chromis, salema and saddled seabream over the rock. Simple navigation, moderate depth and fish in numbers make it an easy dive to fill a second slot with.
Also known as Valovine.
Where it is and how deep
44.8595° N, 13.8098° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The boat anchors along the coast and the dive starts on the sandy bottom underneath it. From there you turn south and follow a ridge that runs on your left, dropping gradually as you go until you are at 18 to 20 metres. The navigation is as simple as it sounds, because the ridge does the work, which leaves your attention free for the water above and beside it.
That water is what the site is known for. Mediterranean chromis, salema and saddled seabream gather here in quantity over the ridge and the sand beside it, and the site has a reputation for good visibility to show them in. Eighteen to twenty metres is as deep as the dive goes, so there is no-stop time to work the length of the rock rather than hurry along it.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| 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
- Valovine 1 — Scubago
More dive sites in Istria
Yellow anemones and sponges on the Sv. Ivan north wall
Reef
Freshwater springs in the shallows at the Lim Channel mouth
Wall
A 200 m wall under sponges, bryozoans and soft corals
Cave & cavern
Limestone tunnels, the first passed one diver at a time
Wreck
Croatia's first ship sunk on purpose for divers
Cave & cavern
Shallow caves at 3 to 8 m inside Kamenjak Nature Park
Reef
A terraced plateau reef that few boats visit
Wreck
Mined in 1943, bow torn away, lying at 48 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Two route options from a 19 m anchorage down to 24 m
An arch and a cave with barracuda schools, over sand and posidonia
Try-dive shallows at 3-5 m, groupers on the way to 16 m
A maze of fallen-boulder arches at 15 m, crusted with sponges and anemones