Kvarner — Cres, Krk & Lošinj

There is no single dive town. A diver picks a base on Krk, Cres, Lošinj or Rab, or the mainland east of Rijeka, and dives what it reaches. Krk town has Diver Krk and Fun diving Krk on one street, with Pelagos at Njivice; diving-cres runs from Camping Kovačine on Cres; Subseason dives out of Mali Lošinj; Kron Diving at Kampor covers Rab, Grgur and Goli; and on the mainland Diving Center Kostrena and Mihurić at Selce dive house reefs. Runs are mostly short: five minutes by speedboat to Maman off Rab, 15 to 20 to Grgur, 20 to 25 to the Cres walls and 30 to 40 to the far end of Goli. House reefs are shore entries used for courses, and in high season the Cres one shuts at 11:15 for boat traffic.

The rock is limestone and the diving follows it down. Walls are the main event: Selzine off Cres starts on a plateau and drops steeply to 45 m with blue and red gorgonian, and the reef edge at Susak breaks at 5 m and falls to 40 m. Caves cut into the islands: Vrbnik Cave on Krk is a 25 m passage lit from above by a narrow siphon, and Big Cave bores into Cres between 3 and 16 m. Maman off Rab is rock from 8 to 28 m under colourful sponge, and Hrid Kamenjak off Krk carries nudibranchs, sponges and yellow gorgonians. Seahorses turn up on the sand at Travnica, scorpionfish and the odd conger at Malibu Bay, and the Cres–Lošinj strait holds resident bottlenose dolphins studied since 1987.

Currents are mild in season. The bays are calm and sheltered by the gulf, and Sika Tanki on Grgur is the only site the operators flag for current. That suits beginners: Koludarac bay off Mali Lošinj hosts course training, the Kostrena house reef has a plateau to 12 m before the wall drops to about 40 m, and Mihurić has a buoyancy park and a statue in its shallows. The exception is the bura: in winter and early spring the north-east wind churns the water, cuts visibility and brings currents the operators call challenging, and boats retreat to bays such as Velo Kolo off Rab and Vela Draga on Goli. Diving permits are issued at the harbour master's office on passport, certification and a fee.

Divers whose main interest is historic wrecks should look at Istria, where the Baron Gautsch and the Vis lie in recreational depths. Kvarner's recreational wrecks are the Peltastis in 12–32 m off Krk, the Etnea on her side at 35 m off Unije and the Bangladesh at 28–31 m off Lošinj; the Jakljan at 42–51 m, the Regolo, torn from its moorings at Senj in a snowstorm and sunk at 65 m, and the Nanos at 70–93 m lie past recreational limits. Anyone chasing sheer, long walls will find bigger ones in the Kornati. Kvarner suits divers who want mixed diving from one base, walls and caverns a short boat ride out, shore reefs for training and the odd wreck, with the choice of island shaping the week.