Rhodes

Rhodes is unusual among Greek islands in that most of its diving is done from the beach. The house reefs at Kallithea, Ladiko and Anthony Quinn Bay are walk-ins on the north-east coast, a short drive from the centres in Rhodes Town, Kolymbia and Pefkos, so a day is two shore dives on nearby bays rather than a boat crossing. Waterhoppers, the island's PADI 5 Star IDC centre, works from all three towns; Trident Diving School runs from Rhodes Town, takes boats along the coast and teaches through to technical diving. Boat days go to the west-coast Kamiros wreck, which is advanced-only and depends on the weather; Psaropoula, off Rhodes Town, is dived as a drift.

The island's bedrock is limestone and the terrain underwater is walls and caverns. Ladiko Wall South starts at 6 m and drops to 30 m, and Ladiko Wall North is arranged between 24 and 30 m; Kallithea Bay's wall runs from 10 to 22 m. The Cave of the Seal at Anthony Quinn Bay is a marine cave that opens onto a deep reef past 30 m. Paola Cavern sits at the end of a steep drop-off, with a light display at its deepest point. Ancient amphora and pottery lie on the seabed at Ladiko and Anthony Quinn Bay. Lionfish have arrived from the Red Sea, and the fish list runs to grouper, octopus, cuttlefish, squid, seahorses and pipefish, with tuna and barracuda passing Psaropoula and Plimiri.

Ghost Net, a fishing net lying on a wall from 18 m up to 3 m, and Anchor Forest, a dumping ground of lost anchors, are named sites with entanglement hazards. Current runs just outside the bays and changes often, and Kolymbia harbour and the Tsambika amphitheatre are windy and choppy enough that they are not offered to beginners. Greek antiquities law reaches these waters: survey and photography dives on shipwrecks and other architectural remains need permission from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities. Whether that touches an ordinary recreational dive over the Ladiko amphora is not settled by the sources here; the centre's briefing is the reference and nothing on the seabed gets handled.

It suits divers who want shore entries and long bottom times on walls without a boat, and Open Water divers, for whom Ladiko Wall South and the house reefs are within reach. Advanced Open Water opens Ladiko Wall North, Paola Cavern and Ghost Net, and technical divers have the 80 m wall at Psaropoula. Anyone after wrecks should look elsewhere: the Kamiros vessel is a 15 m storm casualty and the island has no marquee steel. Crete offers caves and a WWII fighter, and Paros and Naxos have two wrecks in the strait between them.