On a nice Saturday, we went scuba diving in Rovinj, Croatia. The diving center is based in Rovinj and the diving locations are offshore, so you get there by boat. We were driven with a larger inflatable boat so we arrived at the locations quite quickly. The only downside really is that there is no shade available.
We did two dives in total without returning back to the diving center.
Maona wreck
The first dive location was the Maona wreck. It is a smaller ship in good condition for its age. Since it sunk a while ago it is now overgrown with corals and a home to plenty of organisms.
Due to its depth and the fact that is it in the middle of the sea, it is a perfect location for Nitrox diving. Using Nitrox gives you a longer bottom time which is always nice. I had a Nitrox 29 mixture for this dive which means that the oxygen percentage was 29%.
I started at the bottom of the ship and made a full circle and then I still had enough left to also see the top part.
I got a chance to see a John Dory (Zeus faber). This was only the second time I saw one. It was still quite young, I would estimate it was a bit over 20 cm long.
There was also a large lobster (Homarus gammarus) on the inside of the ship but it was impossible to photograph with my setup. Nearby, however, was a smaller specimen that I managed to take a photo of.
In addition, there were many different scorpionfishes. Going from small, below 10 cm, to large at over 30 cm.
And of course the obligatory nudibranch, in this case probably a Flabellina ischitana.
Faro island
After a short 1 hour break we did the second dive at island Faro which was on the way back to the diving center.
There was a lot of life again, although the visibility was slowly decreasing as you went deeper so the maximum depth was at about 24 m and the majority of the dive was over 18 m.
The current is a bit stronger due to location but it was not a problem. The problematic part is boat traffic so you have to be really careful if you don’t find a way back to the boat underwater. It is always a good idea to carry a DSMB.
I saw a young conger eel (Conger conger) as well as large a spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas).
There were quite a lot of nudibranchs. I managed to take a few good photos of a Flebellina pedata.
As I was returning from the dive I saw beautiful-looking cluster groups of a Yellow cluster anemone (Parazoanthus axinellae). They were grouped under a small overhang at a depth of about 5 m.
It caught me by surprise as I wasn’t expecting to see anything like this but it was a really nice sight.
Conclusion
Overall the scuba diving day trip was a nice experience. We had good weather and good conditions. The visibility was good as well as the water temperature at depth.
There was a lot of life at both locations. I would say that the two highlights were the John Dory on the Maona wreck and the Yellow cluster anemone at the Faro island dive site.
It was my first time scuba diving in Rovinj and I am sure I will come again.