I try to dive at least once in every location I visit in the world. Crete gave me the opportunity to dive the Mediterranean Sea for the first time!
Crete is known for its various caves, both on land and under the surface. I decided to dive two of the less commonly visited caves while in Chania.
While another group of divers in the area messed up our experience of one cave, I really enjoyed diving Seal Cave which was the longest cave I’ve ever been in!
Diving In Crete
I looked into several dive companies and dive sites to visit while in Crete. One of the most popular dive sites is Elephant Cave. Most dive packages involve this dive site plus a shipwreck.
I wasn’t feeling in the mood for a shipwreck dive, thought, so I chose a company that would take me to two caves instead.
Chania Diving Center was the one! They had a shop about 25 minutes outside of Chania. We drove there in the morning on a Friday.
There were only two other divers signed up. So we were able to take a small boat out to the site. It cost about $127 for two dives and gear which is right around the typical cost.
Crete Under The Surface
We tied up to a mooring across from Seal Cave. The following photo shows what it looks like at the surface.
We first had to make our way over to the mouth of the cave. Carolina is not a diver, but she snorkeled her way there with a guide while I dove there with my guide and the other two divers.
This was my first time diving the Mediterranean Sea! My first impression was how expansive the rock formations were here. There were large walls stretching down deep and huge, rounded coral rock hills.
Just navigating in between the rocks to get to the cave was a fun experience!
The Mediterranean Sea in this part of Crete does not have a big reef or hard corals. On my dive, there also was not a whole lot of fish and marine life in the area.
I caught some smaller fish sprinkled around here and there.
There were also lots of soft corals along the sea floor and rock walls. They were small and beautiful in their own way, especially when taking a closer look.
Seal Cave
Seal Cave is a fresh water cave that has both sea water and fresh water mixing into brackish water. The depth is between 5 and 18 meters and it goes fairly far back into the rock in a narrow tunnel. I don’t know how far back it went but this was definitely the longest cave I’ve ever dove.
Entering Seal Cave, I immediately took in how dark it was. Luckily, my guide had a flashlight and the mouth of the cave behind us helped light the way at the start.
As my eyes adjusted, I was able to see more than expected. But wow! It was dark in there especially as we went farther back into the cave.
Caves sometimes have some cool marine life in them that are harder to see or rarer to find outside of caves. Like this dwarf scorpionfish we found.
I am glad this cave could be snorkeled, too. Carolina had the chance to snorkel above me as I was diving below. I sometimes caught her with her guide above us. And she had the fun experience of watching us swimming around below. She shined her flashlight down on occasion.
The water was crystal clear in there despite the darkness.
I really enjoyed diving this cave. It was the first cave I’ve ever gone into that went back in a true tunnel into and under a land mass.
The experience was very peaceful, too. It was quiet in this cave aside from the sounds of us divers breathing and the occasional splashing of Carolina above.
I decided to post a short video I took inside Seal Cave. I didn’t add any music to it this time so you can hear how peaceful it is! The clicking sound at the end is actually my camera—can you believe it is almost 8 years old?! And yes, it clicks like that sometimes.
Spotlights
Before getting back on the boat, we stopped at Spotlights. Spotlights is a small cave that has holes in the rock ceiling that allows light to pass through and brighten up the area.
You can see in the following photos how the light shines down like stage lighting.
At Spotlights, I found some more marine life:
Black Sea Urchin
Tube worm
Bristle worm
Of course, one of the most beautiful fish (I think) that I see on many dives around the world is the invasive Lionfish. It’s as poisonous to touch as it is beautiful. But I also remember how delicious it is to eat!
Theatre Dive Site
The second dive we went on was to a site a little further from our Seal Cave location. We made our way to Theatre along the rock wall.
What we were excited to experience in this cave was crystal clear water and a huge, cathedral-like inner cave.
The dive guide warned us not to get close to the bottom of the cave or else we would kick up the very fine sand at the bottom. Doing so would cause the entire cave to fill with a dusty, cloudy filter, essentially ruining the experience.
Alas, a small group of divers entered the cave before we did. They kicked up the bottom so that by the time we went in there the entire cave was cloudy. Darn!
Even though the views were ruined by the previous visitors, I could still appreciate this amazing cave. In fact, the cloudiness kind of gave it a spooky aura.
Theatre was huge, the ceilings were tall, and there was an epic, Mufasa-esque beam of light shining down on a “stage”-like area. It was really beautiful!
There was one really cold section of this cave where fresh water was entering and mixing with the warm sea.
I could see the halocline effect in the water—which occurs when fresh water mixes with salt water. It was difficult to capture on this occasion. But if you’re interested to see it, I was able to photograph it many years ago snorkeling a chasm in Niue.
In Conclusion
Carolina and I really enjoyed snorkeling and diving near Chania in Crete, Greece.
The caves were very unique to dive in. While I didn’t visit the most popular cave site, I did get to see a few other sites that many people do not take the time to see. And I got to see them in a small group—which is always the best!
The only disappointment was that another dive group that made it one of the most spectacular caves in Crete fill with cloudy sand. I was able to enjoy it regardless, but I’d love to go back one day!
