Korcula Diving: Scuba Diving Centre 'Sole' Korcula

About Scuba Diving around Korcula

Korcula is a jewel among the Croatian Adriatic islands, very popular with visitors looking for a peaceful environment with discerning visitors appreciating the beautiful preserved Dalmatian scenery. The main attraction of the island being old Korcula town with its fascinating historical background and architecture. Korcula originally was a Greek colony called Korkyra Maleina which was founded in the fourth century BC by ancient Greeks whose records were left on many archaeological sites. The Korcula channel was thoroughfare for Greek sailing from Athens and Knossos to the Greek colonies Pharon and Issa.

On account of the high mountains of the neighbouring Peljesac peninsula, the sources of drinking water are located at the bottom of the mountains near the sea, which attracted many Greek and Phoenician galleys which were refuelling/ stopping on their way to their colonies in North Adriatic. Legend has it that Odysseus met the nymph Calypso on the neighbouring island of Mljet. Meeting with Kireon took place in the of Lumbarda, the settlement which was planted by ancient Greeks Knidjani with vines from which known as Grk which was associated with magic spells by the sailors of Odysseus used this to change themselves back from pigs to humans this accounts for numerous sites along the coastline of Korcula that are full of ancient Greek artefacts which can be found with local knowledge of the historical underwater ancient sites.

A number of these artefacts can be found in the various Korcula museums. On the island of Majsan, the young army commander Augustus, known as Imperator Octavian Augustus had a temporary naval base from which he conquered Illyrian tribes which at that time inhabited Korcula. In this archipelago, was passing, rebellious Illyrian queen, Teuta with her lover Dematruse, plotting the rebellion against the Roman Empire. This was the time Korcula got its Roman name Kykira Negra from this time there are many sites left behind with lead anchors along the Korcula coastline. The Venetian Doge, Peter Orseole in his attacks on Dalmatia chose Korcula archipelago as his base for conquering Dalmatia and this is where he received homage from the Chief Bishop of the council of Dubrovnik.

Without doubt the most important challenge for divers are the remains derive from the famous naval battle between Genoa and Venetian republic fleet which took place in 1287 in which 120 galleys took part. During this battle 60 Venetian galleys were sunk and the well known seafarer and explorer Marco Polo was taken to Pizi prison. Here Marco Polo wrote his famous book Million which inspired Christopher Columbus to discover America. In 1571, a few months before the historical battle near La Panta, the Turkish commander Uruzilija conquered Kotor and Hvar but failed to conquer Korcula city losing a number of ships to Korcula's canon located on the city walls.

During the Venetian rule, Korcula was bordering with Dubrovnik Republic and it was the supply port for Venetian galleys on their way to their territories in Greece , Asia Minor, Cyprus and the Levant. The exciting times of Korcula were in the 19th century during which time this archipelago was used as a maritime base for French, Russian and British fleets. from the nearby island of Vrnik, the British admiral Fremantle occupied Korcula to expel the French only of the island to become part in 1815 of the Hapsburg Empire.Form this time and the time of the last World War, there are many sunken naval boats and a 100meter steam ship to be found in the water depths of 50 meters.

For centuries, Korcula had a long tradition of boat building, some of which can be seen at the bottom of the sea.

The Korcula archipelago consisting of 17 islands, offers a rich configuration of many underwater mountains with peaks, bays and cave.

Korcula diving centre with its knowledgeable and dedicated diving instructors relies on a long diving traditions of the local population which were associated with diving activities of Jacques Costeau.