Protarus, Cyprus

It was a chilly April in Cyprus, and my notion to take my girlfriend away for a spot of winter sun had been foiled by unnaturally cool weather. There was snow on the foothills of the Trodos Mountains, restaurants had moved their patio-heaters indoors in a desperate bid to keep diners warm, and when we drove across the island to view a waterfall, the thing was frozen solid.

As far as winter-sun holidays go, it was pretty wretched, so we put a different emphasis on the trip, enjoying late nights and long meals, knocking back bottles of Cypriot wine as the waiters shivered impatiently, demonstratively checking their watches. Our retsina nights led to long lie-ins, as each morning failed to bring an end to the cold snap. Normally, our holidays come with a strict no-diving clause, as my other half is a non-diver and says I spend quite enough time underwater on my own holidays. However, in a spirit of optimism, I had brought along a full set of kit in the hope of squeezing in a couple of cheeky dives.

As we had got into the habit of rising around 1pm, I would hardly be missed if I arranged some early morning dives. So I contacted a local operator, Scandidive, and arranged for one of the guides to accompany me for two dives on the local reefs. Quite often, dive centres make their money on equipment hire, so buying myself a guide for the morning was surprisingly cheap – only about £25. Situated on the eastern side of the island, Protarus isn’t really noted for its diving, but the staff at Scandidive said the area was under-rated

Both dives were easy-entry shore dives. We drove outside town and parked by the side of the road, before scrambling down a rocky ledge and entering the water. I froze in my 5mm wetsuit, but it felt so good to be in the water, it just didn’t matter. The visibility was beautiful, and I could see beyond the rocky shallows to a forest of dark green seagrass that dropped away into deeper water. There were only a few small fish, but the clarity of the water and the swaying seaweed were enough in themselves.

Cyprus is famous for the wreck of the Zenobia near Larnaca, but you can drop in the water pretty much anywhere and have a good time. On the second dive, we looked for octopus lairs, a local speciality. Sure enough, any hole in the rock surrounded by debris turned out to have a resident octopus, although they were leery of divers (with some justification, given the prevalence of cephalopods on local menus). Towards the end of the dive, the sun finally came out; even at 15m, I could feel its warmth on my back I swam along the reef.

My girlfriend was still dozing in bed when I was dropped back at the hotel, energised by the experience and ready for lunch (anything but the octopus salad). It may not be the sort of diving I would normally go out of my way to do, but it showed me a side of Cyprus that was infinitely more rewarding than the Only Fools and Horses theme pub outside my hotel. Pete Fairclough

CONTACTS

Dive-Tek Cyprus
00 357 99 110249
 www.divetekcyprus.com

Octopus diving
00 357 24 646571
www.octopus-diving.com

Scandidive
00 357 23 832768
www.scandidive.com