Diving in Montenegro: Expectations vs Reality

Background

I hoped Montenegro would become my go-to destination for monthly weekend getaways to satisfy my diving needs. But it turned out differently. I made several mistakes that tainted my first impression. All because I was eager to get underwater as soon as possible.

Having gotten used to year-round diving in Thailand, I naively expected Montenegro to be somewhat similar. Well, not quite :)

As early as January, I started writing to local dive centers: — When can I dive? I'm ready to fly over next weekend!

To which they quite reasonably replied: — Dude, we work seasonally. Right now we're in Belgrade teaching beginners to dive in pools. We'll go to Montenegro only in early May — weather permitting. Contact us closer to those dates.

I had to wait until late April. When warm weather settled in Serbia and Montenegro, I wrote to several centers again. They replied: the season starts in early May — come, let's go diving. On May 8th, I flew to Tivat, rented a car, and headed to Herceg Novi where I arranged my first dive.

Herceg Novi

Herceg Novi is a resort town on the border with Croatia and one of Montenegro's most popular diving destinations. From here, you can easily reach famous locations: sunken ships, caves, submarine tunnels.

But there's a catch — you can reach them if the dive center has already launched their boat.

As I mentioned above, I arrived literally at the start of the season. I thought this was an advantage — I also went to the Similans at the beginning of the season and had an amazing experience: almost empty boat, no crowds. But here it worked against me. A couple of days before the trip, the first dive center warned that they hadn't launched the boat yet, so we'd be diving from shore.

Well, couldn't cancel everything. Plus it was a new experience. Before this, I had always dived from boats. Although... I had also shore dived in Belgrade 🤔, but then I was in a dry suit, while here — in a long 8mm wet suit. Anyway, it was unusual. And I also needed to readjust after Thailand and understand what it's like to dive in "warm water" at +20°C.

It turned out not as scary as I expected. But at depth, I already felt discomfort. Now I understand why Serbians say: "We dive in dry suits year-round."

The dive took place at Rafaello Beach, we spent 41 minutes underwater. Conditions were okay: visibility: ~15 meters, water temperature: 20-22°C, but the maximum depth was only 6 meters, so I didn't expect bad conditions.

The underwater world near shore is less diverse than in Thailand, but interesting in its own way. We saw sea breams, wrasses, sea cucumbers, and black sea urchins. We tried to lure out an octopus, but it just peered from its shelter, as if wondering: "What are you doing here?"

After the dive, I chatted with the dive master. She advised coming in early September — when there are fewer tourists, the weather is still great, and boats are operating at full capacity. Maybe I should give Montenegro a second chance exactly then.

Budva: The Tunnels, St. Nicholas Island and Mogren Cove

Two days later I was already in Budva, preparing to dive with another center. Here, dives were conducted from a boat at dive sites around Sveti Nikola island.

My feelings about these dives were mixed. More precisely, about the dive organization. I saw two sides of how it's done: for certified divers and for DSD groups (people trying the underwater world for the first time).

Thailand clearly set a high bar in my assessment of how dive operations should be conducted. When dive masters in Thailand responded to complaints about inconveniences and oddities in the process by saying: "Listen, you haven't dived in [any other place], everything there is really poorly organized," — I thought they were just being lazy and didn't want to do things properly.

But any, even the most mediocre dive master from Thailand looked like a true professional compared to the Budva team. A 5-minute briefing, 2 minutes of which were spent looking for a mask, and in the remaining time he didn't even cover the minimum basics. One dive with the DSD group lasted a maximum of 7 minutes for 80 euros — people were just dragged around underwater by their tanks. Plus a questionably organized boat for a three-hour journey (with 7 minutes underwater).

For me, as a certified diver, everything was slightly better: personal guide, they showed interesting marine life and interesting spots. But still almost no communication before/after the dive.

But what's down there underwater?

There were two dives: The first at The Tunnels. St. Nicholas Island 38 minutes underwater, maximum depth 13 meters, explored two natural tunnels, encountered a moray eel, lots of sea stars and breams. Visibility from 15 to 7 meters. Quite a pleasant location, if the water were warmer (temperature was 21 to 18°C) it would be excellent.

The second dive was at Mogren Cove. I went diving with the second dive master. What was uncomfortable was that the guy swam very fast, as if it were a timed race rather than fun diving. And after 40 minutes on the boat where I couldn't warm up much, underwater it became quite cold.

We tried to reach a sunken boat, but turned back halfway: the temperature at 18 meters dropped to 16°C, and going further would have been very uncomfortable. The boat lies at 27 meters — I would have frozen there. We swam for 35 minutes. Visibility was about the same as at the previous dive site. Marine life was a bit more boring, but we also explored a couple of grottos.

Overall — okay. The underwater world didn't amaze me, but observing the difference between the Andaman and Adriatic seas was still interesting.

What I Would Do Differently

Analyzing my experience, I understand that haste worked against me. The desire to dive as soon as possible made me miss obvious signals. If I could replay everything, I would approach the trip completely differently:

1. I would clarify not only the calendar dates of the season, but also the actual launch of boats. Season by calendar and actual infrastructure readiness are two very different things. Europe is not Asia with its stable climate.
2. I would request photos of the boat and equipment in advance. This would help set proper expectations and understand what to bring additionally.
3. I would clarify the dive format: with certified divers or DSD beginners. Ideally — find dive buddies, although that's difficult here.
4. I would discuss in advance which dive sites I want to visit and whether they'll be available on my dates.
5. I would choose a different time of year. Better to save Montenegro for September or June, not May.

If I decide to give Montenegro a second chance, I'll approach planning much more consciously. Montenegro is definitely not Thailand. Here you need to adapt to the region's rhythm, not try to impose your own expectations.