Agia Pelagia, Crete, Greece

El Greco Reef

El Greco Reef sits a short boat ride from Agia Pelagia on the north coast of Crete, west of Heraklion. The site is built around a rocky reef structure rising from a sandy plain at around 25 metres to a shallow plateau at 8 metres, threaded by a series of swim-throughs and short tunnels carved by ancient water flow. Divers typically descend along the reef wall, work through the cracks and arches, then drift back along the sand-meets-rock interface. The site is named after the Cretan-born Renaissance painter Domenikos Theotokopoulos (El Greco). Resident species include dusky grouper, Mediterranean moray, common octopus, painted comber, scorpionfish and damselfish, with seasonal pelagic visits from amberjack and bonito in late summer. Sea fans and sponges colonise the shadier walls. Currents are usually weak, making the dive accessible to intermediate divers with good buoyancy, and the Aegean visibility regularly exceeds 25 metres in summer and autumn.