Croatia · Adriatic Sea

Vis Island

Best warm-water Adriatic season for caves, walls and wrecks.

Vis is the most remote inhabited Croatian island and the country's best diving — Adriatic walls, the B-17 bomber wreck and several other WWII sites, and Mediterranean fish life on clear water.

Good season

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

May–October; July–August is warmest. Winter is too cold for most.

Trip duration

5–7 nights as part of an Adriatic trip.

Dive style

Boat diving on walls and wrecks; mild current.

Dive level

Open Water; Advanced for the deeper wrecks (40m+).

Reef health

What you’ll actually find
Mixed

Some loss since the 2010s, but the reef still has plenty to dive. Pick depth and shoulder-season carefully.

Heat stress right now

No stress

No abnormal heat right now. Corals stay coloured.

NOAA Coral Reef Watch · updated May 2026 · 0 °C-week heat dose

What to expect on a dive

Adriatic wrecks and caves. The reef is algae, sponge, and gorgonian — coral cover is not the right metric.

Sources, methodology, and the raw numbers

Raw observed numbers

  • Coral cover: 12% (survey Sep 2024, Mediterranean benthic transect (algae + gorgonian cover))
  • Bleached: 0%
  • Recent mortality: 0%
  • Mediterranean — observed condition reflects the stable regional pattern.

Raw thermal numbers

  • NOAA CRW alert level: No stress
  • Degree Heating Weeks: 0 °C-wk
  • SST anomaly: +0.7 °C

How we summarise this

Observed coral cover, bleaching, and mortality come from named in-situ surveys with a stated date and method — they describe one snapshot of one reef and do not extrapolate to neighbouring sites. Current thermal stress is satellite-derived from NOAA Coral Reef Watch at ~5 km resolution; it indicates risk, not observed coral damage. We deliberately separate observed condition, current thermal stress, and projection — and we never publish a projection without a documented model and uncertainty.

Sources

Reef condition changes year to year. If you visit, consider supporting responsible-travel and conservation operators on the ground.

Pressure on this reef

Protection · fishing · what you can do

Protected-area status

Multi-use MPA

Inside a designated MPA that permits regulated fishing and other uses. Worth checking which zones at this location are no-take.

Fishing pressure

High fishing pressure

Dominant pressures

  • overfishing
  • warming
  • shipping
  • plastic

1 Green Fins-verified operator known at this location.

What you can do

Mediterranean coastal diving outside MPAs. The reef ecology here is sponge / gorgonian / algae — primary pressures are intense fishing and marine traffic.

Protection status sourced from Protected Planet / WDPA and refined with Marine Protection Atlas. Fishing pressure proxy is Global Fishing Watch AIS data. See the methodology for what these sources can and can’t prove.

Dive sites here

2 curated

Gear

What to bring

Basic kit

Site-specific add-ons

Some dive sites here call for extra gear. Check the individual site page for full context.

  • DrysuitBottom temp at 72 m stays cold year-round; deco hangs at 6 m demand insulation. · B-17 Bomber Wreck
  • ComputerTrimix decompression dive — tech-capable computer mandatory. · B-17 Bomber Wreck
  • Dive lightLight at depth drops fast — primary canister required. · B-17 Bomber Wreck
  • 5mm wetsuitAdriatic stays cool even in summer at depth. · Stenjak Cave

What divers say

A B-17 sitting on a sand bottom at 70m, intact. Vis is for wreck divers willing to come this far.
Wreck specialist