Tolo, better known to divers as Ol' Blue, is a shore dive on the north-west coast where a pebble beach turns into a short, steep slope. The entry is the whole dive in one word: pebbles roll away under your feet, and in swell they roll with you. The reef itself is one of the finest on the north coast.
Tolo (Ol' Blue) is an advanced shore dive on the north-west coast: pebble entry, reef top at five to eight metres and a slope to thirty-five metres, only in a flat sea.
A narrow sand strip leads to a reef top at five to eight metres that drops away almost at once. Large brain corals and star coral stand in good condition on the slope, with purple tube sponges down into the depth. Horse-eye jacks pass along the rim and trumpetfish hang among the sea fans.
In easterly wind and a flat sea, preferably in the morning. With north-westerly swell the pebble entry is unusable and waiting will not help: choose a site further south.
Pebbles roll away under you on entry and exit, awkward with tanks on your back. The current runs harder here than at Karpata. Parking is the verge of a through road. No shade, no water, no toilet.
Decisions on diveability, technique and health belong with STINAPA, a dive school or a doctor. This page only describes the conditions.
The name Ol' Blue comes from a blue-painted house that stood by the coast road for years and served as a landmark for divers. Tolo is the older name of the area itself.
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