Diving in Budva

Diving clubs work out of Budva, Pržno, Sveti Stefan and Petrovac; summer sea is 21-25 °C with 15-35 m visibility, and the Budva tourist office says no diving permit is needed.

Budva, Pržno, Sveti Stefan, Petrovac

Photo: Miomir Magdevski · CC BY-SA 4.0

Diving in Budva runs through clubs in Budva itself, Pržno, Sveti Stefan and Petrovac. The Budva tourist office describes a seabed of gorgonian and coral colonies and posidonia meadows, summer sea of 21 to 25 °C and visibility of 15 to 35 m, and says that under the latest regulations no diving permit is needed. The named caves and wrecks of the Montenegrin coast are off Bar, not Budva.

The walled island village of Sveti Stefan with red roofs, joined to the shore by a sandy isthmus — Sveti StefanPhoto: Marcin Konsek, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sea and seasons

Sea temperature, summer	21-25 °C
Sea temperature, winter	rarely below 13 °C
Visibility	15-35 m
Salinity	36 ‰

No official source publishes a diving season; the figures above are the Budva tourist office's. Fish it names: dentex, sea bream, groupers, conger and moray eels, rays and lobsters.

Rules

Recreational scuba: the Budva tourist office states that no permit is needed under the latest regulations; the page is undated and no ministry text confirming it was found.
Sea sport fishing, including breath-hold spearfishing without extra gear, needs a permit from a local club: 10 days €15, one month €30; daily catch up to 3 kg or one fish over 5 kg.
Marine protected areas: Platamuni, Katič (off Petrovac) and Stari Ulcinj. The Katič management plan for 2023-2027 says diving zones and user criteria are not yet defined. Rules for diving on protected wrecks were not found.

Around Petrovac: the Katič area

Two diving clubs run trips around the islets off Petrovac and along the shore from Cape Dubovac to Čanj, inside the Katič nature park. The cruiser Zenta is the one known wreck in that area.

Wide view of a deep blue sea with two small islets offshore and a rocky wooded coast — The bay of Petrovac with the islets Sveta Nedjelja and KatičPhoto: Wikiarius, CC BY-SA 4.0

Caves and wrecks off Bar

The Bar tourist office lists the sites that older Budva listings borrow: the reef of Kraljičina plaža for beginners; Mikovića cave with its entrance at 7-8 m and a guide cable on the left branch; the Bigovica underwater archaeological site, a winter harbour from the 3rd century BC to the 16th century; King Nikola's yacht "Rumija" at 18 m by the main breakwater; a WWII Junkers Ju 88 at 54 m near Čanj; and the remains of an ancient temple in Maljevik bay. The Wrecks4All project runs a VR showroom in Kotor (€5) with virtual dives of the Dague near Bar, the Tihany by Mamula, S57 and a Ju 87. The diving hub covers the whole coast.