Environment
Seven nautical miles north of Heraklion city lies the uninhabited island of Dia. The island is 5km long and 3km wide and covers an area of about 12 sq km, extending from east to west.
However small, Dia was capable of sustaining a small number of permanent inhabitants until a couple of centuries ago. Although it was covered by dense vegetation in the past, it is barren and rocky today because of fires, lumbering and overgrazing.
There are four deep coves on the south coast of the island, frequently used by mariners for protection from the north winds that often blow at this part of the Mediterranean Sea.
The highest spot of the island is at 250 m and the rocky cliffs, at the north and east ends, form an ideal natural habitat for the Cretan wild goat (kri kri).
Many rare species of flora and fauna are found on Dia, among which Eleonora’s falcon, which immigrates from Madagascar every year. Due to its biodiversity, the island has been characterized as a EUROPEAN NATURA protected region.
HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY
Traces of prehistoric (early Bronze Age) settlements, obsidian stone tools from Milos island and pottery and stone structures show that Dia had been inhabited since, at least, the 3rd Millennium BC. St. George’s Bay in the southwest had been an organized, well protected harbour already since the Minoan period , probably destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Santorini around the mid 15th century BC.
The four southern bays of the island provide good shelter from the north winds but they are dangerous in case of a sudden change of weather.
While snorkelling round our anchored boat, we can see pieces of ancient Greek or Roman amphorae and Byzantine or Venetian pottery scattered on the seabed.
Jacques Yves Cousteau, who explored the area around Dia from 1974 to 1976, discovered seven ancient shipwrecks , two of which in St. George’s Bay.