Dhekelia

Locations

The Dhekelia area includes military facilities at the following locations:

Area Overview

Dhekelia Station is situated within the Eastern Sovereign Base Area (ESBA). Dhekelia itself is on the Northern shore of the wide sweeping Larnaca Bay and is situated some 15 km North East of the important coastal town of Larnaca and 20 km West of Ayia Napa.

Almost everyone speaks English which does make life much easier. Learning to speak (and read/write) Greek is appreciated and acknowledged. Cyprus Authorities have a very relaxed approach "they have no sense of urgency and if they can't be bothered to do something they have no qualms in coming right out and saying it.....customer service hasn't quite reached here yet! The key phrase is very much 'this is Cyprus my friend, slowly slowly! Getting things done is also very much a case of not what you know but who you know and trust me, everyone knows everyone else here, it's a very small island! "

Children and Education

In Dhekelia you have several places for the children.

Dhekelia Early Years is a creche which runs from 0730 until 1230 costing €25 per day for these hours. Alternatively there is a creche in Xylotympou (approximately 10 minutes down the road) for the sam hours it costs €95 per month for a baby.

Little Monkeys is a non-profit run playgroup for children up to pre-school age. It costs €1 per session and runs on a Tuesday and a Thursday from 0900 until 1200.

Jumping Jacks is a playgroup for children up to pre-school age. This also costs €1 per session.

You have a pre-school attached to the school which provides three free morning sessions a week for children two years and nine months until school age.

Dhekelia Primary School is the first school that children would attend on the camp, and the hours depend on the age of the child. For example for my son, who is in year five, he will be at school from 0725 until 1305.

Senior school is King Richard School and the hours are approximately 0725 until 1330.

Shopping

Cyprus is a beautiful yet frustrating place. It is expensive compared to the UK and a lot of us do go all misty eyed at the thought of shopping at places like Tesco, Asda etc but you just kinda get on with it, there's always the option of buying stuff online if you're prepared to wait a while but as Sam said, that's why we get LOA/COLA.

There's a big Ikea about 30 minutes' drive away from Dhekelia, and a toy shop - Jumbo's - which is much cheaper than bringing toys from home for children (they stock FisherPrice toys which carry the CE Kitemark - always look out for this when buying abroad, to ensure you're buying "safe" toys)

Next to Ikea is "Cyprus Mall". It has Peacocks, Next, Debenhams, Kickers, Intersport, and many other shops. Whilst this is great, and probably the only place where everything is under one roof you will have to pay a premium. If you want to buy cheap clothes then you will HAVE to buy them at the market by Oups on a Sunday. Oups is on the way to oroklini.

Oups itself sells things like garden furniture (not cheap over here at all), garden hose's, electrical items (kettles, water coolers, air con, kitchen appliances,and many other brick a brack items)

There is a pool shop just off of camp and a 10 foot pool costs approx €130. Not bad money at all. Bear in mind that you will need to get the pool man to fill the pool up, this costs €80 for that sized pool.

For food your best bet is Carrefour or Orphanides for your yoghurts, cheese, milk, eggs, bread, carton drinks, water if you don't get a cooler, cleaning products.

For meat there is a superb butcher in Xylotympou which is very reasonable. For the four of us I spend between €18 and €30 a week on meat which includes steaks.

For fruit and veg the best place that I have found is Fpivos, which is opposite Carrefour. I spend about €15 for a larder fridge full of fruit and veg.

There is also a Lidl in Ormedhia and Larnaca now, which is significantly cheaper than Carrefour, but does not have as much variety.

Transport and Travel

You really really need to be able to drive here, or else have a good friend that does because things are not really local, or centralised. Larnaca (which is the closest town) has many different area's with many different shops spread all over the show.

I find it reasonably easy to travel around in the car as sign posts are fairly good - unless your in Nicosia, and then it's a bit of guess work!!!

Buses are few and far between, and there is no railway service.

Weather

June, July and August are the hottest months, no surprise. The weather is hot and humid. Charlie 5 has said on the forum that

"Weather wise, well right now I'd give my right arm for some rain! July and August are damn hot but it's not particularly the heat that's the problem, it's the humidity. It's horrible; I'm sweating in places I didn't know I had! Today I've drank about 3 litres of water, had 4 showers and worn probably 3 different lots of clothes and everyone's just waiting for the day the humidity breaks so that we can function a bit more normally! "

October and the weather is beginning to fluctuate. Some hot days, some cold days. I think I have acclimatised really quickly though, because I am feeling the cold now.

Pets

Many people on camp have gone to the local dog and cat sanctuary and taken a dog or a cat off of their hands. However, these sanctuaries always have a lot of animals there purely because many people have "tour dogs/cats". They are struggling financially, and to be honest people need to take responsibility for their animals.

Cypriots are not keen on cats or dogs.

To get your Dog/Cat back from Cyprus you need to arrange this yourself. This can be done with a company called LadyHaye or you can arrange it through BARC at Episkopi or BFAWS at Dhekelia.

The best vets to use are Ormedhia or Oroklini.

Sport and Leisure

Lots of opportunities, especially water sports - I am looking into costs etc at the moment.

Jobs and Recruitment Agencies

There are very few jobs over here for dependants, and the ones that are available are childminding or teaching assistants jobs mainly. There are some at the school, some in Welfare and some in the Hive.

You are also able to work off of camp in bar's but please bear in mind you must register for Cypriot tax with Welfare if you do this otherwise you will lose your LOA.

Food and Drink & Going Out

Food is expensive for some things (mainly imported UK food) but not for others - local produce - I bought a weeks worth of fruit and veg and salad things (we get through a lot of these) and it came to €8. You would find it far more expensive in the UK.

There is a butcher in Xylotympou which is very reasonable and sells excellent quality meat. I buy for the whole family for a week and we are talking around €25. You can pre-order from him as well.

Restaurants.

Lambros on the beach by camp has the most fantastic fish I have ever eaten in my life, and is quite reasonable given the cost of fish and chips in the UK.

Cessacs next to it do great lunch menu's and again are very reasonable.

Whatever you do do not use the chinese or indian on camp, they are both expensive and not that great.

I will report with any more when we have had the chance!

Water Parks

There is a water park in Agia Napa which is €22 Adult and €18 Child. We haven't been yet but everyone I have spoken to has told me that it is a great place - Please not that these prices are with a military discount and you need to show your ID card to get it.

There are approximately three other water parks in Cyprus, all approximately the same costs.

References

Army Families Federation Co-ordinator for ESBA - Tel: 25 96 2110 or through the local HIVEs - Email Facebook Page Dhekelia Hive map