Diving in Turkey?

[ScubaDeniz]

Hey everyone whats up?
So this summer in June 06 I'm flying over to Turkey to visit my family, and dive for a month . I was wondering if anyone has had any diving experiance, or any stories to share about their trip? Photos would be awesome but just in general what should I do or not do?
THANK YOU MUCH!

 

[Tdiver]

Selamlar Deniz,unsure to where you are going diving but take a look at my pages at www.virtualtourist.com Click on Members,then search for a member and type Tdiver.Listed dive companies in Bodrum,Kusadasi,Marmaris,Cesme,Istanbul,Ayvalik,Fethiye,Kas,Kalkan,Antalya,Alanya,Kemer and a few more places,look under sports tips.A few pictures especially on my Fethiye page,Mark.English,living in Istanbul.

 

[El Orans]

There are several Turkish divers around here, they'll be here shortly...

 

[ataman]

Hey Deniz,

I am originally from Turkey but living in Canada at the moment. There is lots of good diving for cheap in southern Turkey specially around Bodrum and Kas Ayvalik and saroz are ok. but the best is in Bodrum and specially Kas.

let me know where you are planing to go and i can provide you with more information specific to each area and can also provide you with some local contacts. i know the good guys. dove around turkey for about 3 years.

one of the most important things is do you speak fluent turkish? priceses do go down quite a lot if you do. if not again let me know and i can hook you up with ppl down there. I hope i do not sound like a sales person or travel agent in fact i do not have any relationship with any company. i am just offering help for your convience


Firat

 

[divingHeidi]

Hey Deniz,

I am originally from Turkey but living in Canada at the moment. There is lots of good diving for cheap in southern Turkey specially around Bodrum and Kas Ayvalik and saroz are ok. but the best is in Bodrum and specially Kas.

let me know where you are planing to go and i can provide you with more information specific to each area and can also provide you with some local contacts. i know the good guys. dove around turkey for about 3 years.

one of the most important things is do you speak fluent turkish? priceses do go down quite a lot if you do. if not again let me know and i can hook you up with ppl down there. I hope i do not sound like a sales person or travel agent in fact i do not have any relationship with any company. i am just offering help for your convience


Firat

Hi Ataman,

I just joined the Scubaboard today and I would love to ask for some advice. It seems you know the diving in Turkey quite well!
We were planning to go in the beginning of June to Oman (but I don't seem to be finding so much) or Turkey for some diving.
I have been checking on-line and we were looking at Kas to go diving with Sirena Diving Club and stay at the Begonvil Hotel.
Do you know the dive club?
Or do you suggest any other good diving Club in Kas? And is there also some other things to do in Kas, we have 1 non-diver joining us, we don't want her to get too bored:07:

greetings

DivingHeidi
from Dubai

 

[Diver0001]

Hey everyone whats up?
So this summer in June 06 I'm flying over to Turkey to visit my family, and dive for a month . I was wondering if anyone has had any diving experiance, or any stories to share about their trip? Photos would be awesome but just in general what should I do or not do?
THANK YOU MUCH!

The diving seems to be concentrated between Izmir and Antalya. As a general rule it's safe to say that the further to the south you go, the better the diving gets in terms of under water life.

Diving is relaxed. The boats are generally small and no mass diving tourism that I could see.... Vizibility is practically unlimited most of the time. Water temps are in the mid 20's in the summer. Not huge amounts of life and no coral and such but lots of interesting dives, caverns, caves, wrecks and old-stuff, beautiful walls and a fairly good mix of everything that can be found in the Med...

(and it's affordable....)

R..

 

[ataman]

Hi there...

Kas PERFECT CHOICE
Sirena Dive Centre PERFECT CHOICE

The owner of Sirena dive centre is Hakan he is a very good guy. they do not have the best boat but definalty do the best diving. He takes small groups and provides quality service, dont look at his boat...

You will be leaving early in the morning doing a good deeper dive coming back, leaving in the afternoon for the second dive, thats how all the charters operate in Kas. second dive is usually not that great. i suggest you go for the first dive everyday and enjoy your afternoon. he charges you by the number of dives. mention my name and he might give you a little break, my first name is Firat. Try to dive with either hakan or aykut. these 2 are great to dive with. definatly dive the canyon. also if you are little crazy ( single tank dive to 200ft) he does a dive to a WW2 airplane wreck, charges extra and he trains you for it.

as far as hotel, i dont know what you are looking for, there is luxury accomodation and cheap motels, whatever you want. if you contact hakan, he will help you with that too.

now your non-diver friend.... he can come on the boat with you to swim and suntan for a very minimal charge. but kas is not a entertainment district, you will only find 2-3 bars open at night, its quite little town. there is salsa bar that is open quite late, those guys are good. for food, there is a restaurant called bahce right by hakans dive shop, you must try it! cheap and good.

if i missed anything feel free to ask me..

Firat Ataman

 

[ataman]

Hey forgot to mention, other good diving spot is called flying fish, very high currents but s chance to see caratte caratteas , also ask for the magra ( cave)

cheers

 

[ScubaDeniz]

Hey everyone thanks for all the info, my parents own a summer house off of the coast of Izmir called Urla, I will most likely start my diving from there and move down the coast. I will try to hit up all those spots mentioned, thanks for the advice.

 

[divingHeidi]

Hi Firat,

Thanks for your reply and confirming we made a good choice with
Kas and Sirena Dive Centre. I got an e-mAIL back from a guy called Rico at Sirena.

Unfortunately we will not do the WW2 airplane wreck, I read about it on Sirena's web-site, we just got 2 months ago our AOWD and have only 30 logged dives, so I guess we are not ready for that yet!
As for hotel, Sirena got me the Begonvil Hotel, which seems reasonable and not too expensive.
I will also check out the Flying fish Dive site. Also thanks for the advice of restaurants and bars.

Also returner thanks for your info

DivingHeidi