Turkey

Turkey is well known for its contrasting and stunning lanscapes that can take you from the white sand beaches to the alien-like Cappadoccia. Istambul is famous for its vibrant markets filled with spices smell and handicrafts. Also for its cultural heritage Hagia Sophia is a must!

Turkey's crystal-clear waters run along 8,000 km of coastline. They are filled with a wide range of fish and coral species and there is plenty of wrecks to visit.

It is true that the quick economic growth in the country has led to a decrease in marine life abundance. However, there are marine protected areas where you will be able to see near-pristine environments including sea turtles. If you go on the breeding season you can be lucky to see the loggerheads at Iztuzu beach.

Most comonly found are eels, octopus and sometimes lobsters under rock ledges. You will surely cross with one of their many species of rays and beautiful fish, even above the water surface (flying fish).

Turkey is ideal for a family diving holiday and to learn how to dive. It offers great value for money as well as warm and calm seas with proper dive schools.

There is a lot of very different dives to chose as you can visit three different seas in the same country. A brief description of each one:

MEDITERRANEAN SEA

Antalya is the most famous touristic destination boasting the largest amount of diving centers in the country. However, Kaş is the diving capital of Turkey because it offers a high abundance of sea life and endless variety of dives with consistant frequency and quality. Wrecks, caves and canyons are easily found in many dive sites, even underwater art installations. The waters around Kalkan are more adecuate to experienced divers and Patara has plenty of colourful sponges and corals. If you are lucky you will be spending some time with the sea turtles too!

With a great array of marine life, the huge thornback rays and many cave dive sites, Tekirova and the surrounding islands is probably the most popular diving area in the region of Kemer.

Finally, the major part of the dives in Mersin are in the coastline of the Tasucu. These include the famous sunken cargo ship in the cape of the west of the island of Dana.

AEGEAN SEA

Datca is the area in the region of Mugla where you can most easily see dolphins, Mediterranean seals and even sharks. Over 50 dive sites spread in little space with a great offer for ancient ruins underwater around Marmaris.

Bodrum is known for its wreck diving opportunities, caverns and array of sea sponges. In the island of Orak there are plenty of beautiful geological shapes. With not more than 4 meters deep, Big Bango is the icon of the area. The little brother named Small Bango is a couple hundred meters away. About half an hour boat ride you can get to Kargi Island. Many small little rocks pop their heads over the surface near Kocek Island, which is just a mile away from the latter heading to Bodrum. The Gulf of Gokova is known for its wall diving sites due to the stunning geological structures.

According to the legend, the sunken city of Atlantis is somewhere around Ayvalik. However, this area is best known for the magnificent diving around Kerbela Rocks, Gunes Island and Yuvarlak.

MARMARA SEA

In Canakkale, Saros is well suited to receive tourist with high demand in commodities. Easy to access from Istambul, there is interesting marine life, ancient ruins underwater and also quite a rich on-land vegetation.

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