Anyone been to Kalkan?

[Dave Sydenham]

Hi all,

I'm off to Kalkan in Turkey in a couple of weeks and wondered if anyone had any experience of the diving over there? I have heard mixed reports on the quality of various Dive Centres and their recognition or otherwise by the various agencies. Can anyone recommend any particular Dive Centre? Ideally I'd rather not get involved in group led diving if possible. I believe there is some good deeper wrecks if you get the right crowd?

Also would appreciate any advice in general about diving in Turkey as it is the first time I have been. What's the local beer like? ;o)

Many thanks,

Dave
:o)

[colin jenkins]

Heres one I did previously!
Trip report Kalkan (Turkey) June 2004-07-02
I had originally been in contact with Dolphin with whom I had dived with previously over there but when I arrived the owner was in Istanbul sorting out problems with his new boat, however I was approached by an English couple Andrew and Jane asking if I was looking to dive.They explained they and the owners brother were looking after the business at present and if I wanted to dive they could sort it out, cost would be ?20 per day for two dives off the boat with lunch included as I had my own kit or ?25 with their kit and if my wife wanted to tag along it was ?8 for lunch and use of mask, fins ect. This was agreed and they picked me up next day from my hotel on time. The overall diving has improved vastly since I was last out in Kalkan 3 years ago when there was very little life. I had 5 day diving on various sites with max depth 27m. This include dives on to the Duchess of York wreck which is really just a bunch of plates sticking out of the sea bed but on the other side of the reef I could see down at 40m plus the wreck of the Sakarya which is featured in a report in Diver Dec 2003. The ship looked in a fair condition and Andrew said that they had dived it and it?s a fantastic dive. He also said that for the ?right? people it was possible to arrange to dive it. It?s not for the inexperienced at it starts at 40m and goes down to 60m and its on air as no mixed gases are available. Over the 5 days I saw Octopus, lots of big Grouper, Trigger Fish, Tuna, Jacks, Barracuda, Turtle, Flying Gurnard (sp), some big Fire Worm, Moray, Scorpion Fish, plus lots of other stuff.
Would I recommend it? Well not for a dive holiday but to do some diving on holiday yes. The kit I saw on the boat was top class and a lot of it was new. Andrew and Jane were very hospitable and easy going but their practices were safe.
What about Kalkan, well its upmarket Turkey. No beach as such in the resort, but two beaches can be reached with the local ?Dolmush?. One club only and several bars not too loud, the life is round the restaurants which are very good but not cheap for Turkey. Expect to pay from ?25 for two with a bottle of reasonable wine the most we paid was ?48 but that was with drinks before, bottle of wine, and drinks after and the food was top class.
Beer's called Effs and its fine and drinkable

[hazey]

I think you will find the diving in St Kilda a little better!

Sorry for rubbing it in - have a nice holiday.

As for diving in Turkey - Chris and I did a trip out of Bodrum. The diving was fine for a few days, but a bit boring by the end of the week. Has to play follow the group, as by law (well it was then) you have to dive with a Turkish dive guide.

Enjoy.

Hazel

[dave sydenham]

I think you will find the diving in St Kilda a little better!

Sorry for rubbing it in - have a nice holiday.

As for diving in Turkey - Chris and I did a trip out of Bodrum. The diving was fine for a few days, but a bit boring by the end of the week. Has to play follow the group, as by law (well it was then) you have to dive with a Turkish dive guide.

Enjoy.

Hazel

Thanks Hazel,

Yeah, it's a real downer having to miss the St Kilda trip. I am so jealous! :o( Thought we'd still better go away somewhere though and Lastminute.com came up with Kalkan. So Janine will be sitting on the boat watching me dive, ha, ha! ;o)

I have just had to go and buy a shortie wet suit as I reckoned 38 degrees was maybe a tad too warm for my Weezle Extreme, what do you reckon?

Anyway, enjoy St Kilda. I'm sure Kalkan diving will be nice if not as spectacular. Not sure about this group diving lark though... I got trawled around in Majorca a couple of years ago - it was an 'interesting' dive to say the least especially having to rescue another diver in the group when they ran out of air and then getting a row from the DiveMaster for doing so! Needless to say we dived with another crowd for the rest of the holiday and had a great time diving in pairs. :o)



Cheers!

Dave