Diving in Bodrum and Diving Points

Bodrum has made a significant name for itself in Turkish tourism with it s yachting, beaches, coves and night life but it has also become known for its diving with important diving points and new diving locations opened in September 2001. The only underwater archaeology museum in Turkey is in Bodrum and is also increasingly drawing people to the region

Bodrum Castle

The most important and interesting diving points around Bodrum are listed as follow.

It is one of the symbol diving points of region, with a maximum depth of four meters It can be reached by sailing 20 minutes from Bodrum. The waters around Bodrum, Gumbet and Istankoy gradually get deeper whereas in the Karaada region the sea bed plunges, with the shallows being 28-32 meters. In some of shallows and on the outskirts you can see pieces of amphorae, even if in small numbers. It is certain that you will come across large grey mullet, grouper, large rock grouper, octopus and shoals of sargo and sea bream. If you are lucky you even see turtles and barracuda.

Small bango is about 200 meters from the big bango. Initially the depth is five to six meters, then increases to eight meters before graduating out to 28-30 meters. All types of  life forms the you can see in Big Bango can also be found here. These two sties, thet are popular with the Bodrum diving schools, are so interesting that they make one say, “Are there this many types and numbers of fish in theMediterranean sea?” If you go close you can see clearly from the boat.

The island of Kargi is about one and a half hours sail from Bodrum or 500 meters off Akyarlar point. This island is the closest point to the Greek island of  Kos (3,5 sea miles). On the top of the island is a lighthouse. The diving point is the side that faces the gulf, though there are other points suitable for diving. In the are facing towards Kos, at a depth of five to 25 meters, there are pieces of amphorae that are possibly related to a Roman ship wreck fro the 4^th century AD. The interesting part of diving here is the perpendicular rocks which are towering like hills fro the bottom to the surface on the shores, on the hill50 meters distance from the shores, the shallows out to17 meters from the surface.

The water of the cost of the island are 20-22 metersin depth, with rocks at 36 meters. Fish here are also plentiful. You can certainly see many shoals of sea bream and barracuda. The only disadvantage to this location for diving are the strong currents at certain times of the year towards the island of Kos.

Kocek island is a sea mile away from theisland of Kargı in the direction of  Bodrum and has small rocky islets. It is one and a half kilometers from the coves of Akyarlar, Karaincir and Aspat Hill. The advantage of this islet is that there are not many rocks near the surface but around it there are lots of pieces of amphorae from various centuries. The part near the land is 8-10 metersdeep, while on the Bodrum – Kargı side it is 20-22 metersand on the Gokova side is 32-34 meters. In the direction of Gokova two iron anchors belonging to the late era are now intermixed with the rocks. At this diving point, where the number of barracuda and silver colored sea bream  are highest, other than the fish you will come across in Kargı shelled sea animals such as triton and pina.