Diving in Alanya, Turkey....

Anyone have any suggestions/advice?

I am going there in April and I really curious about diving in the mediteranean.
I read online that cave diving is popular in Alanya.

Anyone can give me advice regarding diveschool in Alanya?
Looking for a good and reliable place I can dive with.

 

I used Dolphin Dive, run by a guy named Erkan. It's nothing much but I like visiting Turkey for the history.

 

My husband and a couple of associates were in Antalya Turkey (the same place?) about 4 years ago. The diving is not good at all. Frankly, he said it was a waste of downtime.

Bonne chance,

 

PS Antalya is NOT Alanya.

Well I did some diving...and it was BAD.
Not much to see and in preseason(april) The sea was to ruff to chance cavedives.

Anyway I dove with Active divers...together with Dolphin Dive the 2 biggest diveshops in town.
Sadly i must STRONGLY advise against using Active Divers. BCDs were without depthmeters and they don't tell the truth about divesites and about where to dive.
Furthermore I was dumped into a group of 30 turkish divers. That's just to BIG a group.
They cant even organise a groupdive of 6 divers. I was told to suit up and jump nto the water. I waited nearly 20 minutes before the rest of the group was ready to jump in.(The water is COLD in spring) Reason was lack of organistaion and teamwork.
If you really must dive..try Dolphin. HAvent tried it myself, but it's considered the best organistation in town.

But be warned...there has been deaths with cavedives. recently here. And there's not much to see underwater.

 

Thanks for the report, Juggernaut, from an area not frequented much by Western divers.

OK, the Med is cold in April. You figured that out now. Also, cave diving requires cave diving certification/training. The typical story, some people have gone in, but not gotten out.

Thanks, dive safe.

 

I know...but the shops should be more forthright with this info. I learned about this secondhand not from the diveshop itself.
In the summer there will be alot of people diving there...and because the water there is so bare.(No fishes or corals..just huge rocks/boulders)
Cavediving is the only interesting option and main sell of the area. 50% of the divesites in Alanya are cavedives.

Another think i didnt like...they didn't tell straightout that there's a chance that certain dives couldn't be done because of weather/sea. And openwater dives here is boring.
(PS I usually dive in the tropics with abundant life underwater...so maybe i am a little spoiled in this area)

 

I looked up Alanya and saw the many caves....I am surprised the cave divers have not found this place. There must be a possibility of starting a tech diving operation there, if it hasn't happened already. Please note Active is a PADI dive centre so you can complain to PADI if you feel it is violating their standards.

Being a Greek, I was happy to learn something about my neighbouring country tonight. Alanya sounds like a very pretty place to visit.

 

It's a great place to visit...turkey is a great place. A lot to do..even if the weather is not that good. But as a greek..I guess all the old stuff is not to special.
It's basically a holiday town...like Kuta, Phuket etc.

Not sure if it's the same as in other mediteranean divesites...it was basically pretty empty sea. For example when I had to vomit....there was no fishes.
In asia when i had to do it...the ocean will be full of fishes

 

I have not dived in Turkey...and the cave dive options mentioned...dive operations mentioned...do not seem up to par. Turkey is a wonderful country to visit...then again, with diving...there are dive sites and then there are dive sites.

 

Dear sir and madam
As I see you havent been diving with active divers you have been diving with some one else. Because we did not have any turkish group on begining season. As I know another dive center had turkish group. Also we always tell to our guests the under water world is not that nice as tropic waters. But any how we are sorry if you have this kinds of feeling of us.
Thanks A lot Elvan AKMAN