SEA / SCUBA DIVING

With North Cyprus being one of the best locations to dive in the world for experienced divers, it is also a superb place for the non-diver who wants to dip their head beneath the surface to see firsthand the underwater world of Jacques Cousteau, Hans and Lotte Hass.

 
“ It is in the clear waters of one of the many bays that those who have never ventured beneath the surface will be shown some of the wonders that exist just below the water line! Untouched by the hand of man life goes on as it has over countless centuries - with every venture a voyage of discovery. Northern Cyprus under the surface is a world where dreams are made...”

The Island of Aphrodite, Cyprus has for many years been the island of dreams and mysticism. Whilst situations change on land, underwater, time goes on as it has for countless centuries down through the ages. For decades southern Cyprus has long been the place for diving and exploration of the underwater world. However, to the experienced diver it has, due to commercialisation and over diving become somewhat of a barren area. Long gone are the shoals of large marine life. Whilst they are still there, they patrol in much deeper waters – away from the diver with the ‘spear gun’.

With only seven diving centres to the North Cypriot coastline, diving like the building of a multitude of mega-story hotels has not been a priority on the agenda! It is here on the Northern Cyprus coastline that time goes on as it has for countless decades – a Mediterranean resort as it used to be some 20 or more years ago.

 
As the five-finger mountains drop steeply into the deep-blue Mediterranean Sea, the sea floor drops steeply into 25 and more metres – a divers depth! On ‘Fred Reef’ just out of Kyrenia there is just so much to see and film. Do we take pictures of the many hundreds of large ‘Grouper’ that patrol the reef or do we photograph the ancient wreck site of the oldest trading ship known throughout the world where the tools of the archaeologists that worked the site during the 1970’s are still to this day left on the sea floor. Whilst the 2300 years old ship has been recovered and now remains preserved and on view in the ‘Shipwreck Museum’ within the confines of Kyrenia Castle there is still much to see and explore on the seabed. A mile away is the site where some years ago the front portion of a ‘super caravelle jet aircraft’ was sunk for divers to explore! The ‘local underwater inhabitants’ thought blow the divers – if they want to put an aircraft down here then, it’s our home but we don’t mind a diver or two coming down to take our picture! One particular resident of the wreck ‘a large dusky grouper’ leaves its home beneath the cockpit to take note as visiting divers approach. If it spies a diver with a camera then it comes in to pose just like a ‘page 3’ model – but this is the magic of the underwater world of Northern Cyprus!

Going west from Kyrenia to just before the border with the south is the sleepy town of ‘Mardinli’. Here, some years ago government archaeologists looked over the site of an ancient Roman shipwreck. Luckily, it was just a look over – as here lays the remains of a ship that plied its trade throughout a number of the Eastern Mediterranean ports centuries ago. It is here in the shallow waters of the bay that the remains of an ancient trading vessel still exist – from amphora to delicate oil lamps. All is still there and lays untouched in the sand!

Whilst there are many ancient remains with perhaps much to see on each and every dive, it must be remembered that ships have foundered on reefs and rocky shorelines ever since a boat was first put into the water in each and every country of the world. It is so in Northern Cyprus where a number of craft from early history to modern times have succumbed to the watery depths. This includes the period of the Second World War where a number of aircraft and ships have been identified on the seabed (with locations and full identifications having yet to be fully established). There is however one aircraft from this era a ‘Wellington Bomber’ that went into the sea to the east of Kyrenia near to the power station that has been not only located, but photographed and written about (briefly). Although the aircraft is very much broken up on the sea floor covering an area of some 300 metres at a depth of 24 metres there is still a great deal to look over, investigate and discover!

Over the last few years a few of the UK’s diving journalists have visited Cyprus’s Northern coast. The most prolific writer on the area David Oldale (Scuba World Magazine) retells of one of his most surprising encounters;

“It was my fifth dive in Northern Cyprus and to date I had been quite impressed. We had left on the boat from just outside Kyrenia to a dive site known locally as ‘Zephyros’. I had buddied up with another diver from the UK and had decided that we would be last into the water as I had the camera and we ‘could do our own thing’. The dive initially went to plan, the group of six motored off ahead of us to explore the ‘drop-off’ as we cruised over the eastern side of the reef where I had seen a number of large Grouper on patrol. For should I say we were quite content with taking a picture or three of the shoaling group. “

All our diving is in conjunction with Amphora Scuba Diving, a recognised PADI 5 Star Dive Centre (the Best 100 Dive Centres In the World) and Gold Palm IDC resort, CMAS offers a variety of dives to all appetites ranging from the shallow calm reefs to the more exciting caverns, walls, drop offs and caves.

Amphora Scuba Diving School offers a comprehensive range of International PADI, BSAC and CMAS diving courses. From the children’s BubbleMaker course to professional development courses, you are in the hands of professionals.