Travel Talk

Scuba Diving in Kalkan, Turkey

Greetings,

As you know, yours truly finally decided to “dive in” so to speak and go scuba diving in Kalkan, Turkey. Why Kalkan? Why Kalkan Dive Centre? We’d never heard of Kalkan but when looking online, it had one of the more attractive prices and quality looking establishments. We checked with the staff to see what the deal was and booked the PADI Open Water certification course. The dive center is attached to the Kalamar Beach Club in the photo below.

The course took 3 days and involved 6 dives. It also involved lots of theory aka reading the book and watching the DVD. There are 4 quizzes you must complete before progressing to a further step and a final exam with 50 questions. It’s quite a bit of work to do over 3 days but if you’re into it, it’s well worth it and very easily done. Let’s get serious, this is scuba diving not neuroscience.

The first dive I took, found it stressful, breathing underwater is incredibly foreign and if you’re an advanced swimmer, your body is hard wired to conserve every last ounce of air while under water. Once you get the hang of it, breathing underwater becomes second nature and you get to appreciate that you’re exploring somewhere new and different.

The facilities were great and the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable. The water here is crystal clear, really gives you an idea of how vast the underwater world is and how it’s crazy that we’re exploring mars when we have no clue what’s even under the water on our planet.

Afterward the certification went on a wreck diving excursion, regrettably didn’t get to dive as I have an ear infection, what are the odds? Seriously? Saw some photos and it’s a large wreck from a German ship that was made in 1889 and sunk in 1940 or so. There are many other dive sites in the vicinity due to the rich history of the place coupled with crystal clear water.

Finally a certified scuba diver, never thought it would happen.

Definitely a worthwhile experience.

Cordially,

Leave a Reply