Previous trip report Iposted elsewhere
This was June 2004
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. The
clue was I had an Island Divers (Tenerife) T shirt on. They explained
they and the owners brother were looking after the business at present
and if I want 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.

I had several dives with Dolphin in 2001. Its a very comfortable boat and
the well organised. Partners can come along and snorkel/sunbathe for a
nominal charge while you go diving. Kemel, the owner, is an accomplished DL,
but he seemed to leave most of the instructing to British/German instructors
and concentrated on driving the boat and making lunch - which was included
in the price and was simple but tasty.

It was my first set of dives after qualifying and I was more occupied with
learning dive boat etiquette and revising my OWD skills than watching the
fish. For this reason, probably, I don't recall being particularly wowed by
what was going on around me. I do remember watching tuna hunting and seeing
a few impressive european barracuda, though. The sea can be fairly rough in
September but Kemel isn't faint of heart. I recall learning, the hard way,
how to get from the dive platform to the anchor chain in a heavy swell.

Kalkan is a pretty self-contained resort with lots of bars and restaurants
to choose from and we didn't get pestered by shopkeepers and street traders
as much as in other places we visited in Turkey.

Worth a visit I'd say.

Graeme