Diving experience in Turkey
Turkey offers great opportunities for those in love with diving/scuba diving… The country has some truly beautiful shores on three sides.. Sports like wind-surf and diving have been attracting much more attention recently and there are already thousands of foreigners coming to Turkey over and over again for a beautiful diving, wind-surf, sailing (blue voyage as locally caly) or rafting adventure experience, as well as paragliding not to forget surely…
One of the destinations where you could enjoy an unforgettable diving adventure is ALTINKUM. Altınkum is located in Aydın Province between the city of İzmir and the resort Bodrum, about a 90 minute car ride either direction.
The Greek holiday island Kos is an hour’s boat ride away and Samos, Rhodes and Kusadasi are also in range. The region has developed from a string of small rural fishing villages into a tourist area. Altınkum and Didim were formerly two separate towns, but have grown together with a combined population of approximately 35,000 permanent residents, including about 5000 foreigners, mostly British with some Germans.
Altinkum, or “golden sands”, is the beach and promenade area within the town of Didim. Visitors are predominantly Turkish or British but over recent years tourists from countries such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania have been visiting in increasing numbers, mostly families and the older generation. Set on a sandy bay, the resort is relaxed and informal. There are three beaches within easy reach, and all have been awarded the Blue Flag Award. With 55 km (34 miles) of coastline in the immediate area, there are many beaches to explore, including eleven that have been awarded a Blue Flag classification.
The Main (or First) beach in front of the resort is a long wide stretch of sand with sunbathing and water sports. Sun beds and umbrellas are available for rent. Boat trips that tour the nearby coastline depart from the main harbour, serving lunch and afternoon tea on board. Along the length of the beach are cafes, bars and restaurants.
The Second beach area is just to the east of Main beach and Third Beach is to the west. Just beyond Third beach is Didim marina, currently one of the largest in Turkey which opened in September 2009 and has space for 1200 boats.[1] There are café bars and restaurants within the marina.
DIVING CENTER: OKENOS
Established in 2001 as Altinkums only dive center, and with 25 years combined experience, Okenos is leading in all aspects of scuba diving in this region.
Okenos Diving offers the complete range of PADI courses, and is also an SSI Scuba Center.
Whether you would like to take your first breath underwater, are a novice diver that wants to gain experience and further your training, or a seasoned diver looking to go into the blue while on holiday; the center will arrange the suitable dives for you.
Safety & Fun is our philosophy, and combined with flexibility the key to our success. Our full fledged and enthusiastic team can assist you in Turkish, English, German & Dutch, and make sure you will have a great dive experience!
Whether you are a beginner or licensed diver, diving with Okenos is about what the team does all day every day….DIVING, rather than roasting in the sun for hours off shore.
The team conducts 1 to 1 instruction for beginners, so everybody gets the attention needed to learn how to scuba dive and learn to love it as much as professionals do. Forqualified divers they try to keep the groups small and on level, so nobody misses a thing to see underwater and will experience near maximum bottom time.
