Side offers opportunities for all ages and certification levels, whether you are a professional or amateur scuba diver. Despite the fact that diving sites are limited, they are of interest. Side boasts the first underwater museum in Europe. In addition, you can spot crabs, octopuses, moray eels, parrotfish, lionfish, groupers, starfish, nudibranchs, rays, tuna, barracuda, rainbow wrasse, soldier fish, shrimp and angel sharks.
Side Underwater Museum, established in 2015, is the second underwater museum in the world and the first in Europe. It is divided into 5 parts with a depth of 7 to 25 meters: “Whirling Dervish”, “War of Independence”, “Temple of Poseidon”, “Camel Caravan” and “Flower Garden”, and also contains a total of 110 sculptures, with a height of 1 up to 6 meters and weighing up to 5 tons.
For experienced divers, it is possible to dive on a sunken ship in Side at a depth of 25 meters. The wreck of TCSG-117, which sank in 2008, has turned into a magnificent artificial reef. Its length is 30 meters and the maximum depth is 25 meters. In this place, you can see part of the Underwater Museum “War of Independence” and “Temple of Poseidon”, which is a 6-meter statue.
Camel Reef is a new diving spot near Side where you can see the Camel Caravan diorama. The dive takes place to a maximum depth of 20 meters. Here you can see life-sized camel statues, with two large humps 14 meters high, which gave the site its name. This place is part of the Side Underwater Museum.
Reef 1 in Side is a favorite among most divers. The dive starts at a depth of 6-7 meters, which makes this place suitable for both beginners and experienced divers, gradually descending to a maximum depth of 12 meters, where you can see the flower garden diorama of the underwater museum. Here you can meet turtles, barracudas, a larger variety of fish, rays, tuna and special fish that live only in the cave.
Choosing Ralph Reef as a place for diving, you will descend to a depth of 18-20 meters. It is for this reason that this location is reserved for certified and experienced divers only. During the dive you will be able to see sea turtles, moray eels, barracudas, groupers and rays.
Turtle Reef is also considered the most popular diving location. In this place, you will not only be able to see a lot of fish, but also beautiful caretta caretta turtles, especially during the summer season.
