Kaş

Kaş sits on the Teke Peninsula of Turkey's Mediterranean coast, inside the Kaş-Kekova Special Environmental Protection Area (258.3 km², of which 92 km² is marine habitat supporting around 1,000 marine species including loggerhead turtles and the rare Mediterranean monk seal). Diving here is wreck- and topography-led rather than coral-led: a C-47 Dakota aircraft scuttled in 2009 at recreational depths, an ex-coastguard vessel at 33 m, a genuine WWII Italian bomber beyond 55 m, sheer-walled canyons and caverns, and 2,000-year-old amphora fragments scattered across several reefs. The area's signature archaeology story is handled honestly by local operators: the famous Bronze-Age Uluburun shipwreck — the oldest known seagoing wreck, excavated 1984–1994 just southeast of town — is NOT divable (its artifacts are in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology), so in 2006 a replica was sunk in Hidayet Bay as Turkey's first underwater archaeopark. Conditions are mostly benign — light currents, easy boat rides of 10–40 minutes, shore-accessible training bays — making Kaş genuinely beginner-friendly, though the marquee deep sites (Canyon walls, Flying Fish Reef, the coastguard wreck) require Advanced certification or technical training. Water runs 24–28°C in summer but drops to 16–18°C in winter, when most operators wind down; designated archaeological zones, notably the Kekova sunken city east of town, remain closed to all diving.

• The Late Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck (dated ~1320 BC, the oldest known seagoing wreck) was discovered by a sponge diver in 1982 about 6 miles southeast of Kaş and excavated from 1984 to 1994 over 22,413 dives at 44–52 m, yielding 10 tons of copper ingots, a ton of tin, and 149 Canaanite jars. The original site is protected archaeology and is not divable — the finds are displayed at the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology.
• What divers actually visit is a replica: in 2006 Turkey's Underwater Research Society (SAD) sank a reconstruction of the Uluburun ship with imitation cargo on the eastern side of Hidayet Bay, creating an underwater archaeopark where recreational divers can experience the excavation scene at roughly 15 m depth.
• A decommissioned C-47 Dakota transport aircraft (wingspan ~29 m) was scuttled near the Kaş harbor mouth in 2009 (some guides report 2008) as an artificial reef; it sits on sand at 14–22 m, shallow enough for newly certified divers, and now hosts lionfish, stingrays, and the occasional turtle.