Diving in Marmaris, Turkey, August 2005

by Paul Oliver

I went to Marmaris on a family holiday with the intention of diving on 6 of the 14 days I was to be there. I was also intending and wanted to be able to take my family (Non Swimming wife and swimming daughters aged 7 and 8) out on the boat for several of those days, and also intended to do some snorkelling with the kids.

I like to have things planned in advance so was keen to track down a reasonable looking dive centre and have things largely arranged before I went out. To this end I web searched for dive centres around Marmaris and came up with the European Diving Centre. These have a good reputation within my branch, as one couple have used them many times although they have not visited them for about 4 years, and EDC have a good report on the Travel Club.

I contacted them via e-mail and outlined myself and what I would like to do, as in I am an AD/OWI who does between 80 - 100 dives a year, mainly around the UK and I would be by myself for diving, plus my family requirements.

They were very happy that they could provide a good service for me and meet what I wanted to do. There are also several good reports around the internet about them (EDC) providing this type of experienced diver service. My accommodation was on the eastern side of Marmaris and they are actually in a small town West of Marmaris called Icmeler. The dive centre provided a minibus to collect and return me each dive day from the front of my apartments.

On the first day I took my dive kit down to the boat where it stayed for the duration, by this stage I had booked my other excursions so was able to book the days I wanted to dive and we also sorted out the family trip days and a night dive date. Everything was going very well.

Down to the boat then, the style of boat is a large 2 deck affair with the sunbathing upstairs and a bar (only open after the days diving was completed) downstairs. All the dive kit was at the back of this lower deck. They had briefed me that they would pair me up with another experienced diver for each day and that we would be going off in the taxi boat to the deeper/better dive sites.

The boat moors up each day in Echo Bay which is a small shallow bay ideal for the try divers that made up the bulk of the passengers on board, and also for those doing courses, they ran OW, AOW and Rescue Divers Courses while I was there. You can also hire an extra cylinder for £9 and have an extra dive here at lunchtime if you want.

On the way out I was getting more and more concerned as the other qualified/experienced divers gave over their diving experience, most had just done OW but had never dived in the sea or off a boat during or since doing the course. I was starting to think I had a major disaster on my hands. However on the way out we stopped at another small village and my buddy for the day, a proper experienced diver got onboard, he was a photographer, but that was fine by me after the earlier concerns.

So out we went, we had a long briefing and introductions on the way with a few jokes and moored up in the bay. After a little wait we moved onto the Taxi boat and off we went. Our dive site was only a short run along the coast and was quite enjoyable. The water here is very clear with 20m+ of viz, there is not an abundance of Sealife, but more than I had been led to expect. We had an enjoyable long dive after which the boat took us back to Echo Bay for new tanks and lunch. After lunch it was along the coast again for dive 2 which was also enjoyable. Back on the main boat we had to wait for all the try-divers to finish then it was time for a couple of beers. A very good days diving. On return to the dive centre there was a bit of a delay as they develop films and cut video for the day trippers, but eventually I was in the bus and on my way back to the apartment. It had been a long day, I was collected at 0745 and got back at about 1830.

The next day's diving were fairly similar as they had pulled a PADI MSDT (OWSI) out of the bag for me to dive with. He was very competent as you would expect, and although he did not join me at 40m he did hover above me at 35m, and was happy for me to drop a bit deeper than him. So days 1 and 2 had gone very well.

Day 3 was a bit different as apparently the Taxi boat was broken down and we were stuck in Echo Bay, I was not too happy but we did the 2 dives, one going out to the South, the other to the North of the boat. They were OK but I was nursemaiding newly qualified OW divers. Day 4 was the same and I was getting rather annoyed now. I did however dive with a Danish guy who I had chatted to quite a bit on the boat and I was happy (ish) to help progress his diving, however I was not going to be happy with another day in the bay.

During this period we had been joined by 2 very experienced PADI Assistant Instructors who had been diving on holiday and around the UK for 20 years and this added to the quality banter on the boat, and the diving ability in the water. I had also picked up from the staff that the lack of a Taxi boat was down to the lack of qualified divers not an engine breakdown.

Day 5 and 6 thankfully were much better as we had enough divers for the Taxi boat to be in attendance, so we had some good diving, with me buddied up with the 2 old salts and the MSDT again. The dive sites were quite varied, but basically we had clear water and lots of rocks, with some fish, the most impressive being to me the Trumpet Fish. There were quite a few Amphoras on several of the sites, and the Thermoclines were very impressive, with some sharp temperature drops.

I also did a night dive on one of these days, the temperature did not drop in the water much and we had some baby Octopus to watch which was very good.

I used a 3mm shorty on most dives, which was fine for me. Below about 20m some would have been cold, but I just enjoyed cooling down a bit. The cylinders provided were 12L Aluminium one's with generally a 200 Bar fill. I had a 5mm Suit which was too hot, even on the night dive.

The diving cost me basically £29 a day, which included lunch, transport, tanks and lead. Now this was actually quite a bit more than a lot of boats I was quoted for in Marmaris. These were averaging out at about £20 a day. There were about 10-12 Double Decker boats moored along the marina in Marmaris every night. A better option for me would have been to walk along the Marina in the evening and ask where each was going, and what they were doing the next day. You could talk to the staff and have a look on the boat at what they had. The Marina has dozens of quality restaurants along its length, so if I was unsure of which boat to use I could have had my meal and then asked again on the way back to our apartment.

At a push as I was very close to the Marina I could have trotted down there in the morning with my kit and asked who was doing what.

The days the family accompanied me it cost £15 each, even for the kids, so £45 extra for that day. A day trip along the coast on a big cruise ship to Daliyan and Turtle Bay including a much better lunch cost only £32 for all 4 of us in total! So the family day out at EDC is grossly inflated. However the kids did enjoy snorkelling off the back of the boat.

So in Summary, EDC is OK however:-

1. They provide a good service but are about 1/3 more expensive than elsewhere.

2. The Family day out is OK but VERY expensive and you are better off, both for what you see and what you get, plus far better value for money getting on other day boat trips for this.

3. Experienced divers are anyone with a ticket, even if they have never been in the sea.

4. If they have less than 7 (I think) qualified divers then you are stuck in Echo Bay.

5. The Staff were good.

Would I go back to Marmaris? - Probably, if I was the kind of person who goes back to a resort, I do prefer to go to new resorts each year.

Would I use EDC if I went back - No, I would shop around for better diving and far better value for money along the marina. However if I was taking my daughters diving in a few years time I may use them as they have a well earned and solid reputation.

Would I take a group from my Branch there? - Quite likely as we would then have the numbers to keep the Taxi boat running, however I would have a very long look at the other operators first.