Kaş Dive Sites: Where Can You Dive at Your Experience Level?
Within the Kaş district, there are six dive sites and 18 authorised dive centres registered with the Turkish Underwater Sports Federation (TSSF). One site is a sheltered bay you can explore with a snorkel. Another is a wartime wreck that reaches beyond 70 metres, accessible only to technical divers. Same district, very different dives. That’s why this list is organised by the experience each site requires, rather than by which one looks prettiest.
Beginners and snorkelling: Sıçan Adası
With its sheltered bay and small island, Sıçan Adası is a good starting point for first-time divers. Visibility is good and there are no strong currents; it’s also a popular choice for divers getting back in the water after a long break. Its suitability for freediving makes it useful for snorkellers too. If that’s the route you’re taking, your equipment needs will be different — our guide to fin types explains which fins work for which activity. We don’t have a reliable depth record for this site, so we’re leaving the numbers out.
Your first wreck dive: C-47 Dakota
The C-47 Dakota lies at 22 metres in the Limanağzı area, with its fuselage largely intact. The depth is comfortably within recreational diving limits, and what you’re looking at is still recognisably an aircraft — two reasons it’s one of Türkiye’s most frequently dived artificial reefs. This plane wasn’t shot down in a war. It was deliberately sunk in 2009 to support dive tourism.
Marine life: Heybeli Adaları
About 30 kilometres west of Kaş, Heybeli Adaları consists of two boomerang-shaped islands, with two separate diving areas: inner and outer Heybeli. You won’t find a wreck here, but you will find colourful coral reefs and plenty of marine life. It’s an option for anyone looking for a change from Kaş’s wreck-heavy dive itinerary. We don’t have a depth record for this site.
Advanced diving: Besmi Adası
A small, shoe-shaped island. Around Besmi Adası, you may spot turtles and barracuda, and there’s also a wreck with anchors. But calling this a beginner site would be a mistake: the wall drops to 42 metres, and Besmi is classed as a technical diving site. It’s in the same district as Sıçan Adası, but it’s a very different dive. The island also lies within the Kaş-Kekova Special Environmental Protection Area.
Technical diving: Savoia-Marchetti SM.79
The Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 is Kaş’s most demanding site. Nicknamed “Sparviero” — sparrowhawk — this Italian torpedo bomber was brought down by anti-aircraft fire while bombing Meis Island during the Second World War. The wreck lies between 55 and 71 metres, beyond recreational diving limits. Currents can also be strong enough to cancel a dive. This site is suitable only for highly experienced technical divers.
Two aircraft, two very different stories
Kaş has two aircraft wrecks, and you’ll often see them listed side by side. One was sunk for dive tourism after reaching the end of its service life. The other was shot down in 1943, and its wreck wasn’t discovered until 1990. One is an artificial reef; the other is a wartime loss.
All the underwater C-47s in Türkiye were deliberately sunk. Besides the one in Kaş, there’s one each off Bodrum, Mordoğan and Akçakoca. Aircraft wrecks from wartime losses are much rarer.
TCSG-119 and the trail of retired patrol boats
TCSG-119 was built in Germany in 1959, launched on 19 January 1961, and served as a coastal patrol boat under the Gendarmerie General Command until 1982. After retirement, it was sunk as an artificial reef in the Neptün area of the Çukurbağ Peninsula as part of the International Kaş-Lycian Culture and Arts Festival. We don’t have a reliable depth record for it.
Retired Coast Guard boats have also been turned into artificial reefs off Fethiye, Çeşme and Didim. The boat in Kaş is the Mediterranean link in that chain.
Kaş or Kalkan?
Here’s a detail that matters when planning your day: Kalkan is administratively part of the Kaş district, but it’s treated as a separate diving area. Of the six sites above, Sıçan Adası and Heybeli Adaları are in Kalkan’s waters. The C-47, Besmi, Savoia-Marchetti and TCSG-119 are closer to Kaş town.
The distance between the two areas can reach 30 kilometres. So when you book a trip advertised as “diving in Kaş”, where the boat actually departs from will shape your day. That’s the first thing to ask when booking.
18 authorised dive centres
Kaş has 18 dive centres registered with TSSF — a quarter of Antalya’s 70 centres are in this one district. Their registration numbers tell a little of the area’s history: there are very low numbers such as 32, 35, 49, 94 and 95, alongside newer registrations such as 1071 and 1085. Kaş was among the first places in Türkiye to have dive centres, and new ones are still opening here. You can find the full list, including districts and registration numbers, on our Antalya diving page.
Other nearby districts
We’ve covered two more districts using the same approach. In Bodrum, four of the five sites are clustered around Karaada, and three are artificial reefs sunk in the same year. Fethiye has more dive centres than any other district in Muğla, but only three listed dive sites.