Before You Book
Everything guests actually ask us on WhatsApp before their first dive — answered straight, then pointed at the trip that suits you.
Which is the shortest diving day in Side?
The six-hour trip from Kumköy, €43. It is the shortest of our five diving days — the Side Underwater Museum day runs about seven hours, and Kemer, Antalya and Alanya all run eight. Shorter does not mean less diving: you still get two guided dives, all equipment, free hotel transfer both ways, lunch cooked on board and full insurance.
Which dive boat is closest to Side hotels?
Kumköy. The boat leaves from Kumköy itself, minutes from the Side and Kumköy hotel belt, and it is also our shortest day at six hours for €43. The Side Underwater Museum boat departs from Side and is equally close, at €45 over about seven hours. Kemer, Antalya and Alanya sit much further along the coast, so a bigger share of those eight-hour days is spent on the road.
Is a six-hour dive day enough?
Yes. Six hours comfortably fits a full safety briefing, two guided dives with a proper surface interval between them, and lunch cooked on board — which is exactly the same diving programme as our eight-hour days. The extra hours on the longer trips buy more coastline and different dive sites, not more dives. The six-hour Kumköy day costs €43, our joint-lowest price.
Where is the clearest water for diving on this coast?
Kemer. Of the five dive days we run, the <strong>Kemer trip (€43, 8 hours, departing Kemer)</strong> goes to the clearest water on the Antalya coast, because the seabed there is rock and boulder rather than the fine sand that wind stirs into suspension elsewhere. That is why our instructors send photographers and certified divers west. The honest trade-off is travel time: from a Side or Kumköy hotel it is a full day out, and if you would rather stay close to your hotel the €43 Kumköy trip is the shortest day we run.
Is Kemer worth the drive from Side just to dive?
For some guests, clearly yes; for others, honestly no. The <strong>Kemer day costs €43 and runs 8 hours</strong> from a Kemer departure, and what you buy with the extra road time is the clearest water on this coast plus the wreck ground where the Paris II lies at 21–31 metres. If you are certified, camera-minded or chasing visibility, go. If this is a nervous first dive, you get seasick, or you only have one free day, the €43 Kumköy trip or the €45 museum day serve you better.
Which of your trips has the best visibility?
The <strong>Kemer day, €43, 8 hours</strong> — that is our honest ranking and it does not change with the season. Late spring and autumn generally run clearest along this whole coast, because the water is settled and the summer crowds and swell are not stirring the shallows, but we will not publish a calendar promising you a good day. Visibility is decided by wind in the days before your dive far more than by the month printed on your ticket.
Which dive day suits a certified diver best?
Two of the five. The <a href="/tours/antalya-scuba-diving">Antalya day (€50, 8 hours)</a> for depth, varied structure and the <strong>DO-28 aircraft wreck at 19.5–23.3 m</strong>; the <strong>Kemer day (€43, 8 hours)</strong> for the clearest water on this coast and wreck country — the <strong>Paris II at 21–31 m</strong> and the 9 m tunnel at Three Islands and Lighthouse. Certified divers dive around <strong>30 m</strong> on standard dives and up to 60 m on the deep sites when suitably qualified. Bring your card and logbook.
Can you dive near Cleopatra Beach?
Yes. Our €43 Alanya diving day sails from Alanya harbour and works the rocky reefs, ledges and cave mouths in the waters around the Cleopatra Beach side of the peninsula. You dive from the boat rather than walking in off the sand — that beach is for swimmers, and boat traffic makes shore entry there a bad idea. The day runs about eight hours and includes two guided dives, all equipment, lunch on board and free two-way hotel transfer, with Alanya Castle standing over the whole ride out.
Is the Side Underwater Museum worth diving?
Yes — if what you want is a sight nowhere else on this coast can give you. The Side Underwater Museum is roughly 110 sunken sculptures standing on the seabed at about 12 metres, shallow enough that a first-time diver and a certified diver see exactly the same thing. The full day costs €45 and runs about seven hours door to door from your hotel. If your priority is the clearest possible water or a genuine shipwreck instead, we would honestly point you to the Kemer day.
Which of the five dive trips should I choose?
Decide with two questions: where are you staying, and what do you want to see? From the Side and Kumköy hotels, the €45 Side Underwater Museum day gives you roughly 110 sculptures at about twelve metres, and the €43 Kumköy day is the shortest at six hours. Further along the coast, €43 Kemer has the clearest water and wreck country, €50 Antalya has caves, shoals and an aircraft wreck, and €43 Alanya has rocky coves under the castle.
Which dive trip should I pick if I'm nervous?
Take the Kumköy trip, €43. It is our shortest day at six hours, so there is less waiting around and less time to talk yourself out of it, and your first dive is a shallow one at 5–8 metres with an instructor within arm's reach the whole way. If you get in the water and decide you have had enough, you stop — that is a normal outcome, not a failed dive, and nobody on the boat will make it awkward.
Is diving in underwater caves safe?
It depends entirely on which of two very different things you mean. What we dive on the €43 Alanya day is cavern diving: wide, daylit cave mouths and short swim-throughs where the exit and the blue stay in view the whole time, with an instructor beside you. That is safe when it is run properly. True cave penetration — going past the light, deep into passages where you cannot see the way out — is a specialist discipline needing dedicated training, guideline reels and redundant gas, and we never take discovery divers into it.
Do I need a licence to dive the Underwater Museum?
No. The Side Underwater Museum stands at about 12 metres, and our beginner ceiling is roughly 13 metres — so an untrained guest on a guided discovery dive reaches the sculptures legitimately, with an instructor within arm's reach the whole time. You do not need a card, a course or any previous experience to book the €45 museum day. Certified divers are on the same boat, they simply dive their own deeper profiles and get their logbooks signed.
How many divers per instructor?
Three to four divers per instructor on our flagship Side Underwater Museum trip, and small groups are the standard on every one of our five boats. For a first-time diver that ratio matters more than the site, the price or the gear, because an instructor can only solve a problem they can reach. At 3–4 to one they are within arm's reach of you for the whole dive; at ten to one nobody is.
Why does the Antalya dive cost more than the others?
The <strong>Antalya scuba diving day is €50</strong> while Kumköy, Kemer and Alanya are €43 and the Side Underwater Museum day is €45. The extra pays for a longer eight-hour day on the city coast, further boat running and a different set of sites — reefs, caves, shoals and the DO-28 aircraft wreck at 19.5–23.3 m for certified divers. Per dive that is roughly €25 against €21.50, and every trip includes exactly the same two guided dives, equipment, transfer, lunch and insurance.
Is the more expensive dive trip the better one?
No. Our five trips cost €43, €45 and €50, and the price tracks <strong>how long the day is and where the boat leaves from</strong> — not how good the diving is. The <a href="/tours/antalya-scuba-diving">€50 Antalya day</a> is the right choice for a certified diver who wants varied structure and an aircraft wreck; it is the wrong choice for a first-timer, who will have a better day on the €43 Kumköy boat. Same instructors, same equipment, same inclusions on all five.
Do I pay before or after diving?
You pay on the day, on the boat — never before. Reserving online costs nothing and takes no card details: you choose a trip, we confirm your morning pickup the evening before, and you settle up in cash or by card once you are with us. The prices are €43 for Kumköy, Kemer and Alanya, €45 for the Side Underwater Museum and €50 for Antalya. Change your mind more than 24 hours ahead and you owe nothing at all, because nothing was ever taken.
What if I change my mind about diving?
Then nothing bad happens. Cancel more than 24 hours before your trip and it costs you nothing — there is no deposit to lose because we never took one. If you change your mind after you are already on the boat, you simply stay aboard as a visitor at the reduced rate: swim, snorkel, eat lunch, go home dry. No instructor will talk you into the water.
Can I dive and still have my afternoon free?
On the six-hour Kumköy trip, €43, yes — realistically. You are collected from your hotel in the morning, dive twice, eat lunch on board and are back in the afternoon with your evening intact. What we will not do is promise a clock time: boats work to sea conditions and to the hotel transfer round, so treat the return as an approximate window, not an appointment.
I am staying in Alanya — can I dive?
Yes, easily. We run a dedicated Alanya departure — €43 for eight hours, two guided dives, all equipment, lunch on board, insurance and free two-way hotel transfer — so nothing about your holiday base has to change. No licence is needed and beginners are genuinely welcome; the minibus covers the eastern hotel belt from Konaklı and Avsallar in the west through Oba, Tosmur, Kestel and out to Mahmutlar. You reserve free online and pay on the day in cash or by card.
Can my partner come along without diving?
Yes, and it is one of the most common ways people book with us. A non-diver joins the same boat as a visitor at a reduced rate: same free hotel pickup, same route, same fresh lunch cooked on board, sun deck and swim stops all day, with snorkelling over the shallow spots while you make your two dives. We do not publish the visitor rate because it varies with the trip, so ask when you reserve and we will confirm it before the day.
Is one diving day enough on a holiday?
One day is a complete experience and plenty of people never do more: two guided dives, all equipment, lunch and hotel transfer for €43 to €50. But be honest with yourself about what happens on it — the first dive is spent learning to breathe and equalise, and the second is the one where you finally look around. If your holiday has room for a second day, that is the day people remember.
Can I dive a shipwreck in Turkey?
Yes — and the famous one on this coast is the <strong>Paris II off Kemer, lying between 21 and 31 metres</strong>. That depth matters more than the name: it is squarely a <strong>certified-diver dive</strong> and can never be a discovery dive, because beginners stay at around 13 metres maximum. If you are certified, our €43 Kemer day is the trip that puts you on that ground; if you are not, you can still dive the Kemer rock reefs and tunnels the same day, and get certified later.
Will I see an octopus when I dive?
Often, but never certainly. Octopus are <strong>regularly spotted around the rock formations on our €43 Kemer diving day</strong>, which is the trip our guides would pick if finding one mattered most to you — but no honest dive centre guarantees wildlife, and sightings vary with conditions, season and luck. The good news is that spotting one is a skill more than a lottery: octopus give away their dens, and once someone shows you the sign you start seeing them.
Can you dive to an aeroplane wreck here?
Yes. The <strong>DO-28</strong> — a Dornier aircraft that went down in <strong>1967</strong> — lies on the Antalya stretch at <strong>19.5 to 23.3 metres</strong>, and it is reached from our <a href="/tours/antalya-scuba-diving">Antalya scuba diving day (€50, 8 hours)</a>. It is a <strong>certified divers' site only</strong>: that depth sits inside the roughly 30 m range certified divers work in, and well below the 13 m ceiling for beginners and discovery divers. Bring your certification card and logbook and tell us your level when you reserve.
Where can I dive caves and reefs on this coast?
The <a href="/tours/antalya-scuba-diving">Antalya scuba diving day (€50, 8 hours)</a> is the one built around <strong>reefs, caves and shoals</strong> — the city coastline breaks into rock walls, overhangs and cave mouths that hold fish. Be clear about one distinction, though: we swim <strong>past and through open cave mouths where daylight is always above you</strong>, which is fine for guided beginners at 5–8 m and about 13 m. <strong>True cave penetration is a separate, certified discipline</strong> and is not part of our standard boat day.
Can you see sea turtles diving in Turkey?
Yes — loggerhead and green turtles genuinely live along this coast, and divers here do meet them. But nobody can promise you one: sightings vary with the site, the conditions and plain luck on the day, and any centre that guarantees a turtle is guaranteeing something it does not control. Our €43 Alanya day works the rocky reef, cave mouths and seagrass ground where turtles move, so it is the trip we point turtle-hopeful divers towards. If one does appear, the rule is simple: watch, stay still, never touch or chase.
What does Alanya look like underwater?
Rock, not coral. Under Alanya you get a sculpted Mediterranean seabed — stepped ledges, boulder fields and dark cave mouths dropping into sand channels and seagrass — with ancient amphora jars lying minutes from the harbour. The fish are Mediterranean: bream, wrasse, moray, the occasional grouper, and octopus if you have the eye for them. The water is usually deep blue and clear rather than tropical turquoise, and the appeal here is texture, structure and history rather than colour.
Can you touch the underwater statues?
No. The roughly 110 sculptures at about 12 metres are not decoration — they are an artificial reef that is being colonised by algae, small growth and the fish that live around them, and a hand on the stone rubs that living film straight off. Your instructor will ask you to keep hands to yourself and fins clear on the whole dive. You can get close, hover, photograph freely and — with the instructor — hand-feed the fish, which is the part most guests remember anyway.
Can you really feed fish underwater?
Yes. Hand-feeding the fish is a genuine part of our Side Underwater Museum day — the instructor carries the food, you hold out your hand, and the shoal comes to you at around 12 metres among the sculptures. It is done with the guide rather than by divers freelancing, for the fish's sake and yours. What we cannot promise is which fish turn up: numbers and species vary with conditions, current and the time of year.