Explore Beneath the waves

Submerge yourself beneath the waves of the Mediterranean for a paradigm altering experience. Diving is like nothing you’ve done before (unless you’ve done it before.) From shipwreck sites to a distinct, aquatic eco-system, the waters off this side of the turquoise coast offer a wealth of nautical riches that demand to be seen.

There is a plethora of dive sites along Kalkan’s many bays, reefs and islands. Nonetheless, you don’t have to travel too far out for a good dive. The sandy sea-bed at Firnaz bay is a beautiful spot, with its silver shoals of barracuda, flitting leer fish, and the random poker-faced grouper always around to add humour to the excursion. Even Diving in Kalamar bay has previously afforded us the opportunity to come face to face with a loggerhead turtle. The creature barely paused in its slow, underwater flight as we bungled into its route and gaped at its prehistoric majesty until it disappeared into the turquoise gloom. Patara beach being their local nesting ground, such encounters are not uncommon here.

But if historical adventure of Tomb Raider standards is what you’re really after, the most remarkable diving spot in the area is the Sakarya – Dutchess of York wreckage. Steeped in mystery, this reef is a graveyard for ships, ancient and modern. It gets its name, Sakaray, from the remains of a Turkish cargo freight discovered in the 50s by local sponge-divers. So where does the Duchess of York come in, you ask? And rightfully so.

It was previously thought that the remains of the Sakarya actually belonged to the Duchess of York, owing to a bell found in the wreckage bearing that name. Further investigation involving two dives and interviews with the locals, proved that the three wreckages at 30m, 43-60m and 16-26m to the west of the reef, all belong to Sakarya. With a length measuring 98m and a width of 12m, Sakarya varied drastically in size from the much smaller (30 x 6m) Duchess of York. The remains at the Sakarya reef ship-wreck correspond with the former. Historical maritime records also state that the ship met its fate on the coast of Kalkan on May 19 1943. No such record exists for the Dutchess of York.

So for whom does the Duchess of York bell toll then, and what business does it have at the wreckage of the Sakarya? Further historical research proves that along the course of its life, Sakarya featured in a bleak episode of Turkey’s history. The exchange of populations in 1923 forced 500,000 ethnic Turks out of Greece and 1,250,000 ethnic Greeks from Turkey. Employed to carry Turkish immigrants, Sakarya made numerous journeys to Greece, during the winter of 23. The theory now is that this is the time Sakarya crossed paths with the Duchess of York, which in 1920 was working as a cargo ship registered at the Port of Piraeous. In such times of want and turmoil, her bell could have been sold, stolen or simply discarded, after she was rechristened Alexandra.

As far as hypotheses go, it’s as good a one as they’ve come up with so far. But of course a shroud of mystery still hangs above the submerged wreckage at Sakarya reef. And what a reef! The coastal shelves rising like a mountain range. The ghostly litter of tragic ruins now home to all manner of flitting and scuttling sea-creatures. Pink, transparent jelly-fish float about frivolous and dreamy, as if making light of it all, and as if testifying that even such tragic horrors will one day be beautiful.