Kas, Turkey
Kas (pronounced "Kahsh") is located roughly in the middle of Dalaman and Antalya (the two closest airports) on the south-east coast of Turkey.
Historically, Kas was one of the most important cities of Lycia, the name meaning "eyebrow" or "curved", due to its shape beneath the high cliffs behind it. The mountain range is called Akdag, and when traveling up there expect a significant temperature drop from the hot climate down by the rocky shores of Kas.
It has over the last decades been transformed from a tiny fishing village into a popular tourist destination but remains it's small village charme without enormous hotel structures. Plenty of sleepy dogs and cats roam the streets and seem to belong a little bit to everyone.
Kas is also a good place for paragliding, and has a number of historic places to visit.
We went diving with Trimaxx-Kas (run by German born Thomas Wicht), and found the operation of the dive boat and the boat (Anemon) itself to be very good. Anemom has room for approx. 30 divers, a large sun deck and a selection of tea, coffee and cold drinks are available for purchase. The rental equipment is in very good order in case you need it and the dive trips are very relaxed and unhurried.
The dive briefings were thorough and suitable to the easy diving conditions present in Kas. We did however, find the underwater fauna to be very bare, partly due to the lack of the currents in the area (which are said to be stronger normally), but certainly also to a large part due to the heavy overfishing present in the Mediterranean Sea.
Note: According to the European Environment Agency, over 65 percent of all fish stocks are outside safe biological limits. (Source)
The dives featured mainly wall dives in the 15-30 meter range with a few dive through rock formations, and a couple of wrecks. We saw a few sea turtles, a black sea horse and some Mackerel and Barracudas, as well as a few groupers and a selection of nudibranchs.
It would be good to see local activities to designate some areas as marine reserves to give local fauna a chance to catch up. Examples such as the Medes Islands in Spain show that this can at least provide a breeding ground for a large variety of animals.
Also see the image gallery below for more pictures.
