Artificial Reefs in Protaras, Cyprus

An Artificial Reef is a man made underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom in the hope of attracting tourism and enhancing the growth of marine life.

For years, governments around the world, have been purposely sinking outdated or damaged vessels such as ships, cars, tanks, and various other structures i.e nets, concrete blocks, boulders etc.

As part of an ongoing programme to promote dive tourism in Cyprus, the CTO (Cyprus tourist organisation)  and other authorities are purposefully sinking wrecks and artificial reefs which are available for us to dive on.

1.  Nemesis III

The Nemesis III, in its past life was a bottom trawler ( a fishing boat to you and me) which operated in the Mediterranean and Libyan seas.

It was sunk in 2013. The vessel sits in 24 meters of water just off the Golden Coast, located in Protaras.

Since the boat sank, it has attracted lots of marine life and still continues to grow and develop four years down the line.

It is home to Amberjacks, nudibranchs, Damsels, various types of wrasse, sea bream and Grouper. Rays, Turtles and even Dolphins have been spotted in the vicinity of the wreck!

This is a fantastic wreck to dive, and is definitely one of our favourites here at Scuba Tech.

2. The Liberty 

The Liberty wreck sits very very close to the Nemesis wreck. This means we can dive both wrecks in one dive depending on how good you are on air, as it takes roughly five minutes to swim between the two.

Like the Nemesis, the Liberty was also purposefully sunk but a few years earlier in 2009.

It is a small Russian Cargo ship and lies in 27 meters of water. The biodiversity on the Liberty has taken slightly longer to develop than the Nemesis, however it really is starting to boom! The wreck is now home to various species such as Anemones, Grouper, Sponges and Nudibranchs to name a few.

3. Artificial Reefs - Golden Coast

The Artificial Reefs in Protaras is the newest structure to promote the growth of fish species and to create a special diving reserve in the area. It comprises of nets, boulders, concrete blocks and piping in order to do so.

Since the reef's formation in 2015, the amount of marine life already in the area is staggering. It is a haven for fish life and hopefully it will continue to grow and develop!

Between each structure, a line has been put in place which makes it very easy to navigate around the site. The Reefs start at 25m and finishes up at 18m. The reefs are very close in proximity to the Nemesis and Liberty wrecks.

4. The Kyrenia - Ayia Napa. 

The Kyrenia is the most recent wreck to be sunk in the Ayia Napa area.

It used to be a motorised patrol boat which, before it sank, used to be equipped with a front mounted machine gun. However this was stripped and cleaned of its guns before the boat went down.

She sits in 24m of water.

5. Lady Thetis and The Costandis 

These two wrecks are located in Limassol, around an hour and a half drive away from Protaras. Nevertheless they are wicked wrecks.

Both lie in a regulated no fishing zone, 200m apart from one another.

The Costandis used to be an old fishing vessel and she sits in 25m of water. This wreck offers a large engine room which is still very much intact and easy to penetrate.

The wreck is home to huge Grouper, shoals of Fish, Amberjack amongst many others.

The Lady Thetis is a retired party boat and was sunk in 2014. She lies in 18m of water.

The boat has three levels offering plenty of exploration, you can even sit at the tables on the upper deck.

Both wrecks are home to lots of marine life and it is still continuing to grow!

What do you think?

Have you dived these artificial reefs that have been sunk by the Cyprus Government to promote scuba diving in the area? What did you think of them?

Do you like the idea of artificial reefs purposefully sunk or do you prefer your wrecks to have gone down naturally?

Join the chat and let us know

WOMEN DIVING IN CYPRUS

The Scuba Tech Girls are at it again.

Join Shelley and Dawn, as they hit the water again. This time they head to Cyclops Dive Site in Protaras to see the fishlife and, in particular, the lionfish that are accumulating in the area.

www.scubatechdivers.com

Try Dives in Cyprus with Scuba Tech Diving Centre

Hi all,

On Thursday 2 July 2015, I experienced one of the best afternoon's of my life, when I finally decided to go on a Try Dive with Scuba Tech Diving Centre, in Protaras, Cyprus.

My husband (Grant) and I have travelled to many wonderful countries over the last eleven years and, as a diver with nearly 400 dives, he has tried in vain to persuade me to learn to dive.  However, I have always resisted, until now.

I started off my Try Dive with a comprehensive theory lesson, giving me an overall view of general
health and safety, equipment that I would be using and definite do's and do not's whilst on the dive.  This lesson gave me confidence that I would be shown how to work the equipment I would be wearing before getting in the water and that I would be closely supervised throughout.

Shelley Patient (Instructor), Dawn Bailey (Dive Master), Lucy Corbett (Dive Master in Training) of Scuba Tech Diving Centre and, of course Grant, who is also a Rescue Diver, accompanied me on the dive; therefore, I felt that I was in great hands.

Now for the dive, which we did at Green Bay, the location being just a short drive from the dive centre, and which has a maximum depth of 10 metres.

Well what can I say! It was awesome.  The detailed explanation and thorough checks before I even entered the water, to the instructions on how to use the equipment in waist high water, made me feel comfortable as we set off on my adventure into the sea.

Shelley was brilliant, never taking her eyes off me, making sure that I was at ease, and always close to hand to help me adjust my buoyancy and regularly check that I was happy with my mask and ear pressure.

Once I was comfortable in shallow water (3 metres), Shelley took me to Fish Rock, where I was amazed by the variety of fish, then, I was taken gradually deeper, where I saw the statues and the gnome. I was even privileged to see a turtle and a moray eel.

Best of all I survived to tell my tale.

Dawn kindly took great pictures to remind me of my wonderful experience and I have shared some of these as part of this blog.

So, the million dollar question, will I do it again?  It is a big YES from me, and will be booking my Open Water Course with Scuba Tech Diving Centre as soon as possible.  As you can imagine, Grant is over the moon.

Try Diving in Cyprus- What's involved?

Although Scuba Tech Diving Centre covers a lot of Technical Diving and Rebreather Diving, it is still important to remember that all divers have to start somewhere...and that somewhere usually comes in the form of a TRY DIVE!

Cyprus is a great place to try scuba diving for the first time because the conditions are so easy. There are no real tides to speak of, the water is warm and the visibility can be 40metres +.

So what is involved in a Scuba Tech try dive in Cyprus?

Once you have decided that you want to try scuba diving, we will pick you up from your hotel or villa in Protaras or Agia Napa and bring you to our Diving Centre, where you will be shown the basics of Scuba Diving and be fitted out with a set of Scuba Equipment.

Once we are confident that you are ready to go diving, we take you down to our local dive site, Green Bay.


This dive site is fantastic for try dives, as there is an easy walk in entry/exit point and, although it does have a 10metre (33 feet) maximum depth, the depth increase is extremely gradual. You can stop and swim around at whichever depth you feel comfortable, whether that is 2 metres, 6 metres or, for the adventurous, 10 metres.

Before we venture off on our first scuba dive, we do like to go through a couple of basic exercises with our divers to build a bit of confidence and give you some experience in the shallows before moving deeper. So, we practice taking the regulator (the bit you breathe from) out of your mouth and putting it back in while underwater and clearing little bits of water out of the mask.

Of course, you will have your instructor by your side at all times throughout the skills practice and the scuba dive itself. There is a maximum number of 4 student divers per instructor but we always try to have a Divemaster (diving instructor's assistant) in the water too, particularly if scuba divers would like photographs and video of their dive in Cyprus or there are more than 2 student divers in the water.

When you dive with Scuba Tech Cyprus, we like to give you great value for money, so your dive time is only limited by the air in your cylinder and your comfort in the water. Some of our try dives have been 60+ minutes.

You can try Scuba Diving in Cyprus from 8 years old. There is no upper limit but there is a medical questionnaire that must be completed if you want to dive ( you can get a copy of this by emailing info@scubatechdivers.com). If you have to answer yes to any question on the medical questionnaire, ask your doctor if you can scuba dive before you come to Cyprus and get him to sign the "fit to dive" declaration provided.

So, if you fancy a Mediterranean holiday with a scuba diving adventure, get in touch with Scuba Tech Diving Centre. Feed the fish, find our underwater Atlantis and experience the weightless excitement of Scuba Diving.

Are you ready... Take a Deep Breath!!!