Try Scuba Diving in Cyprus - How to guide

We all had to start somewhere with our Scuba Diving adventures and for many people, the biggest difficulty is knowing where to begin.

How can you Try Scuba Diving for the very first time?

The first step when scuba diving is to make sure you are fit and healthy. Now, this doesn't mean that you have to be able to run marathons but there are certain health conditions that would require you to see a doctor before you can take part in scuba diving. You can access a copy of the Medical Questionnaire for diving here.

Secondly, you need to find a reputable Diving Instructor or Dive Centre that will take you and do the experience properly. You can find them through friend recommendations and online reviews.

At Scuba Tech, we are all qualified PADI diving instructors and we do not operate in big groups, so your diving experience will be a maximum of 2 students to each instructor in the water. This guarantees you will have the full attention of the instructor at all times throughout the dive and you can feel safe in the knowledge that your safety and enjoyment is paramount.

What does the Try Dive involve?

The Discover Scuba Dive is a three part experience where someone with absolutely no prior experience or qualifications can see the underwater world first hand.

Part one will teach you the basic concepts of scuba diving; how our bodies deal with going underwater and how to look after ourselves down there. We also discuss the equipment that we will use and the various controls and also how to communicate with the instructor, since you will not be able to talk down there.

This is just a short briefing but is highly important to make sure you enjoy yourselves.

Part two comes after you have been kitted out with the properly fitted diving equipment and we head down to the local dive site, Green Bay.

During Part 2, you will be in a confined water area of the Bay with swimming pool like conditions. 

Here you get used to breathing underwater and the feeling of weightlessness that you have when scuba diving. You will also practice a number of diving skills that you may or may not need during your dive such as; taking out and replacing the regulator (what you breathe from) and clearing water out of the mask.

Part three is the actual diving part when you move into Open Water and get to really see what scuba diving is all about.

Your instructor will take you out to Fish Rock to see all the fish that gather in this area. The SeaBream, Damsel Fish and Wrasse will gather around to look at this strange bubble blowing creature in their midst and you will be amazed at the array of colours surrounding you.

If you are comfortable, your instructor may then take you deeper to a maximum of 9 metres, where you will find our very own "Atlantis Statues". These are great for playing and posing on and if you have opted to have our Divemaster come with you to take photos, these provide an amazing photo opportunity.

The depth increase is very gradual and there is always a bottom underneath you, so you only go as deep as you are comfortable going. Your instructor will be there at every step of the way to hold your hand (literally, if needed) and make sure your experience is amazing.

Warning!!!

I feel I should warn you though, bubble blowing is addictive and once you start, it is difficult to stop.

Saying that, Scuba Diving is a hobby that you can enjoy for a whole lifetime with so many places to see and so many different branches available. You can dive wrecks or reefs. You may enjoy Underwater Photography or making Underwater Movies.

Diving has something to offer everyone but the first step is to give it a try. Now you know the steps, it is as easy as 1,2,3.

Safe Diving everyone!!

GUE-Fundamentals-Cyprus

In my first season at Scuba Tech as a Divemaster trainee, I watched my instructor, complete his Tech 1 course with GUE. For those of you that haven’t heard of GUE, it is a diving organisation, and it stands for Global Underwater Explorers. GUE trains its divers to the highest standards in proficiency underwater, and allows divers to be the best they possibly can be under expert instruction. 

This is what I saw two years ago, when Rich Walker (Technical Director of GUE and instructor) came to Cyprus. Watching the Tech 1 candidates complete skills and drills whilst completely motionless in the water was something I aspired to be able to do. 

To have that level of control and skill would be awesome. So naturally the first step for me is GUE fundamentals otherwise known as fundies, which provides the foundation for all other courses such as the caving or technical programmes within GUE.

I want to become the best possible diver I can be, in order to be the best instructor I can be. Working as a Divemaster already, this is perhaps my biggest reason for signing up for fundies. I can then apply what I learn to the everyday, when I am in the water with customers. 

Furthermore it also is a new challenge for me.  I never want to stop learning and I want to keep trying new experiences. This will then (hopefully) maximise my competence and confidence underwater.

The course itself, is spread over four days, and has a mixture of classroom and in water practice. It focuses on the fundamental skills of diving including trim and buoyancy, rescue skills, gas management, equipment configuration, decompression theory and nitrox.

Unlike some other courses, GUE fundamentals has various outcomes – Fail, provisional pass, recreational pass, or a technical pass - the highest pass rating. 

The course is programmed to help those advance their basic skills, and to provide divers that have trained with other organisations such as PADI, TDI and BSAC with a gateway into GUE training. 

It is aimed at all levels of diver, for example, I have been diving for 7 years this year, I am a Divemaster and also a tech diver, yet I could be on the course with someone who has just started diving. 

It is designed to “cultivate the essentials skills required by all irrespective of level or environment” It looks at your dive skills and improves them to a much higher level whilst also having lots of fun!

                                                                  Bring on October! 

Night Diving on the Nemesis III wreck

Night Diving in Cyprus on the Nemesis III wreck

The Cobra Dive Boat is now coded for evening trips, which means that, for 2017, Scuba Tech Diving Centre are pleased to be able to offer Night Dives on the wrecks.

Below is a video from the first ever night dive done on the wreck with Scuba Tech Diving Cyprus, Mark Robinson and Allister Fraser.

The Footage above was very kindly donated to us by Mark from his GoPro mounted atop a stills camera.

If you would like to book your night diving on the wrecks in Protaras, please do not hesitate to get back in touch with us here at Scuba Tech Diving Cyprus and live the adventure!!

Sidemount Diving

I recently had the pleasure of completing the PADI Sidemount Diver course with the most marvellous Mr Peter Crane. It was great fun and I was sad when the last dive was finished. This is the opposite of how I felt when trying all the same skills using a twinset!

Being somewhat short in stature myself (ahem!) - and consequently short of arm – I struggled on a twinset with shutdowns and any other skill that involved reaching behind me and turning the cylinder vales on or off; however, with the sidemount setup it was a breeze!

For those uninitiated in the wonders of multiple cylinder diving, sidemount involves wearing a harness-type BCD and having one, two or more cylinders clipped onto it.

On my first attempt, my expert instructors had got the harness so perfectly fitted and the weights positioned so well that my trim was straight away level in the water, and I was somewhat surprised at how difficult it was initially to tilt myself upwards in order to look at the surface, or other divers just above me.

Also trying to turn round whilst in sidemount takes some manoeuvring at first - a bit like turning a cruise liner – it can be done but it takes time and practice.

I consider the beauty of sidemount diving to be the ability to unclip the rear of each cylinder and swing them around in front of you, thus shrinking your profile in the water, reducing drag and enabling the diver to fit through slim or narrow gaps with ease – perfect for some parts of wrecks, and the caves and swim-throughs on our local shore dives here in Cyprus.

Among the other benefits of sidemount was that I had two separate life support systems, so a spare for myself if one system failed, or for a buddy in case of the need to share air.


I learned to swap between cylinders, breathing 30 bar from one regulator then swap to the other in order to minimise the weight imbalance due to air being used from each cylinder.

Entry and exit was easy - walking into and out of the water without any cylinders attached to me was strange but liberating!

All in all a very enlightening experience, and I am currently hunting down my own sidemountsetup (harness, regulators and other toys) so that I can carry on practicing my newly-discovered skills – need to find out just where exactly I am supposed to clip my camera..?

Diving in the fast lane

I have recently arrived back in Cyprus at Scuba Tech for my third season working as a Dive master.  After hearing that Pete and Shelley had recently invested in underwater scooters, I was even more excited to get back in the water.

The underwater scooters are made by a manufacturer called SUEX (The Submarine Exploration Company) these scooters are one of the best DPV’s (Diver propulsion vehicles) available and are “at the very cutting edge of underwater mobility”. [1] In the diving community they are very popular for exploring and suit all types of diving.  Knowing this, I was very eager to try them!

Within a couple of days, I was back in Green Bay for my first dive of the season. The conditions were excellent, the sun was shining and the water looked lovely and clear. It felt very good to be back.

The design of the scooter looks very simple, yet sleek and professional. I was using the SUEX  XJOY 7, a machine with two handles which makes it very easy to manoeuvre and control.  On the right handle is a trigger button, which allows you to control how fast you go. Alongside this, there are two settings; high and low, which alter the speed of the scooter. To attach the scooter to you, there is a long cord with a bolt snap that attaches to the crotch D ring on your harness.

I had used a DPV in the past but it was nothing like the SUEX model. From the moment I first pulled the trigger, I knew I loved it.

You can cover a lot of distance with these machines so I learned it is even more crucial to keep an eye on your buddy and stick together so you don’t get separated. You also go through your air supply a lot quicker without realising, so it is vital you keep checking and be strict with your turn around times!

The dive was around the hour mark, I had my finger on the trigger for more or less the whole time. With a top speed of 55 feet a minute, these machines can go very, very quickly.  It really is diving in the fast lane.

According to the SUEX website, the scooters have a run time between 60 and 75 minutes. However, having mainly dived the low setting and intermittently diving in the high setting, I managed a run time of two one hour plus dives. Furthermore, in the water, the scooters are neutrally buoyant so it is very easy to stay in trim with a SUEX without having to majorly alter your weight.

After having already done one dive, which was fantastic, I wanted to get out again as soon as possible and do another. I went out for an 85 minute dive with Pete and Shelley on the scooters, to one of our dive sites called The Hole. It really was awesome and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute! We covered a lot of distance in a short space of time and we saw plenty of marine life including a Ray, Moray Eels and lots and lots of Fish along the way.

As I am also a technical diver, with a full twinset set up, I did wonder how the scooter would fare pulling me along throughout the dive but it presented no problems and I glided through the water effortlessly. The feeling was phenomenal. 

Diving without a scooter is awesome, but diving with one takes scuba diving to a whole new level. 

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[1] SUEX company mission- http://www.suex.it/

Exploring the Island for new dives

How can I scuba dive when I need glasses to see

This is a question we get asked all the time here at Scuba Tech Diving Centre, so we wanted to put a mini post out to re-assure all those people who don't see so well without prescription.

So, let me state it right here in the beginning. If you usually wear glasses to help you to see, there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to go Scuba Diving.

In the first instance, everything appears slightly bigger in the water anyway.

You have probably noticed this when you are in the sea or in a swimming pool. Any part of you that is submerged appears larger than parts that are not and this magnification is a result of refraction.

This means that if you only need a weak prescription for reading things, you may be ok in the water anyway.

However, if you need something a bit stronger, there are still options available for you.

If you usually wear contact lenses, there is no reason to change this. You can still wear your contacts while you are scuba diving but if, for any reason, you do have to take your mask off, keep your eyes closed to stop you from losing them. Also, just remember to let your buddy or guide/instructor know you wear them, just in case!

Another option, which is fairly common and relatively cheap to implement, are the "stick on lenses" that you can buy for the inside of your diving mask.

These are like buying the Cheap Boots reading glasses with incremental prescriptions available. They don't work for everybody but are certainly worth a try.





Finally, there is also the possibility to buy a prescription mask. Not every mask is suitable for prescription and they can be quite expensive, so it is important to make sure that the mask fits you properly before investing in having the prescription lenses fitted. You might be able to focus through the lenses but if you cannot see because the mask is continuously filling up, you haven't really solved the problem.


So, there are a number of options out there for those of us who wear glasses. As with everything in Scuba Diving, there is no "one size fits all" answer and what works for one may not work for others. I know divers that have used all of the above options with great success but the bottom line is...

You can still go Scuba Diving, even if you wear glasses