Ancient Black Sea port awaits scuba divers

KOCAELİ

A port, Kerpe, located in the 2,300-year-old city of Bithynia, which has witnessed many Roman, Byzantine, Genoese, and Ottoman ships throughout its history, has become a prominent location for scuba diving lovers.

Attracting the interest of both domestic and foreign tourists, the northwestern province of Kocaeli’s Kerpe district, located on the Black Sea coast, serves those who want to visit the artifacts and wrecks from ancient times underwater.

Scuba divers, mostly from Istanbul and various parts of Turkey, go underwater in the shores of the port, witnessing the history and seeing the fascinating beauty of sea creatures.

Diving schools in the town, following health and hygiene measures against COVID-19, continue to host divers.

“Kerpe is a historical port and settlement used by the Genoese and Romans in history, that’s why we dive around the port’s breakwater that starts from zero and goes to 12 meters,” said Sedat Türkmen, one of the diving school instructors named Kerpe Starfishes.

Noting that he has been providing diving services for about eight years, Türkmen also provides logistical support to divers and diving schools from many cities.

Expressing that the depth of diving is not much around the port and therefore the diving time is taking long, Türkmen says that this is why scuba divers prefer Kerpe.

“One dive takes no less than 40 minutes,” he said.

Stressing that it has a water temperature equal to the city of Kaş on the Mediterranean coast, Türkmen stated that the divers coming to Kerpe will have the opportunity to swim with sardine herds, blue crabs and jellyfish.

Another stop waiting for scuba divers are caves with a depth of 13 meters that are formed by natural conditions, however, the most interesting thing about Kerpe is the historical shipwrecks.

Türkmen noted that sunken ship keels and many amphora fractures from the ancient times have been found in the areas close to the shore.