Diving tours from Sevastopol and Balaklava

Why would you have to go to Sevastopol at the Black Sea?

If you want a vacation with a touch of the deep sea extreme, head for the Crimean Peninsula with Kozak Travel. The sea waters will gently embrace you and the Black Sea shelf will readily reveal its historical secrets of sunken ships and ancient epochs, breathtaking underwater landscapes, caves and volcanoes, as well as acquaint you with marine life. Even tough this underwater fairytale is quickly over; the memory of it will stay with you for the rest of your lifetime.

Like a museum, the Black Sea preserves military relics. A great number of shipwrecks were left following the Crimean War of 1853 – 1856 that enveloped the waters of the southwestern Crimea from Cape Lukall to Cape Sarych. During a single hurricane in November 1854 in Balaklava Harbor, 60 British, French and Turkish vessels sank just as they readied themselves to bombard the fortress city of Sevastopol. On that fateful day, the sea took into its embrace the pride of the British fleet, the sailing frigate “Prince” and …. 20 thousand Pound Sterling in gold and silver. The legend of dozens of barrels filled with gold and silver still attracts treasure hunters all over the world and frigate itself was long ago renamed “The Black Price” in order to make the intrigue more exiting.

One more wonder of Crimea’s underwater realm is an English frigate, whose name still remains in mystery, which went to the bottom with a cargo no less precious than that of the “Price”, numerous bottles of wine and cognac, which caused divers to christen it in “The Drunken Jack”. Today in the wreckage of the ship, you can find a bottle of wine or cognac that has already been maturing for more then a century. At depths from 6 to 15 meters, one can finds the eternal resting place of other heroes of the Crimean War: the legendary “Lord Reglan” and his fair lady the “Duchess of Glendaloge” and the majestic warriors “Gung”, “Pyrenees” and “London”.

The Second World War also left its marks in Crimea’s submarine spaces. In 1943, the German ship “Santa Fe” sank to the bottom near Sevastopol for unknown reasons. The vessel had on board 12 canonsns, a tank destroyer and 1.278 tons ammunition and bombs. After the war, the sunken ship was cleared of all dangerous objects, rendering it safe for fascinating underwater excursions. Beside the vessel rests the German submarine destroyer “UJ102”. Its deck is so well preserved that divers can easily recognize the once dangerous cannons. Unforgettable impressions will remain after a visit to Balaklava, a small town in the vicinity of Sevastopol. During the Soviet era, there was a submarine shooting range there in the area of Mramorna Balka. Today, at a depth accusable to divers, one can see the remains of broken targets and unsuccessfully lounged torpedoes. We also recommend a visit to the former submarine maintenance plant located inside a mountain not far from Balaklava where divers can swim along submarine water passages connected by a manmade canal. Installed on the eve of the Second World War in Balaklava Harbor in order to keep hospitable ships out, the world’s only device for laying underwater mines makes a unique underwater exhibit. One more spot for submarine exploration (at a depth of 20 meters) is a 50 meter schooner that once sank near the Gulubaya Harbor because of an explosion. By the way, in 1961, famous director Genadiy Kazanskiy shot several scenes for the classic Soviet film “The Amphibious Man” there. And not far from the Genoese Fortress (in the town of Sudak) in the mysterious Shaitan district, the entire seabed is so densely strewn with metallic debris from schooners that compasses malfunction… 

The Crimean Submarine landscapes are genuine masterpieces of the most talented artist “Mother Nature”. A fantastic stone garden “grows” 300 meters from Cape Sarych at a depth from 8 to 21 meters. Instead of trees, there are giant blocks of stone ranging from 1 to 10 meters in diameter. Between them are numerous grottos, crevices and underwater houses. Near Cape Ay-Ya and at shallower depths, another garden has spread out with huge boulders that once fell from the cliffs, admirable underwater alleys and wonderful cozy little grottos with spacious deep sea halls. If you want an adrenaline rush, you can swim along the adjoining sheer cliff. This is a real great attraction for courageous divers who are not afraid to see a great depth beneath them and an overhanging cliff above. Cape Fiolent also strikes one with its submarine beauty. There are caves, grottos and sandy glades hiding among conglomerations of stone. And not far from the coast is the “Sharks

Head”. This wonderful underwater area got his name from a huge stone that juts above the waterline and resembles the head of a shark. The waters near the cape are rich in interesting spoils, because in olden days, numerous ships crashed against its steep coastal cliffs. As for the citizens of the underwater realm, you will meet them all during your undersea trip: cheerful dolphins, schools of sprats, white sturgeons, grey mullets, dogfish, greenfinches, ruffs, crabs and jellyfish.

The ancient fortress city of chersoneses Tavricheskiy is a unique historical site on the Crimean Peninsula. Due to underwater tours, it is now possible to see not only its terrestrial part, but also its submerged part. Diving along the city blocks of ancient Chersoneses (located today at a depth of 12 to 18 meters), one can see fortifications with towers and belfries, rooms connected by labyrinths of passageways, the remains of walls and a great number of relics and monuments from ancient civilizations, one can identify the shattered remains of medieval ceramics. What’s more, the Chersoneses Harbor has one of the biggest cemeteries of sunken ships in the world. Nobody knows the exact number of the ships lost there. Cape Chersoneses has gained the ill fated reputation shared by the Bermuda Triangle, since numerous vessels survived the Black Sea crossing to crash against the reefs at the harbor’s entrance, unable to reach the shore. It’s worth noting that the “Chersoneses Triangle” is a unique archaeological preserve. Beside the ships remains, the seabed also offers a huge collection of anchors, once lost by ancient seafarers trying to save their vessels. This is perhaps the world’s biggest concentration of anchors in one place. There are forged iron anchors from medieval times, leaden anchor stocks from the Roman period and stone anchors belonging to ancient era.

Over the entire history of navigation on the Black Sea, perhaps some 60.000 vessels went to the bottom. It’s hard to imagine what treasures the sea depths preserve! In the period from 1984 to 1991 alone, divers retrieved more than 2 billion dollars worth of silver and gold coins, signet rings, chains and other objects made of precious metals from the Black Sea shelf!

To see all these wonders or even to take a photograph against their diverse backgrounds is a dream for many divers. So, arm yourself with scuba tanks and set off to conquer the depths! Kozak Travel is offering a full range of diving services at a Five Star Dive Centre! From rendering assistance in allocation, organizing excursion programs, etc, etc. Take a look at the separate pages for diving in the Black Sea with Kozak Travel. At the next pages you may read what we can offer you, where you can dive, what you may see in the black Sea, what skills you need to have or learn and much more, to see that we think about diving as a serious hobby!

• You may take part in a special dive archaeology program, diving in height mountain caves or dive safari to the area of peninsula Tarhankut and along South Cost of Crimea.
• More than 50 places can be visited from promontory Lykyll till promontory Sarich, including rivers, vertical walls and stone gardens.
• Kozak Travel is working together with a by PADI Certified diving centre!
• The staff consist high qualified instructors and PADI dive-masters.
• All equipment is modern and to the highest standards!
• We are offering you sets of diving equipment for hire such as: flippers, masks, snorkels, regulators, boots, gloves, plenty of 12/15 litters tanks, compressors to fill tanks (with the possibility to set this on the boat during your dive-cruses), equipment to produce air, enriched by oxygen, nitrox, trimex, heliox and own navigation. You can hire underwater cameras, torches and underwater vehicles as well.
• At the dive centre you will find a diving shop with all material for unbelievable low prices, rest room, dry room for the equipment, recompressing room at the Russian Naval Base, shower cabins and toilets.

• Kozak Travel is offering a special PADI course for the beginners. By the end the students are getting an international certificate. (After completing)

• Special diving programs at different levels are designed for certified divers. *there is a possibility of organizing group or individual excursions.