Diving in Pissouri

JUBILEE SHOALS

Jubilee Shoals is the premier dive site in Cyprus, this natural reef located 5km from Pissouri Bay comprises of:

  • Walls
  • Pinnacles
  • Caves
  • Swimthroughs
  • Caverns
  • Plateaus
  • Overhangs
  • Ravines
  • Troughs

The reef is approximately 1.3km long with depths ranging from 16m – 60m, perfect for every certification level from Open Water diver through to the most Technical of qualifications. This site boasts the most diverse and abundant amount of corals to be found anywhere in Cyprus along with the most nutrient rich waters, which in turn attract a fantastic amount of marine life including:

  • Huge Loggerhead and Green Turtles
  • Large Schools of fish: Amberjack, Bream, Bass, Grouper, Damselfish
  • Mediterranean Moray Eels
  • Octopus
  • The very rare Bull Ray
  • The occasional Dolphin
  • And the ever too common LionFish

This is one of the few locations in Cyprus that can accommodate Drift dives, with good visibility at worst, and often 40m+.

We have marked and named the following Dive sites along this fantastic Reef:

Elephant Rock (Eastern Pinnacle)

Elephant Rock is the most popular Dive site of Jubilee Shoals, this distinct feature marks the Eastern most pinnacle with the shallowest depth at 16m. On the Southern side of this feature is a wall falling to the sea bed around 45m below, this impressive rock formation is an amazing attraction for an eclectic array of marine life attracted to these nutrient rich waters created from the upwelling from currents negotiating the wall.

Jubilee Cavern

Only accessible to those who are suitably qualified, experienced and competent. Jubilee Cavern lies beneath Elephant Rock Pinnacle, the Western entrance to this fantastic feature is situated at 38m, the Cavern dissects the pinnacle and is 70m long exiting at the Eastern face at a depth of 42m.

Finger Pinnacle & Jubilee Arch

Finger Pinnacle is situated 270m West of Elephant Rock at a depth of 25m and marks the top of a sheer wall falling to the sea bed 47m below, just to the rear of the Pinnacle is the entrance to Jubilee Arch swim through, the top entrance, on the plateau, at 27m cutting through the Limestone and exiting at the base of the wall at 33m. This stunning Arch is covered with bright corals. Continue following the wall West and the depth drops away to 47m+, the wall is covered with very old, large fishing nets, now well established and creating their own eco system. One of our favourite dives is drifting between Elephant Rock & Finger Pinnacle.

Canberra Wing

Continuing a further 130m West of Finger Pinnacle we reach the resting place of an aircraft wing, the top of the plateau in this area lays in 30m, the wing location, firmly wedged in a crevice in the wall face at 37m and is marked by a large boulder. The sea bed at this point is around 42m.

Western Pinnacle

Following the Reef in a Westerly direction the wall top has undulating depths ranging from 18-30m, the 900m from the Canberra Wing to the Western Pinnacle hasn’t been explored by us in any great detail, we have identified numerous caverns and caves in the wall but haven’t detailed the majority of them. There is a Castle Rampart, type, feature at around 20m and continuing further West we have explored another swim through, similar to Jubilee Arch, the entrance in the Plateau at 30m and exiting at the foot of the wall at 42m

AIRPORT REEF

Only a 20 minute drive from Pissouri Bay Divers Dive Centre this cracking site is great for all levels, the only drawback being the entry. The water entry is accessed over a rocky shore which isn’t too bad just so long as we take it easy and mind the footing. Once into the water we need to wade out approx 20-30 metres until we have adequate depth to don fins and descend.

Beneath the surface we explore a shallow reef for a short distance before entering a gully that soon descends to 5 metres, follow this gully South for around 150 metres gradually descending until we arrive at the Reef wall, to the front is open sea and the wall to our left and right. Depths range from 5 to 15 metres with stunning topography consisting of re-entrants, gullies, swim throughs, walls, pinnacles, sea grass, boulder fields and awesome Cyprus marine life consisting of Turtles, Amberjacks, Barracuda, Mediterranean Moray, Octopus, Scorpion Fish, Lion Fish, 2 Banded & Saddle Bream, Damsel Fish, Ornate Wrasse and many more.

NOBLES COVE

This nice and easy beach entry leading to a natural sloping decent, from a small cove where only Pissouri Bay Divers visit, is a great location. Following a boulder sea bed heading away from shore, we soon encounter a shallow reef with depths ranging between 3 & 9 metres. We can only imagine that this was possibly an ancient port, but as yet have failed to find any records to support this, all we know is that this pretty reef system contains an abundance of ancient Amphorae, Anchors and Roof Tiles (from the cabins of old merchant vessels).

When we first encountered this site we contacted Archaeologists who confirmed that a number of Amphorae pieces dated back to 200-400 AD, it just blows us away to think how long these pieces have laid undisturbed,  we encounter a number of Anchors, some not so ancient, but others that are actually embedded in the Reef, it doesn’t take much imagination to visualise ancient wooden vessels slowly deteriorating over hundreds of years on the sea bed, the skeletal timber being replaced by the formation of a Reef system.

This is one of our regular night dive locations where we encounter many Octopus, Cuttlefish and Bio luminescence. We regularly have the pleasure of being accompanied by Green and Loggerhead Turtles, the occasional Ray and a good amount of fish.

An awesome dive location for exploring and imagining what was, strictly look but don’t touch, we have been enjoying this site for the past 5 years. A great shallow dive location where most of our dives here are for around 60 minutes plus.

Another great site within 20 mins of Pissouri Bay.