Rhodes, the area around Anchor Forest

Rhodes · Greece · Reef

Anchor Forest

A seabed installation of lost boat anchors, 18 m maximum

Area photo: PawełMM · CC BY-SA 4.0

Anchor Forest is a reef dive on the north-east coast of Rhodes with an unusual centrepiece: a collection of lost boat anchors, dumped on the seabed by captains who did not know how to anchor, that H2O Diving Center describes as a nice installation. Maximum depth is 18 m and the minimum level is Open Water Diver, which makes it one of the island's easy dives.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Anchor Forest: typical dive to 18 m (to 60 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit18 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

36.3231° N, 28.2118° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The dive has a destination, and the guide takes you to it. You descend over the reef and follow it to the anchor forest, a cluster of anchors dumped in the sea by boats that, as H2O Diving Center puts it, had captains who did not know how to anchor; the result is the installation you are looking at. The dive's maximum depth is 18 m, so the whole route stays inside Open Water limits.

Anchors mean lines, and lines mean entanglement, so the rule is to look and keep your distance rather than swim between them. After the forest the rest of the dive is the reef, worked back towards the entry point at a depth that suits an Open Water diver, the operator's stated minimum for the site. It is a straightforward dive with one memorable feature, and it fits into a day of dives on this stretch of coast.

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Anchor Forest
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
FairFairFairFairGoodPrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodFairFair

Season follows Rhodes: May to October is the season, peaking July to September; centres still run in October, charter flights stop after October, and very little is dived from November to March.

Know before you go

  • Lost anchors come with lost lines; keep clear of the anchors and any rope around them rather than swimming through the cluster.

Sources

  1. Anchor Forest — Scubago / H2O Diving Center

More dive sites in Rhodes

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A statue of Eros on a reef of cavities and a steep drop-off

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An abandoned fishing net at the foot of a wall from 18 m to 3 m

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The entry-level reef dive: 18 m and a surprise ending

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Cavern formations in a shallow bay, 10 to 22 m

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Flat reef, drop-off and wall in one 18 m dive

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A stiff wall and a deeper reef cut with cavities, arranged to 24 or 30 m

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A stiff wall from 6 m to 30 m with an Open Water minimum

6–30 mintermediate

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