News
Dive Worldwide add three new dive destinations for 2018
With Scuba Diving rising in popularity, UK-based Tour Operator Dive Worldwide is adding three new destinations to its programme to excite travelling divers. Newly introduced are: St Helena, an untouched divers’ paradise in the South Atlantic, newly accessible thanks to the completion of its airport; Lanzarote, a sunshine island perfect for year-round diving; and Norway, a land of mystery, wrecks, and unusual marine life.
Known as the ‘Galapagos of the Atlantic’, the remote island of St Helena offers one of the world’s last remaining pristine diving locations. Until recently, the island could only be reached by postal ship making it expensive and inaccessible, but the advent of a new flight service from Johannesburg has opened up St Helena to the adventurous diver. Here, the waters teem with marine life, with over 750 species to discover. The highlight though is the aggregations of whale sharks between December and March each year – a recent phenomenon that has attracted the attention of scientists the world over.
Price: from £2,795pp sharing, including 8 nights’ accommodation, transfers, 5 day-10 dive pack, tanks and weights and return flights from the UK.
With year-round sunshine, interesting marine life and offering excellent value, Dive Worldwide considers Lanzarote to have the finest diving in the Canary Islands. This new trip, ideal for recently-qualified divers or families (children from 10 years), is based among the fascinating volcanic landscapes in the south of the island. Divers will see volcanic reefs, swim through small caverns, and have the chance to visit Museo Atlántico, an ethereal collection of underwater statues and sculptures.
Price: from £1,195pp sharing, including 7 nights’ all-inclusive accommodation, 5 day-10 dive pack, tanks and weights, transfers and return flights from the UK.
Perfect for groups or dive clubs, this new trip to the fjords of Norway, uniquely offered to the UK market by Dive Worldwide, offers wreck diving, bizarre marine life and otherworldly kelp forests. Based on the mighty Sognefjord, guests will spend three days diving among the chilly, yet clear, waters. They will visit some of the 30 wrecks in the area many of which were sunk during WWII, and see unusual marine life including thorntail stingrays, wolf fish and monkfish. The holiday ends with an included tour of Bergen, a charming and colourful city two hours’ down the coast.
Price: from £1,595pp, based on a group of 8, including 4 nights’ FB accommodation, 3 day-9 dive pack, tanks and weights, Bergen city tour, transfers and return flights from the UK.
For more information visit www.diveworldwide.com or call 01962 302087.
Today we are diving one of the outer reefs from an inflatable. As we reach the bottom, a reef octopus eases its way into the cover of a small crack in the coral while displaying it’s incredible ability to change colour. They are arguably one of the most charismatic of reef dwellers and it is always exciting for me to simply hover and watch. I would have spent longer and waited for it to come and investigate me, but as dive time is limited we wanted to move on and find a turtle.
The waters around Somabay are well protected and hold a rich variety of marine life. The reef edges are thriving colonies of coral and shoaling fish, while nearer the sea bed plenty of wildlife is still to be found.
Then we located the turtles. They are very used to divers and so show little concern when slowly approached. In fact occasionally one will come over to see what you are doing. There is always huge excitement when diving with a turtle. The shear thrill of sharing a moment with another species.
What a fantastic way to finish a wonderful few days diving and I would like to thank SOMABAY, ORCA DIVING and THE BREAKERS for making my stay such a good one.
I had a great time, with diving everyday either on the house reef or on one of the offshore reefs by inflatable or larger day boat. Orca diving provided high quality equipment and facilities while the staff were all very friendly and welcoming. The Breakers was right on the coast with nice rooms, good food and once again friendly staff making the whole trip a real pleasure.
Soma Bay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds.
As well as scuba diving, Somabay caters for many other sports and activities, and so is perfect for families as well as individuals and/or groups. And of course there is always time to lay peacefully on the beach under the Egyptian sun.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
Day three of my trip to Somabay and we were spending the day on the Lady Christina and diving on the wreck of the Salem Express.
Diving wrecks for me is always one of mixed emotions. The excitement of diving a wreck is more than often tempered by the thought of loss of life when she sank. The Salem Express was a passenger ship and a roll-on/roll-off ferry travelling from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Safaga, Egypt. Most passengers were of poor class travelling home from their holidays while around 150 people were returning home from their pilgrimage to Mecca.
The ship struck a reef and sank within 20 minutes. Passengers were trapped below deck and the ship was filled with fear and panic.
The wreck area is strewn with personal belongings from the crew and passengers such as a transistor radio and a flat iron for clothes. A diver at sometime has put them in a prominent place to be seen.
Tragically only one life boat was launched while the others went down with the ship. More than 600 men, women and children lost their lives here.
It’s a stark reminder that the sea can be unforgiving and so when we dive on such wrecks we should do so with humble regard.
Returning to the surface, shoals of fish are gathered under our boat and seem to be welcoming us back into the light.
Back at the Breakers I sat in the dining area with a beer and a very good meal while my thoughts still remained with the day’s dive on the Salem Express.
Check in for part 3 tomorrow for Jeff’s last day of diving with Somabay on the off-shore reefs looking for turtles.
Book your next Red Sea dive adventure with SOMABAY! For more information, visit www.somabay.com.
Stay at the Breakers Diving & Surfing Lodge when you visit! For more information, visit www.thebreakers-somabay.com.
Find out more about ORCA Dive Clubs at SOMABAY at www.orca-diveclubs.com/en/soma-bay-en.
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