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Awesome Black Friday deals from Scuba Travel
UK-based dive tour operator Scuba Travel are offering some fantastic discounts as part of their Black Friday deals, but hurry – you only have until 5.30pm GMT tomorrow (Friday 25th November) to take advantage of these offers.
Here are the details:
Belize / Belize Aggressor / Save £1000
After landing in Belize City you will be taken to the boat. You have 7 nights on board on a full board basis. A 12lt tank and weights, soft drinks and local beer and wine are included. 5 fully guided dives a day.
Dive the biggest Blue Hole in the world and the sublime reefs around Lighthouse Reef and Turneffe Island at one of the all time great diving destinations. No dive log is complete without a diving holiday to Belize. And now you can experience the second largest barrier reef in the world on board Aggressor’s luxurious Belize liveaboard. Follow in the footsteps of scuba diving’s forefather and experience for yourself the rich and thrilling wall dives that made Belize one of Jacques Cousteau’s favourite diving destinations.
Find out more about this trip here.
Cayman Islands / Cayman Aggressor / Save £500 – Now only £2996
After landing in Grand Cayman you have 1 night in a hotel plus 7 nights on board on a full board basis. A 12lt tank and weights, soft drinks and local beer and wine in your package. Up to 5 fully guided dives a day on offer.
Enjoy gin clear water with no currents as you sail all 3 of the Cayman islands in one trip with plenty of rays, turtles, schooling fish and lavish corals and sponges. The Cayman islands are the quintessential Caribbean diving destination. Sail in complete comfort between Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac in one faultless liveaboard holiday that melds wreck and reef diving to perfection.
Find out more about this trip here.
Red Sea / Hurricane / 3rd May / Only £995
7 nights full board – All fees, 12 L tank & weights and free nitrox included. All trips are fully guided with 2 expert guides. Package includes flights with Thomson from Gatwick and transfers plus day use room and lunch at a hotel on the last day.
Sublime reef diving in the southern Red Sea with the most experienced team, on board the stable steel hulled Hurricane. Avoid long transfers with Scuba Travel’s direct flight to Marsa Alam. Dive the famous Daedalus Reef, Rocky Island and St Johns. Big drops offs and big fish at Daedalus make this an itinerary to remember. Combine with the unique coral formations at St Johns and Fury Shoal and you have an outstanding dive holiday, far from the crowds.
Find out more about this trip here.
Maldives / Serenity Liveaboard / 6th January / Save £350 – Now £1995
7 nights full board, average of 3 fully guided dhoni dives per day. All marine park fees, 12lt tank and weights are included in your package as well as FOC nitrox. Flights are with Sri Lankan although Scuba Travel are able to book a variety of scheduled flights.
All diving is done from Emperor Serenity’s large 19.8m dhoni tender, giving you more living space on board and getting you to the perfect dive spot every time. She is rebreather-friendly and offers free nitrox and four dive guides. Non-divers are very welcome and get a free snorkelling kit + $50 voucher to spend on board.
Find out more about this trip here.
Indonesia / Bunaken Oasis Dive Resort / Save £1000
Enjoy 5-star luxury at Bunaken Oasis Dive Resort on secluded Bunaken Island.
From Manado you will be taken to the resort. Standard package includes 7 nights on a full board basis in a traditional villa (2 people sharing) with free laundry. 3 boat dives a day with free nitrox and unlimited house reef diving. Return flights from Heathrow.
This boutique dive resort has been lovingly designed and built by British couple Simon & Elaine Wallace, who had 1 simple goal – to create a dive resort whose every aspect meets your exacting requirements for quality and 5-star service, both on land and in the sea.
The Bunaken National Park is famous the world over for startling drop offs, drift dives and inviting warm waters. Snorkelers and divers alike can experience the magic of the Marine Park. Eagle rays, ribbon eels, turtles and wrasse are common whilst baracuda and jacks swarm over the hard corals.
Find out more about this trip here.
Red Sea / Cyclone Liveaboard / 7th January / Now only £695
Spend 7 nights on board on a full board basis. Classic itinerary in the Northern Red Sea with up to 22 fully guided dives. Return Easyjet Flights from Gatwick, all marine park fees, 12lt tank, air fills and weights are included in your package.
Cyclone is a true Red Sea classic liveaboard that easily meets the high standards of Scuba Travel’s modern Red Sea liveaboards.
Beat the winter blues with a trip to the Red Sea this January for some winter sun and stunning diving. Cyclone will be setting sail from Hurghada and travelling north to visit the iconic wrecks and reefs dive sites.
Find out more about this trip here.
Red Sea / Whirlwind Liveaboard / 19th March / Only £925
From Hurghada spend 7 nights on board on a full board basis. Up to 22 fully guided dives over the week. All marine park fees, 12lt tank, air fills and weights are included. Sunday departure with regional flights from LGW, Manchester or Birmingham.
Wrecks and Reefs is the itinerary for any diver wanting to see the best of the Northern Red Sea – no matter what experience level you have, see what has made Egypt’s Red Sea such an unmissable destination in 1 week of adventure. With world class wreck dives and breath taking reef dives every day, why not take a trip to the best of both worlds. Endlessly flexible, Wreck and Reefs has become a classic route. And yet no two trips are ever the same. The route can be adapted easily to ensure you visit the right dive sites… at any time of the year. The underwater scenery is ever changing and guaranteed to leave you breathless.
Find out more about this trip here.
Maldives / Leo Liveaboard 14th January / Now only £1895
7 nights on board on a full board basis. Leo dives the seasonal hot spots with an average of 3 fully guided dhoni dives a day. All marine park fees, 12lt tank and weights and FOC nitrox included. Return flights with Sri Lankan.
This is always a popular year round itinerary. Dive the classic sites that made the Maldives so famous. Focusing on the hottest sites around Male & Ari atolls, there are pelagics a plenty, with manta, sharks and even whalesharks.
Leo is light and bright Maldives liveaboard that runs weekly departures to dive the classic Best of the Maldives. She’s a popular choice with divers. Snorkellers are also welcomed on board, and will receive a free snorkelling kit and $50 on board voucher to spend.
Find out more about this trip here.
To find out more about Scuba Travel and the dive holidays they offer, visit www.scubatravel.com.
Jake Davies boards Ghazala Explorer for an unforgettable Red Sea diving experience…
The second day’s diving was a day full of wreck diving at Abu Nuhas, which included the Chrisoula K, Carnatic, and Ghiannis D. The first dive of the day was onto the Chrisoula K, also known as the wreck of tiles. The 98m vessel remains largely intact where she was loaded with tiles which can be seen throughout the hold. The stern sits at 26m and the bow just below the surface. One of the highlights of the wreck is heading inside and seeing the workroom where the machinery used for cutting the tiles are perfectly intact. The bow provided some relaxing scenery as the bright sunlight highlighted the colours of the soft coral reef and the many reef fish.
Following breakfast, we then headed to the next wreck, which was the Carnatic. The Carnatic is an 89.9m sail steamer vessel that was built in Britain back in 1862. She ran aground on the reef back in 1869 and remains at 27m. At the time, she was carrying a range of items, including 40,000 sterling in gold. An impressive wreck where much of the superstructure remains, and the two large masts lay on the seafloor. The wooden ribs of the hull provide structures for lots of soft corals, and into the stern section, the light beams through, bouncing off the large shoals of glass fish that can be found using the structure as shelter from the larger predators that are found outside of the wreck.
The final wreck at Abu Nuhas was the Ghiannis D, originally called ‘Shoyo Maru,’ which was 99.5m long and built in Japan back in 1969 before becoming a Greek-registered cargo ship in 1980. The ship then ran aground on the reef on April 19th, 1983, and now sits at the bottom at a depth of 27m. Heading down the line, the stern of the ship remains in good condition compared to the rest of the hull. The highlight of the wreck, though, is heading into the stern section and down the flights of stairs to enter the engine room, which remains in good condition and is definitely worth exploring. After exploring the interior section of the ship, we then headed over to see the rest of the superstructure, where it’s particularly interesting to see the large table corals that have grown at the bow relatively quickly considering the date the ship sank. After surfacing and enjoying some afternoon snacks, we made sure everything was strapped down and secured as we would be heading north and crossing the Gulf of Suez, where the winds were still creating plenty of chop.
The next morning, it was a short hop to Ras Mohammed Nature Reserve for the next couple of days of diving. The 6am wake-up call came along with the briefing for the first site we would be diving, which was Shark & Yolanda. The low current conditions allowed us to start the dive at Anemone City, where we would drift along the steep, coral-filled wall. These dives involved drifts, as mooring in Ras Mohammed wasn’t allowed to protect the reefs. As a dive site, Shark & Yolanda is well-known and historically had a lot of sharks, but unfortunately not so many in recent years, especially not so early in the season. However, there was always a chance when looking out into the blue.
The gentle drift took us along the steep walls of the site, with plenty of anemone fish to be seen and a huge variety of corals. It wasn’t long into the dive before we were accompanied by a hawksbill turtle, who drifted with us between the two atolls before parting ways. Between the two reefs, the shallow patch with parts of coral heads surrounded by sand provided the chance to see a few blue-spotted stingrays that were mainly resting underneath the corals and are always a pleasure to see. With this being the morning dive, the early sunlight lit up the walls, providing tranquil moments. Looking out into the blue, there was very little to be seen, but a small shoal of batfish shimmering underneath the sunlight was a moment to capture as we watched them swim by as they watched us.
Towards the end of the dive, we stopped at the wreck of the Jolanda where the seafloor was scattered with toilets from the containers it was carrying. This provided a unique site to make a safety stop, which was also accompanied by a large barracuda slowly swimming by, along with a hawksbill turtle calmly swimming over the reef as the sun rays danced in the distance.
For the next dive, we headed north to the Strait of Tiran to explore the reefs situated between Tiran Island and Sharm El Sheik, which were named after the British divers who had found them. We started on Jackson before heading to Gordons Reef, where we also did the night dive. All the atolls at these sites provided stunning, bustling coral reefs close to the surface and steep walls to swim along, which always provided the opportunity to keep an eye out for some of the larger species that can be seen in the blue. Midwater around Jackson Reef was filled with red-toothed triggerfish and shoals of banner fish, which at times were so dense that you couldn’t see into the blue. Moments went by peacefully as we enjoyed the slow drift above the reef, watching these shoals swim around under the mid-afternoon sun.
The night dive at Gordon’s Reef was mainly among the stacks of corals surrounded by sand, which was great to explore under the darkness. After some time circling the corals, we came across what we were really hoping to find, and that was an octopus hunting on the reef. We spent the majority of the dive just watching it crawl among the reef, blending into its changing surroundings through changes in colour and skin texture. It’s always so fascinating and captivating to watch these incredibly intelligent animals, in awe of their ability to carry out these physical changes to perfectly blend into the reef. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the boat to enjoy a well-deserved tasty dinner prepared by the talented chefs onboard.
Check in for the 3rd and final part of this series from Jake tomorrow!
To find out more about the Northern Red Sea reef and wrecks itineraries aboard Ghazala Explorer, or to book, contact Scuba Travel now:
Email: dive@scubatravel.com
Tel: +44 (0)1483 411590
Photos: Jake Davies / Avalon.Red
The Shark Trust is excited to announce that, for two more days only, all donations, large or small, will be doubled in the Big Give Green Match Fund!
Donate to Basking in Nature: Sighting Giants
The Shark Trust is hoping to raise £10k which will be doubled to £20k. This will go towards Basking in Nature: Sighting Giants. And they need YOUR help to reach they’re goal.
The Shark Trust’s citizen science project is to monitor and assess basking sharks through sightings; encouraging data collection, community engagement, and promoting nature accessibility. This initiative aims to enhance health and wellbeing by fostering a deeper connection with British Sharks.
Campaign Aims
- Increase citizen science reporting of Basking Sharks and other shark sightings to help inform shark and ray conservation.
- Provide educational talks about the diverse range of sharks and rays in British waters and accessible identification guides!
- Create engaging and fun information panels on how to ID the amazing sharks and rays we have on our doorstep! These can be used on coastal paths around the Southwest. With activities and information on how you can make a difference for sharks and rays!
- Promote mental wellbeing through increasing time in nature and discovering the wonders beneath the waves!
Donate, and double your impact. Click Here
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