News
Blue Label Diving Offering Specialised Tech Diving Liveaboard Trips
Blue Label Diving, a dive centre chain that teaches advanced diving courses and operates out of Thailand, Australia and Indonesia, are now offering specialised tech diving liveaboard trips in association with Onno Lenting from Scuba Dive Asia.
The first trip is to Truk Lagoon in May on Truk Siren. Ben Reymenants, founder and owner of Blue Label Diving, will be onboard to teach a Rebreather and Sidemount workshop. He will also be teaching the TDI advanced Wreck course over 4 days and a CCR trimix course to 60 meters over 5 days.
The Liveaboard
The Truk Siren is a 40 meter luxury liveaboard.
She offers spacious room for 16 guests in 8 cabins which are either fixed double or twin bed. She offers excellent tech diving and rebreather diving facilities.
There are also ample facilities for underwater photographers and videographers, providing both indoor and outdoor designated areas for charging and preparation of your camera and video equipment.
The liveaboard is departing from Weno directly to the main concentration of wrecks including the Fujikawa Maru, Nippo Maru, Gosei Maru, Fumitzuki and the Rio de Janeiro Maru. With over 61 sites to choose from there are no shortage of options for wreck divers.
Cruise Dates & Rates
- May 20 – 30, 2015. Regular rate is €3550
Those who book an additional course with Ben will only pay €3,195 pp for the trip.
- May 31 – June 10, 2015. We are happy to offer this to you for only €3,550 pp Back-to-back – You will get €250 discount on the 2nd trip
Advanced Wreck Course Rates
When you book the course with three people the rate is $2,500 for the group. If you book the course for one person the rate is $1,200.
CCR Trimix Course Rates
On JJ, Megalodon, Seven or Pathfinder When you book the course with 3 people the rate is $4,000 for the group If you book the course for one person the rate is $1,800 per person.
The logistics like oxygen, helium, tanks, equipment rental and scrubber have to be added and paid onboard. Exact costs for this will follow later.
Trip price includes: Essential dive equipment of Aqua Lung Wave BCD, Calypso regulator, 3mm shorty wetsuit, mask & fins. 12l or 15l aluminum tank & weights, SMB, Free Nitrox fills for all certified Nitrox divers. All meals, refreshments & snacks such as coffee, tea, herbal tea, fresh water, carbonated soft drinks, fruit juice, fresh fruit & cookies. Free local brand beer. Local transfers to/from the yacht to/from the local airport.
Trip price excludes:
International flights. Marine Park, Port Fees & Taxes – $200/ person.
Contact Onno from Scuba Dive Asia now for more info and to secure your place by emailing onno@scubadiveasia.com.
Blogs
TRAVEL BLOG: Jeff Goodman Dives SOMABAY, Part 2
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.
Blogs
TRAVEL BLOG: Jeff Goodman Dives SOMABAY, Part 1
For a week at the end of February I was invited to sample the diving with Orca Dive Club based at the Breakers Diving and Surfing Lodge by courtesy of SOMABAY.
Somabay covers an entire peninsula and is home to several resorts as well as residential compounds. Somabay caters for scuba diving as well as many other sports, including windsurfing, golf, sailing, go-carting, horse riding and many other activities.
All the activities are of a world-class standard and any or all of these can be booked directly from The Breakers.
I took Easyjet from Bristol (UK) to Hurghada. Easyjet are not by any means my favourite airline but the flight was cheap and direct (except for the surprise extra £48 I was charged at the gate for my carry-on bag).
I was met at Hurghada airport by a driver and car and taken to the Breakers 28 miles (45Kilomaters) south along the coast. Once at the hotel I was too late for an evening meal and so a basic meal was delivered to my room. That and a beer from the fridge and I was fast asleep.
Early the next morning after breakfast I arrived for my rep meeting at the Orca Dive Center for 8.00am. I was immediately made to feel welcome, and after brief introductions I got some dive gear from the store, had a chat with my dive guide Mohamed and got ready to try the house reef situated at the end of a very long wooded pier where all diving gear and divers are taken out by buggies.
Once at the end of the pier, a helping hand from staff makes sure your gear is set and then it’s a short walk to the very end where you can either climb down a ladder of simply jump in the water next to the reef. The house reef extends both north and south giving a very easy and safe dive with plenty to see. At this time of the year the water temperature was a constant 22 degrees Centigrade and there was little or no current, so there were no issues in swimming back to the pier.
Quite a few divers were in dry or semi-dry suits, but being from the UK and used to the cold I found a 3mm wetsuit with a 3mm neoprene vest quite comfortable. Even after 50 years of diving I still find that first dive of a trip slightly nerving until I am actually underwater and then all becomes relaxed and I ease into auto diving mode. There was plenty to see with many of the Red Sea favourites along the way.
After the dive and a buggy ride back to the hotel for a very good buffet lunch I was back in the water, once again on the house reef for an afternoon dive.
Check in for part 2 tomorrow when Jeff gets on a day boat and dives a few of the off-shore reefs.
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.
-
News3 months ago
Hone your underwater photography skills with Alphamarine Photography at Red Sea Diving Safari in March
-
News2 months ago
Capturing Critters in Lembeh Underwater Photography Workshop 2024: Event Roundup
-
Marine Life & Conservation Blogs2 months ago
Creature Feature: Swell Sharks
-
Blogs1 month ago
Murex Resorts: Passport to Paradise!
-
Gear News3 months ago
Bare X-Mission Drysuit: Ideal for Both Technical and Recreational Divers
-
Blogs2 months ago
Diver Discovering Whale Skeletons Beneath Ice Judged World’s Best Underwater Photograph
-
Gear Reviews2 months ago
Gear Review: Oceanic+ Dive Housing for iPhone
-
Blogs3 months ago
The Thrilling Encounter with Tiger Sharks at Beqa Lagoon’s ‘The Colosseum’ with Coral Coast Divers