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Dive holiday offers from Scuba Travel
Here’s the latest dive holiday offers from our friends at UK-based Tour Operator Scuba Travel:
EGYPT
SharkQuest on 9th May for only £1095
Come face to face with pelagics in the Southern Red Sea and save £300 with this amazing offer. Dive with the most experienced team, on board the stable steel hulled Hurricane. Avoid long transfers with a direct flight to Marsa Alam. Dive the famous Daedalus Reef, Brothers Islands, Rocky or Elphinstone dependant on the best shark activity – night diving is prohibited in some of these areas so expect around 18 dives in total. All fees, 12 L tank & weights and FREE NITROX are included in your package.
All trips are fully guided with 2 expert guides. Includes flights from Gatwick, transfers and a day use room and lunch at a hotel on the last day while you wait for your flight home. This holiday is suitable for Advanced Divers with a minimum of 50 dives and comfortable in the blue.
Click here to book your place!
Book before the end of April and save £255 on this Wrecks and Reefs trip on 15th June
Sail away this 15th June on the ever popular, award-winning Whirlwind for only £1095. This is a classic itinerary in the Northern Red Sea with up to 22 dives over the week. Departing from Hurghada, you will spend 7 nights on board on a full board basis (twin share cabin). All marine park fees, 12lt tank, air fills and weights are included in your package. Flights are with easyJet from Gatwick and transfers are also included. At the end of the week, you will have day use of a hotel and buffet lunch while you wait for your flight home.
Wrecks and Reefs is the ideal itinerary whatever your experience level. A popular route for those new to the Red Sea, the varied depths across dive sites suit all abilities – from novice to tekkie. Visibility is crystal clear and the warm blue waters are perfect for even the longest dive times. Few other dive destinations can offer the same quality and quantity of top dive sites. This itinerary will fill your log book with both wrecks and reefs that are envied the world over.
MALDIVES
15th September – visit the Maldives and save £100
Wind your way between Male and Baa atolls, cherry picking the highlight dive sites and including snorkelling at Hanifaru Bay on board the exceptional Carpe Vita. From May 2019 enjoy a relaxing three dives a day with the Carpe Vita team including one or two night dives. All diving is from a dhoni tender, with 12lt tank and weights are included and free recreational nitrox. You have 7 nights on board on a full board basis (twin/double share cabin) – cabin upgrades available. Tea, coffee and drinking water are included in your package. All trips are fully guided.
Soft and alcoholic drinks, additional kit hire and any onboard souvenirs are payable onboard. The green tax has been prepaid. Please let your travel consultant know if you would like to prebook any diving courses on board or have any dietary requirements. This holiday excludes international flights to Male airport transfers. Scuba Travel are able to add flights with a wide range of airlines, including regional departures. Please ask your consultant for a competitive quote for any flight option. Do not book any flights until your boat space is confirmed by Scuba Travel. Transfers operate at fixed times.
* prices are subject to change according to availability at the time of booking
Click here to reserve your place onboard Carpe Vita!
INDONESIA
On 24th May, go critter crazy in Bali for £1595 including flights
Save £300 when you dive Tulamben and the incredible critter dives of Bali with the team from Scuba Seraya! Your Bali adventure includes 7 nights in a maisonette on a full board basis (excluding drinks). Enjoy 10 boat dives in the morning (Tulamben region) plus unlimited, unguided shore diving for 5 afternoons. Flights are typically from Heathrow but Scuba Travel can book most major scheduled airlines including regional departure options. UK passport holders no longer need to pay for a visa on arrival in Bali. Excluded are local marine park fees, additional dives, special trips, nitrox or any meals or drinks outside of your full board package.
Click here to book your Bali adventure!
PHILIPPINES
31st May – save £300 at Malapascua Exotic Dive Resort
Thresher sharks are not the only great diving you will discover with Exotic Divers in Malapascua – reefs, sea snakes and macro life all await in these azure waters. Once you arrive in Cebu you will be picked up and taken by land and boat to Malapascua island. Your holiday package includes 7 nights in a deluxe room on a full board basis (twin share) – optional room grades available. As standard, your package includes 10 dives. Please do ask your travel consultant if you would like to prebook additional diving. The local marine park fees are 150php per day. Special day trips are organised and subject to a small supplemental charge paid locally. Flights are typically with Cathay Pacific, Singapore or Emirates airlines On leaving Cebu airport there is a terminal tax of approx $10 – this must be paid in local currency at the airport.
* prices are subject to change according to availability at the time of booking
Click here to book your place!
CARIBBEAN
Explore the islands of Saba and St. Kitts and save £600 on 29th June
A unique voyage through some of the most exclusive Caribbean islands onboard Caribbean Explorer 2 – dive St Kitts and the remarkable Saba Island with up to 5 dives a day! You have 7 nights on board on a full board basis (twin/double share cabin). Local, social servings of alcohol are included, along with soft drinks. A 12lt tank, air fills and weights are included in your package with up to 5 dives a day on offer (except first and last day). All trips are fully guided with expert guides. The last night Friday dinner is not included in your cruise. The crew will help with reservations and recommendations. Payable locally are the departure tax, fuel surcharge $80, park fees $115, nitrox $150 per week, optional land tours, additional kit hire and any onboard souvenirs. Please let your travel consultant know if you would like to prebook any courses on board or have any dietary requirements.
This holiday excludes international flights to St Kitts SKB. At the end of your trip, you need to fly St Kitts from St Maarten. Scuba Travel are able to add flights with a wide range of airlines, including regional departures. Please ask your consultant for a competitive quote for any flight option. Do not book any flights until your boat space is confirmed by Scuba Travel. Do be aware that if your flight routes through the USA you must have an ESTA prior to travel.
Don’t miss this great opportunity, click here to book your place!
PACIFIC
30th May – save £1300 and dive the remote pelagic playground Cocos onboard Sea Hunter.
Your trip of a lifetime starts as you arrive at Cocos Island (approx 30-36 hours journey). Here you will enjoy 3 exciting dives a day plus 3 must-see night dives. Your liveaboard package is based on a twin share cabin (full board including soft drinks). All trips are fully guided and include 12lt tank, weights and free Nitrox. During the trip, an excursion will be made to the island. The Cocos Marine Park fees $490 must be prepaid and will be added to your holiday before travel. Onboard, there is a mandatory search & recovery charge of $35, along with additional drinks, kit hire, souvenirs and tipping. Transfer in San Jose are included from the list of approved hotels. There is a departure tax on leaving Costa Rica (approx $35).
This holiday excludes international flights to San Jose Costa Rica (SJO). Scuba Travel strongly recommend you add a night in Costa Rica before and possibly after your liveaboard, depending on your flight times. These can be added to your booking, with a wide range of airlines, including regional departures. Please ask your consultant for a competitive quote. Do not book any flights until your boat space is confirmed by Scuba Travel. Do be aware that if your flight routes through the USA you must have an ESTA prior to travel.
* prices are subject to change according to availability at the time of booking
Book this once in a lifetime trip here!
To find out more about Scuba Travel and the dive holidays they offer call 0800 0728221, email dive@scubatravel.com or visit www.scubatravel.com.
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.
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.
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