News

Dive into Europe

Published

1 year ago

February 25, 2022

Team Scubaverse

Wherever you are in Europe, you don’t have to travel far for an outstanding dive experience. Europe offers a wealth of fantastic and interesting diving, from reefs and inland sites, to historical wrecks and ice diving. One of the highlights of European diving is the incredible diversity of marine habitats and marine life. European waters may not be the warmest for diving all year round but the underwater treasures you will find are absolutely worth it.

Read on for some of our highly recommended dive spots and enjoy your next dive travel adventure in Europe…

Coral Bay Divers – Coral Bay, Paphos, Cyprus

Tel: +357 26622980
Email: info@coralbaydivers.com
Web: www.coralbaydivers.com

Coral Bay Divers is the ONLY PADI Career Development Centre in Cyprus, with the most outstanding facilities and professional, enthusiastic, and fun loving divemasters and instructors. You can be confident that you will be well looked after as we show you the beautiful and crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Come and join us for a lifetime of adventures – whether it’s for the first or the thousandth time.

Taking your first breath underwater with our Discover Scuba Diving programme enjoying the awesome experience of diving under the waves. Coral Bay Divers offers the full range of recreational PADI courses from the absolute beginner to the highest professional instructor levels.

For those seeking a career in diving, Coral Bay Divers and its award-winning Course Director, are your best choice to reach your potential and goals in becoming a PADI Professional. Coral Bay Divers offers Technical Diver Training and dives for the seasoned tech diver.

Come and join us for some of our great shore dives, which are suitable for all level of divers, or on one of our daytrips to Limassol, Larnaka or Latchi. One of the island’s highlights is to dive the world-famous wreck of the Zenobia. This is one of the most exciting dives you will ever do.

Special Offer

Coral Bay Divers offers the Scubaverse visitors a 10% Discount on all bookings for Discover Scuba Diving experiences, local diving and diving courses (excluding Professional courses).

Facebook: @CoralBayDivers | Instagram: @coralbaydivers

Deep Blue Diving – Fuerteventura, Spain

Tel: +34 606 275 468
Email: info@deep-blue-diving.com
Web: www.deep-blue-diving.com

The DEEP BLUE DIVING-Base is an award-winning Dive Centre. On your first wander around Caleta you can´t miss us in the harbour. With us you can learn to dive following the standards of SSI, PADI. We offer discover diving experiences, speciality courses, courses just for kids and snorkeling. SSI and PADI dive instructor training courses take place on numerous occasions throughout the year.

Learning to dive with us is fun from the start. Due to our perfect location, right in the harbour, we have direct access to our boats. We can reach all the fascinating dive sites in the area easily and after only a short boat ride. The underwater world of Fuerteventura, with its bizarre rock formations and abundance of fish, means that every dive is an adventure. We offer 18 dive sites with depths of up to 40m. We have a wide range of fish to encounter here from trumpet fish, stonefish, breams, damsel fish to barracudas, tuna, sardines, sting rays and even angel sharks in the winter so you will always have something to see here.

What else do we have to offer: it goes without saying that we have a vast amount of modern and well maintained equipment, a lot of space for equipment storage if you bring your own, modern shower and bathroom facilities, and a classroom. Our pool is built into our jetty so there are no long walks with the equipment on, and it is 2m deep so it is safe and comfortable for everyone to start learning to dive.

To ensure the fun carries on after your dive, we have a comfortable après-dive-area, which boasts a great coffee bar and beer pump. Of course we also have cold, soft drinks.

Special Offer

We are offering 10% off diving for dive groups to come and dive with us here in sunny Fuerteventura. You can dive our 18 dive sites and come and see what the Atlantic Ocean of Fuerteventura has to offer. We look forward to diving with you all.

Instagram: @deepbluediving | Facebook: @Deep.Blue.Diving.Fuerteventura

St. Andrew’s Divers Cove – Xlendi, Gozo, Malta

Tel: +356 21551301
Email: standrew1989@gmail.com
Web: www.gozodive.com

It’s a well-known secret that tiny Gozo boasts some of the Mediterranean’s best dive sites, featuring warm, clear, deep blue sea with sublime underwater structures that form intriguing caverns, tunnels, arches and chimneys. With its high cliffs, quaint bays and sandy beaches, Gozo has something to offer everyone in all seasons, an excellent dive destination for both beginners and experienced divers.

St. Andrew’s Divers Cove is situated on the water’s edge in the picturesque fishing village of Xlendi catering for all levels of divers. We’re open throughout the year and have been organising tailor-made diving holidays for individuals, families and groups since 1989. We offer 2 hour try dives for absolute beginners. Those wishing to learn and get qualified can sign up for a 3-day introductory course and get certified to enjoy dives to 18-metres. Advanced level PADI and SSI Courses up to Divemaster level are also organised regularly.

Qualified divers can enjoy a mix of guided shore and boat dives around the coasts of Gozo, Comino and North Malta. We do our best to ensure that our divers do the best dives possible, a variety that suits their preferences. Dive sites are often only a 15-minute boat ride away and diving off our boat DIVEMANIA is so easy!

Special Offer

Complete diving packages including 10 dives, accommodation and transfers starting from 409 euros in the peak season – July and August 2022. Book your flights and let us take care of your transfers and accommodation. We book hotels and apartments near the dive shop, as well as villas and converted farmhouses with pools across Gozo. Contact us today for more information and a tailor-made quote.

Facebook: @standrewsgozo | Instagram: @standrewsdiverscove

Tenerife Turtles – Small Expectations, Great Rewards

It’s no great secret that for UK based divers and underwater photographers who want truly out of this world wildlife diving, you usually have to dig deep in your pocket and be prepared for a long journey with great expectations. But what about photographing exotic wildlife in warm seas, a flight no more than 5 hours away and a trip that’s kind to your bank balance?

Read more HERE…

Anfibios – Sant Jordi, Ibiza, Spain

Tel: +34 665 139 198
Email: anfibios@anfibios.com
Web: www.anfibios.com

Founded over 25 years ago, Anfibios is the highest rated diving and nautical activity center on Ibiza. With us you can enjoy diving, snorkeling, kayaking, stand up paddle (SUP), and special adventure packs for groups and families.

Experience the best diving spots in Ibiza with Anfibios. Our dives are always accompanied by expert guides who know the sites like the back of their hand. They will be pleased to assist you during all your underwater experiences. We run boat trips to the diving areas in the “Es Freus” marine reserve, which are just a few minutes from our dive center.

Anfibios Ibiza has a comfortable terrace, shop, two changing rooms, a drying area for diving equipment, and a high-performance BAUER compressor. We use the diving industry’s top brands for our rental equipment. Wetsuits and regulators are disinfected after use and we check the condition of our rental equipment several times a year to always guarantee the highest quality.

Our instructors have a wealth of experience when it comes to training divers. We offer a personal and professional service to all our customers, whether they are just starting out on their diving journey with an SSI Intro Programme “Basic Diver” or taking part in an SSI Instructor Assistant Program.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a job that you love so much and can’t believe you’re getting paid to do it? You can truly have a career doing something you love while receiving the compensation you deserve. We are looking for candidates for an instructor assistant internship course for our new international project. Would you like to join?

If you love diving, Ibiza will surprise you with the luminosity of its waters and the diversity of species, its Posidonia meadows, its shipwrecks, caves, and more…

Facebook: @anfibios.ibiza.scuba.diving | Instagram: @anfibiosibiza

DIVE.IS – Silfra, Iceland

Tel: +354 578 6200
Email: dive@dive.is
Web: www.dive.is

DIVE.IS (C) Magnus_Lundgren

DIVE.IS is a PADI 5* Dive center located in Reykjavik, Iceland. We offer the world famous scuba dive between the continents in the beautiful Silfra fissure, located in Thingvellir national park (a 45 minute drive from Reykjavik).

Silfra is a crack in the Earth ripped open by the movement of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meaning you can dive between the continents! The crystal clear glacial water providing over 100 meters of underwater visibility has been filtered for decades through underground lava rocks. The underwater scenery that you experience in Silfra is found nowhere else on Earth.

All scuba divers need to be dry suit certified before diving in Silfra. At DIVE.IS you can obtain your PADI dry suit certification on our Dry suit diver courses. Check out our Dry suit Academy for several combo tour options.

Another amazing but lesser known scuba diving location is Hot Spring diving at Lake Kleifarvatn (a 30 minute drive from Reykjavik). Some divers have described it as diving in a Champagne glass.

DIVE.IS also offers multi-day tours. Choose between 2, 3 and 5 day tours to experience more of the scuba diving adventures Iceland has to offer.

DIVE.IS (C) Wolfgang_Poelzer

Special Offer

We offer the divers of Scubaverse 15% discount off all our day and multi-day diving tours as well as our Dry suit Academy tours. This offer can be claimed using the promo code SCUBAVERSE2022 in the checkout process on the www.dive.is website.

YouTube: @DIVEIS | Facebook: @dive.is

Wining and Diving – Costa Brava, Spain

The Costa Brava is a hugely popular destination for those seeking sunshine, but it has much, much more to offer that just beaches and bars. We had heard that there was some excellent diving around the Medes Islands and we got the opportunity to head to L’Estartit for a long weekend to check it out, as well as exploring the local region to sample its excellent food and wine…

Read more HERE…

Maltaqua – Malta

Tel: +356 21571111
Email: dive@maltaqua.com
Web: www.maltaqua.com

If you are reading this guide, it is because you love diving, and what better dive shop to choose than one where everyone here loves it too!

Maltaqua is a family run business and we want all our visitors to feel part of that family as long as they are diving with us – and to remember us when they go home. Judging by the number of visitors we see year after year, it works!

We are proud to back up our warm welcome and flexible approach to our clients’ requests with external recognition of our commitment to safety and training. We are Europe’s first PADI centre, a BSAC Centre of Excellence, MOD CONMac approved Centre, and Bauer Pure Air station.

All your diving enjoyment is supported by a friendly and experienced team, who between them speak a wide number of languages, plus the recognition of high standards from international organisations.

From novice to the most experienced, we offer courses and activities for everyone, with full on-site technical facilities with gases, twin sets, CCR tanks and slings.

We take advantage of Malta’s superb diving environment to offer our visitors the best dives – both shore and boat dives – with the minimum travel time. And in addition to our great diving facilities, we have our own accommodation close by, suitable for individuals and for groups.

Malta’s popularity as a diving destination is growing year by year, so whether you are new to our islands or a seasoned diver in Maltese waters, we invite you to reach out to us and let us tailor any training or dive trip you are planning for 2022.

Special Offer

Short break package for May to October

Private apartment for 4 nights
6 shore dives over 3 days
Cylinder and weight hire
Road transport to the dive sites

Price based on two sharing a room: €315 per person
Single room: €435

Should any of your diving days fall on a Sunday please add €25 to the cost of your package.

Facebook: @Maltaqua | Instagram: @maltaqua

Portugal Dive – Lisbon, Portugal

Tel: +351 915616157
Email: portugaldive@portugaldive.com
Web: www.portugaldive.com

Portugal Dive is a group of Portuguese divers keen to share the love for the ocean.

Come to Portugal, Azores or Madeira, and do the best thing: experience diving here with us.

If you wish to spend some time visiting and diving, we will help you put together your holiday and diving program: where to stay, where to go, what to do.

If you are in Portugal and wish to experience diving, we can take you to your favorite kind of spot.

Either way, we always take you to the best spots, to dive the way you like, and to see what you want to see underwater. We worry, You dive!

The quality of the underwater scenery is incredible; the fauna and flora you’ll see everywhere; the small number of divers on each one of the 300+ dive spots we have identified; the quality of the diving infrastructure; and, of course, the topside experiences.

Let us know your schedule and your budget, and we’ll give you a proposal aligned with your expectations in one of these incredible locations: within this triangle, Portugese mainland – Azores – Madeira, there’s everything you like to see underwater.

We are looking forward to diving with you.

Special Offer

Azores – Diving in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

A diving trip to an archipelago hidden in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. A trip to divers’ paradise. Encounters with big pelagics – whale sharks, mantas, amberjacks, multiple species of sharks are expected. Prepare yourself!

The air temperatures range from 12° to 25°C, the water temperatures from 16° to 24°C. We can advise on different locations and the perfect balance between diving and other activities.

Prices from: €949,00 per diver for 8 days with 5 days diving (10 dives) based on two divers
In São Miguel or Santa Maria (other locations available)
Includes transfers, 8 days, 7 nights 3-star hotel (room for two), wetsuits and equipment.

Facebook: @portugaldive | Instagram: @portugaldive

Mission Blue announce Azores as new Hope Spot

Rising from the deep seafloor where three continental plates meet, the Azores Archipelago stands as a grand oasis in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Here, underwater volcanoes host highly specialized fauna and rugged seamounts hold vibrant, thriving sponges and coral gardens. Forever loved by the whales, adventurous sailors, and its people, the rich heritage of the Azores Archipelago has become globally renowned and cherished…

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Gear News

New Fins from Scubapro

Published

4 hours ago

May 29, 2023

Team Scubaverse

Continuous development and innovation have always been a top priority for Scubapro. The new Seawing Supernova high performance fin, introduced at boot 2023, is currently revolutionising the dive fin market.

Now, Scubapro is implementing its new innovative two-piece design to another fin model – the new S-Tek Fin. Furthermore, the company is launching the Gorilla version of the GO Sport in two colours and four new colours of the popular GO Travel Fin!

NEW – S-TEK FIN

A new addition to Scubapro’s S-Tek line of technical diving equipment, the S-Tek Fin is a purpose-built, next-gen technical diving fin providing maximum power when needed and featuring the innovative two-piece design like the Seawing Supernova.

NEW – GO SPORT GORILLA in Black & Orange

While identical in design to the GO Sport Fin, the Gorilla features a slightly stiffer blade and heavy-duty bungee, providing that extra umph for experienced divers manoeuvring through demanding conditions.

NEW – Available in black & orange.

NEW – GO FIN in 4 new colours

The GO travel fin combines the benefits of an open heel fin, with the comfort and barefoot freedom of a full foot fin. The GO is lightweight yet virtually indestructible, plus it is a fast and nimble performer in the water. The popular leisure fin is now available in the new colours blue, yellow, pink, and turquoise.

More information available on www.scubapro.com.

News

Philippines Fun-Size: Critters and macro life

Published

3 days ago

May 26, 2023

Team Scubaverse

Guest Blog By Cath Bates

Instructor and Sales Consultant Cath, from Dive Worldwide, gives a rundown of some of the top areas for macro life in the Visayas region of the Philippines.

The volcanic and tectonic activity around the western Pacific Ocean has formed a nutrient-rich environment for some of the strangest marine critters to call their homes.

The Visayas region is within the central part of the Philippines – a colony of islands that are very easy to get around, with Luzon and Mindoro to the North, and Mindanao to the South. Although many divers rave about this being Big Fish Country (thanks to the thresher sharks of Malapascua and the whale sharks of Oslob and Donsol), it is also a macro diver’s paradise.

The diversity within this area of the Coral Triangle means that within a few days you can go from diving steep walls, being cushioned by sea grass beds, hovering over sandy plateaus, or getting lost amongst hard coral heads, to suddenly being cuddled by lush, fluffy coral colonies.

Pygmy Seahorses, Mandarin Fish and more in Bohol and Anda

Anda (on the eastern side of Bohol) has a coastline that is 15 kilometres of incredible biodiversity. Dive sites are between 5 and 45 minutes away from your resort house reef. Seahorse Point and Pygmy House dive sites are home to Pygmy seahorses that balance delicately on their bendy sea fan hosts. No bigger than 2.7 centimetres in length, the pink Bargibanti and yellowish Denise are protected by the Pygmy Seahorse Code of Conduct, displayed in all good dive centres.

The island of Bohol also has nudibranchs on steroids and carpet flatworms patterned with psychedelia that would make even the most open-minded hippy have a weird trip! Night dives reveal sea pens, swimming crabs, sand eels and egg cowrie.

At dusk you can enjoy the Mandarin fish courtship dance. This is a flamboyant event with two of the most colourful fish in the sea, whose names come from the dress of the Imperial Chinese Mandarin. The female Mandarin fish is joined at the pelvic fin by a male that she has deemed worthy of her attention. At rocket speed, they swim from their rubble or staghorn coral habitat high up in the water column to release hundreds of eggs and sperm.

Out-of-this-world Shrimps, Crabs and Lobsters in Moalboal

The Tanon Strait connects the Visayan Sea to the Bohol Sea. This is where you will find the island of Moalboal (meaning bubbling water). Best known for the dramatic drop offs of Pescador island and local sardine baitball, Moalboal also has a vast array of macro dive sites.

At Copton Point, Peacock mantis shrimps scuttle about, changing direction the way Austin Powers drives his luggage cart, and Kasai Wall’s hairy orangutan crabs duck and dive in bubble anemone like they are in a child’s ball pool. Masters of disguise, the crinoid shrimp and squat lobster cling motionless to their spikey homes, avoiding being dive-bombed by hungry reef fish.

Photo: Michael Gallagher

At Fish Feeding (where they don’t of course feed the fish) Tozuma shrimp and Xeno crabs adorn whip corals like bosses, and punkish candy crabs decorate themselves with broccoli coral hats.

Masters of camouflage in Dumaguete/Dauin

Negros Island has the Sulu Sea to the west and Cebu to the East. This is a mountainous province, and Negros Oriental’s capital city Dumaguete is known as the “City of Gentle People”. There is a narrow channel between it and the island of Cebu, as well as the deep Negros trench. Such topography can only mean good things for divers! The Dauin coastline boasts some of the best critter diving in the region.

At Secret Corner in octopus season (October to December) you can expect to see blue ring, Mototi, wonderpus and algae octopus crawling stealth-like over the sand. These are camouflage masters who occasionally flash colour and cut some textured shapes to warn or to decorate. You may even be lucky enough to witness mating within this period.

Photo: Alex Tyrell

During Frogfish February you can see all the usual suspects like painted, hairy and sargassum as well as pin-head sized juveniles. The Atmosphere Resort and Spa house reef has a vibrant yellow guy who has even been filmed for television!

Shaun the Sheep is a loveable name given to the Costasiella kuroshimae sea slug. Not much bigger than a grain of sand, the likeness to a certain plasticine animation is uncanny. They graze on a leaf-like algae, containing chlorophyll, and are otherwise known as the “sap-sucking” sea slug because of this. Take a magnifying glass with you to catch a better glimpse of these cute creatures.

Colourful Critters in Malapascua

Famous for its larger “shoals”, Malapascua also has some exquisite reefs and seamounts that are teeming with macro life. Along the white sandy coastline are hidden muck sites that many pelagic-lovers wouldn’t even know were there. Even on the shipwrecks around Malapascua, you can find the world of the tiny: shrimp patrolling the holds, schooling glassfish shielding gangways and bright mauve Hypselodoris laying their egg skirts.

The pinnacle known as Bugtong Bato is home to various types of frogfish, nudis and carpet anemone, keeping crabs and anemone shrimp safe from the current.

Photo: Cath Bates

Chocolate island, to the south-west in the Visayan Sea, is a popular night dive location where double-snouted spindle cowrie, flatworms and banded boxer shrimp clock in for the night shift on a background of pulsating soft corals.

Gato Island is a grassy seamount poking out of the sea 45 minutes north-west of Malapascua. The island is well known for its swim-throughs and overhangs where you can expect to find Pharaoh cuttlefish, thorny seahorse and broad-banded pipefish. It also sounds like a cake, which is a winning formula for most divers!

Diving holidays for macro, muck and critter lovers

Below are some inspirational trip ideas from the Dive Worldwide website for getting to the best macro meccas in the Philippines. Not all the dive sites are beautiful to the eye at first glance, like muck and rubble, but what lies within them are some of the most vibrant and fascinating creatures you ever did see!

Discover the Visayas
This popular itinerary includes dives in Malapascua, Monad Shoal and the Moalboal peninsula.

Visayas Liveaboard
Access some of the best diving locations in the Philippines by liveaboard, including Dauin, Balicasag, Pescador and Malapascua.

Island Hopping Dive Safari
A stress-free diving adventure exploring stunning islands in the Visayas. An excellent choice for viewing macro life and pelagics.

Magic Dive Experience
Experience the magic of the Philippines! This trip combines two dedicated dive resorts in the Visayas – expect superb reefs, turtles, and exceptional macro life.

Dive Into Luxury
A luxury island-hopping itinerary, spending five nights in two of the Visaya region’s finest dive resorts – Atmosphere Resort & Spa and Amun Ini.

If you are interested in any of these trips, please get in touch with the friendly team of travel consultants and diving experts at Dive Worldwide or call 01962 302 087. You can also subscribe to Dive Worldwide’s regular enewsletter.