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Dive into Scuba Travel’s latest offers
Check out the latest dive holiday deals from UK-based Tour Operator Scuba Travel:
Egypt
- Destination: Go Back to Sharm
- Boat: Whirlwind
- Date: 2nd February 2020
- Price: £1245
Go back to Sharm: This 2nd February join Whirlwind for only £1245 including direct flights
Departing from Sharm El Sheikh, you will spend 7 nights onboard on a full board basis (twin-share cabin). This is a classic itinerary in the Northern Red Sea with up to 22 dives over the week. 12lt tank, air fills and weights are included in your package – please pre-book nitrox and 15lt tanks before travel. All trips are fully guided with two expert guides.
Flights are direct with EnterAir from Gatwick (indirect Manchester are available at a supplement) 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.
This will be a great all-round trip, suitable for all abilities, Mario, our photo pro will be on board ready to help anyone with a camera.
Click here to email Scuba Travel and receive more information about this amazing liveaboard. Dive the reefs of Tiran, Ras Mohammed, and the incredible Thistlegorm
Click here to book this great trip!
* prices are subject to change according to availability at the time of booking
Maldives
- Boat: Emperor Serenity
- Date: 10th May 2020
- Price: £1225
Best of the Maldives on the 10th May: sail onboard Emperor Serenity for only £1225
Only 6 spaces! Save £370. Get all the thrills of big fish in the Maldives onboard the exceptional Emperor Serenity liveaboard. Encounter manta, sharks, eagle rays and so much more on this classic Maldives itinerary – dive the seasonal hot spots from a dhoni tender with an average of 17 dives (including 1 night dive). You have 7 nights on board on a full board basis (twin/double share cabin) – upper deck cabin upgrades available. Enjoy a complimentary glass of wine with dinner. Include 12lt tank and weights, as well as free recreational nitrox.
This holiday excludes international flights, with return Male airport transfers. Scuba Travel is able to add flights with a wide range of airlines, including regional departures. Flights will incur a small booking fee. 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.
Click here to email Scuba Travel and receive more information about Emperor Serenity on the 10th May.
Click here to book this great trip!
* prices are subject to change according to availability at the time of booking
Maldives
- Boat: Carpe Vita
- Date: 6th of September 2020
- Price: £1175
Best of the Maldives on board Carpe Vita this 6th September for only £1175
Special Offer – only 6 spaces, save £220! Discover all the pelagics that make the Maldives onboard the exceptional Carpe Vita. 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. The green tax has been prepaid.
This holiday excludes international flights to Male but includes airport transfers. Scuba Travel is 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.
Click here to email Scuba Travel and receive more information about Carpe Vita on the 6th September.
Click here to book this great trip!
* prices are subject to change according to availability at the time of booking
Maldives
- Boat: Emperor Virgo
- Date: 11th October 2020
- Price: £1045
Best of the Maldives on 11th October: sail onboard Emperor Virgo for only £1045
Special Offer – save £400, only 6 spaces available! Join the Emperor Maldives Fleet on the perfectly sized Virgo liveaboard for the classic, all-time great Best of the Maldives itinerary. Dive the seasonal hot spots from a dhoni tender with an average of 17 dives (including 1 night dive).
You have 7 nights on board on a full board basis (twin/double share cabin). Including 12lt tank and weights, as well as free recreational nitrox. To pay on board are alcoholic drinks, fruit juice, fizzy drinks, additional kit hire and any on board souvenirs.
You have booked a holiday excluding international flights, with return Male airport transfers. Scuba Travel is able to add flights with a wide range of airlines, including regional departures. Flights will incur a small booking fee. 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.
Click here to email Scuba Travel and receive more information about Emperor Virgo on the 11th October.
Click here to book this great trip!
* prices are subject to change according to availability at the time of booking
Caribbean
- Boat: La Tortuga
- Date: 7th of March 2020
- Price: £4095
Join Alex Mustard for an underwater photography workshop to Cuba, exploring the famous Jardines de la Reina (Gardens of the Queen) home to the Caribbean’s richest coral reef. Contact Caroline@scubatravel.com for reservations and further information.
Alex says: “the teaching on this workshop will focus on techniques specific for the subject matter that we are shooting, especially the crocodiles (including split level shots), the sharks and the groupers amongst reef scenery.”
The Jardines de la Reina was declared a protected park in 1996, and is approximately 60 miles from the port of Jucano, about a third of the way out to Little Cayman in the Caribbean Sea. Like Raja Ampat this a large, relatively untouched archipelago, 75 miles (120 km) long, containing 250 coral and mangrove islands, vast stretches of pristine coral reefs and calm, turquoise waters. Less than 60 divers per week are permitted to visit the entire area. These reefs are famed not just for their untouched beauty, but the abundance of big animals: silky sharks, Caribbean reef sharks, goliath groupers, black groupers, Nassau groupers, and saltwater crocodiles at a specific site in the mangroves.
Included will be 7 nights (twin or double share) on a full board basis, 3 dives a day (17 dives total), 6 beverages a day (beer or soft drinks) plus Havana group transfers. The mandatory inscription fee and park fees will be prepaid on your behalf.
Local extras will be items such as kit hire, additional drinks, and nitrox (approx $100). Do request kit hire and larger tanks prior to travel to ensure availability on arrival.
Mexico
- Boat: Solmar V
- Date: December to January
- Price: from £2445
Solmar V – Giant Mantas of Socorro: Save up to £1150 from £2445 excluding flights
Diving in Socorro is all about the giant manta cleaning stations and shivers of sharks that inhabit this isolated island chain, over an average of 22-25 thrilling dives. Your boat package is based on a standard cabin on a full board basis with a selection of local beer and wine, plus all diving, 12lt international tanks and weights and the Mexican sales tax.
At the end of your trip, you will return to San Jose del Cabo. The crew will assist with an airport taxi or day use hotel package, depending on your international flight time (local charges apply). Excluded are any US visa charges if needed, $15 chamber fee, additional kit hire, nitrox (8 nights $150), tipping and any souvenirs.
This holiday excludes international flights to Cabo San Lucas SJD. Scuba Travel is 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. We strongly recommend you spend a night in Cabo prior to embarkation to prevent any issues with delays in travel.
Click here to email Scuba Travel and receive more information about Solmar V.
Click here to see available dates!
* prices are subject to change according to availability at the time of booking
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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