News
Liveaboards don’t have to cost the Earth with Regaldive
As a result of increasingly high demand for liveaboards, diving holiday specialist Regaldive has put together a list of their top three best value liveaboard offerings. Allowing divers to journey to far-flung sites, get away from the crowds, maximise their time in the water and travel with other like-minded people, liveaboards are the ideal option for those whose holidays revolve around scuba.
Thailand from £480 per person
Low budget doesn’t have to mean no liveaboard. Think outside the box and travel for a limited time, ensuring you spend only a limited budget. Regaldive’s three night Similan, Koh Bon, Tachai and Richelieu Rock itinerary on the Scuba Adventure costs from just £480 per person and takes divers to the clear turquoise waters of the Similans, the limestone island of Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock – a submerged pinnacle close to the Burma boarder. Divers will have the opportunity to explore gentle sloping reefs, underwater boulders and submerged plateaus, and dive with Manta rays and large pelagics.
The price includes full board accommodation, snacks and refreshments, 11 dives, air tanks, weights and weight belt. Flights are not included but can be arranged through Regaldive.
Red Sea from £813 per person
For divers looking for a good-value challenge, Regaldive’s Emperor – Fury and Elphinstone itinerary, journeying on the M/Y Asmaa is suitable for experienced divers and costs from just £813 per person. The liveaboard starts in Port Ghalib and travels onto various sites including Fury Shoals Reef System, Sha’ab Maksour, Sha’ab Claudio, Sha’ab Sataya and Elphinstone, where divers can enjoy three to four dives per day. Customers will have the opportunity to go on deep dives, swim in strong currents, admire wrecks, explore steep drop offs and can hope to swim amongst hammerheads, reef sharks, mantas, whale sharks, turtles, barracuda and shoals of dogtooth tuna and jacks.
The price includes flights, transfers, full board accommodation and soft drinks, six days diving, three to four dives a day, two dives on the last day, guide, tanks, weightsm, Nitrox (12l): two tanks per day and marine park fees.
The Caribbean from £917 per person
For divers with a small budget but big ambitions, Regaldive’s seven night St Kitts – Saba itinerary on the Caribbean Explorer II has been recently discounted by £173, and now costs from just £917 per person. With five dives per day, the itinerary is ideal for those looking to admire the underwater charms of the Caribbean. Alongside St Kitts, divers will have the opportunity to spend quality time in Saba Marine Park, where they can explore its flourishing reefs, pinnacles which are home to corals, sponges, and invertebrate, a natural labyrinth, underwater caves, tunnels and rock walls. Divers will also have the chance to explore the above the water highlights, including forts, rainforests and museums.
The price includes full board accommodation, snacks and refreshments, five and a half days diving, air tanks, weights and weight belt. Flights are not included but can be arranged through Regaldive.
For further information or to book, visit www.regaldive.co.uk or call +44 (0)1353 659 999.
News
Euro-Divers opens to guests at Alila Kothaifaru Maldives

In celebration of Euro-Divers’ 50 Years of Diving with Friends in the Maldives, the team have opened a new PADI 5 Star Dive Center at Alila Kothaifaru Maldives.

Alila Kothaifaru Maldives retreat lies at the northern edge of the Maldives in the tranquil Raa Atoll, reached via a panoramic 45-minute seaplane voyage from Male. The island has 80 all-pool-villas, 36 of which are over water with a private pool for your enjoyment and 44 beachfront villas designed seamlessly to immerse guests in the natural surroundings. In support of sustainable tourism, Alila hotels adopt Earth Check operating standards, integrating their environments’ natural, physical, and cultural elements.
Raa Atoll is well-known for the excellent scuba diving it offers. The underwater landscape of Raa Atoll is characterized by a high number of thilas scattered inside the lagoons. These underwater coral mountains are magnets for marine life including huge schools of tropical reef fish, a generous splash of colour, iconic bucket-list-must-see marine creatures including sharks, mantas (appearing during the entire year), turtles, and uncrowded dive sites—a perfect diver’s heaven for beginners and experienced divers. We offer a full range of PADI courses for different levels. From November till March, the Manta cleaning station is located 15 minutes away by boat.

The team from Alila Kothaifaru Maldives look forward to welcoming you soon.
Find out more at: www.euro-divers.com/alila-kothaifaru-maldives
Marine Life & Conservation
Blue Marine Foundation launches new partnership with Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance

Ocean charity makes initial grant of $90,000 to marine parks on six Dutch Caribbean islands. Award will fund projects including coral protection, and training youth marine rangers.
Ocean conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation has announced it is awarding $90,000 in funding to support marine conservation in the Dutch Caribbean. A range of projects run by protected area management organisations on six islands will each receive a grant of $15,000. The funding is the first step in a longer-term partnership to support the islands and help secure sustainable financing through the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) Trust fund.
To improve ocean governance, Blue Marine uses a combination of top-down intervention and bottom-up project delivery to help local communities at the front line of conservation. It will work together with the DCNA to help marine-park organisations protect the unique and threatened biodiversity of the Dutch Caribbean.
The new partnership is an important development in the successful management of marine conservation parks in the Dutch Caribbean. The UK-based charity has established a small-grants fund to provide rapid access to support for critical conservation projects run by marine parks.
The individual projects and their local partners are:
- Aruba: monitoring water quality in its Marine Protected Area (MPA) and wetlands, in conjunction with Fundacion Parke Nacional Aruba (FPNA)
- Bonaire: assessing losses of stony corals (Acroporids e.g. staghorn and elkhorn coral), and their potential future recovery, in conjunction with Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire (STINAPA Bonaire)
- Curaçao: establishing a bus transport marine education program and youth marine ranger program, in conjunction with Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity (CARMABI)
- Saba: provision of a climate control room for the new marine field station, in conjunction with the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF).
- Sint Eustatius: assessing the health of coral, the abundance of fish life and the diversity of reefs, in conjunction with Eustatius National Parks Foundation (STENAPA)
- St Maarten: monitoring marine habitats, in conjunction with Nature Foundation St. Maarten (NFSXM)
Unique ecosystems on the islands are vulnerable to threats such as feral livestock causing sedimentation on reefs, and invasive species, including lionfish and coral diseases. They are also at risk from overfishing, climate change, coastal development, erosion and the build-up of harmful algae caused by waste water.
The islands of the Dutch Caribbean are also home to important “blue carbon” habitats – ocean ecosystems such as seagrasses, mangroves and other marine plants that suck up and lock away carbon from the earth’s atmosphere. Seagrass is so efficient at this it can capture and store carbon dioxide up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests. The management and protection of these blue carbon habitats is vital in the fight against climate change.
Current marine conservation measures in the islands include a 25,390 square km mammal and shark sanctuary- Yarari sanctuary- across the Exclusive Economic Zone of Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius. All six islands have inshore Marine Protected Areas ranging in size from 10 to 60 sq km.
Blue Marine’s Senior Project Manager Jude Brown commented: “Having recently visited two of the islands, I witnessed first-hand how special this region is. Diving the waters off Saba I saw huge Tarpon swimming amongst shoals of blue tang, and hawksbill turtles feeding on the seagrass beds. I also witnessed the challenges these islands are facing from coral disease to issues with coastal development. It is an exciting opportunity to work in the Dutch Caribbean, bringing expertise and funding from Blue Marine to join with the wealth of knowledge already on the islands, to work together to protect the important marine life arounds these islands.”
Tadzio Bervoets, Director of the DNCA commented: “The Dutch Caribbean consists of the Windward Islands of St. Maarten, Saba, and St. Eustatius and the Leeward Islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. The nature of the Dutch Caribbean contains the richest biodiversity in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The diverse ecosystems are a magnet for tourism and at the same time the most important source of income for residents of the Dutch Caribbean. Nature on the islands is unique and important but it is also fragile. The coming week we will be in The Netherlands to present a Climate Action Plan for the Dutch Caribbean to emphasize the urgent need for a climate smart future for our islands.”
Photo: Coral reefs in the Dutch Caribbean- Photo credit: Naturepics: Y.+T. Kühnast- all rights reserved
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