News
Pelagic Magic and more… with Diverse Travel

In need of your next diving fix? Take a look at these magical offers from UK-based tour operator Diverse Travel and book yourself some quality underwater time.
Fiji Volivoli Offer | Book 7 nights, pay for only 5
Volivoli Beach Resort | Fiji | 2 nights FREE
PLUS 2 FREE dives
PLUS FREE Nitrox
Fiji has so very much to offer from the diving to nature, beautiful beaches and welcoming local people. Here lies a perfect blend of white sandy beaches, coral reef, a sunny year-round climate and that friendly Fijian hospitality and culture.
A pearl of Fiji, Volivoli Beach Resort is tucked away on the northernmost tip of Viti Levu and promises guests a welcoming relaxed indulgence. Being just a short boat ride from the enticing dive sites of Bligh Waters the Resort is family-run by the Darling family who have over 20 years’ experience of diving in these waters. Probably one of the best locations in Fiji for a diving holiday, Volivoli Beach is home to Ra Divers, a fully certified PADI and SSI Dive Resort with over 18 years’ experience.
Conditions of offer: Travel dates until 31st March 2018
Emperor Atoll | Maldives Pelagic Magic Safari | 10-18 June 2017 | from £1770
This route takes you on a manta and whaleshark hunt in the North & South Ari Atolls having crossed over from Male. Pelagic Magic gets you face to face with the famous whale sharks – iconic dive follows iconic dive as you sail from Male through North Ari and then onto South Ari; your log book will fill with shark and manta sightings as well as outstanding reef dives. Pelagics of all shapes and sizes await.
Price from £1770 including:
– Return economy class flights departing from London
– 7 nights onboard Emperor Atoll in a shared cabin with 3 meals a day, afternoon snacks, unlimited drinking water, tea & coffee, 6 days diving with a total of 17 dives (inc 1 night dive), guide, tanks & weights, free Nitrox, 1 BBQ dinner on uninhabited island (weather allowing), Male city tour (on request), all local taxes and return airport transfers
– ATOL and full financial protection
Not included: Diving equipment, alcohol, soft drinks & juices.
Oman Red Dhow | 7 – 14 October | from £1565
Just 80 miles from Dubai is Oman’s little-known Musandam Peninsula – an area of outstanding natural beauty. Dramatic vertical cliffs in meandering bays plunge into the azure seas below, giving Musandam the affectionate nickname, ‘the fjords of the Gulf’. Deep and cool upwelling water provides a rich plankton soup attracting a huge variety of marine life; whale shark, sun fish, pilot whales, lobsters, hawksbill, green turtles, huge schools of snapper, barracuda and jacks. Critters galore are also in abundance making Musandam a macro-photographer’s delight.
Red Dhow is a 76ft boat with 6 standard double cabins (2 cabins sharing 1 bathroom) and two ensuite cabins. She takes no more than 14 guests.
Price from £1565 based on sharing standard twin cabin, including:
– Return economy class flights departing from London to Dubai (flights from other UK airports can be arranged)
– 7 nights’ onboard the Red Dhow in an en-suite cabin with Full Board (breakfast, lunch & dinner), water, tea & coffee, PADI Instructor and/or Divemaster on board (acting as a dive guide) with up to 3 guided day-dives per day and return airport transfers
– ATOL and full financial protection
Emperor Leo | Best of Maldives Safari | Various dates June – September 2017 | from £1785
This is the Best of the Maldives – and it delivers exactly that. This is where you dive the best and most famous dive sites of the Maldives in a week of wonderful liveaboard diving across Male and Ari atolls. Awaiting you are channels, drifts and pinnacles where you have every chance of meeting mantas, whale sharks and mesmerising marine life of so many varieties. Dive site flexibility is the key, so no matter what time of the year you visit, this itinerary gives you a mix of big fish such as shark and manta dives as well as reef dives, reef fish, morays and the abundant macro life.
Price from £1785 including:
– Return economy class flights departing from London
– 7 nights onboard Emperor Atoll in a shared cabin with 3 meals a day, afternoon snacks, unlimited drinking water, tea & coffee, 6 days diving with a total of 17 dives (inc 1 night dive), guide, tanks & weights, free Nitrox, 1 BBQ dinner on uninhabited island (weather allowing), Male city tour (on request), all local taxes and return airport transfers
– ATOL and full financial protection
Not included: Diving equipment, alcohol, soft drinks & juices.
For more information or to book, call Diverse Travel on Freephone 0800 915 4436, email info@diversetravel.co.uk or visit www.diversetravel.co.uk.
News
Frontline workers honoured with free dive trip to Yap

The remote island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia is among the few places in the world that remains free of Covid-19 thanks to its ocean border and a strict travel ban that has kept its residents safe.
Nonetheless, Yap has been affected, too. As one of the world’s premier, award-winning destinations for divers, this paradisiacal location in the western Pacific Ocean has had no outside visitors to its rich shores and reef for nearly a year. But while there may be no virus, the island hasn’t been cut off from the economic impact experienced around the globe.
That didn’t stop Bill Acker, CEO and founder of the Manta Ray Bay Resort and Yap Divers, from doing something, though.
Last March, soon after the island went into lockdown, Bill began to realize the effect of the virus on daily life beyond the island. “Yes, we are closed, have no divers, had to send our employees home and prepare for difficult times,” he said. “But we’re lucky in that we have, for the most part, avoided the human suffering and death this pandemic has caused.”
Thinking about the problems faced by his family business, they paled when he compared them to those endured by the healthcare workers who have been fighting selflessly around the clock for months on end for the well-being and lives of others.
“One evening, while checking the news online, I saw pictures of frontline workers who were tending to desperately ill and dying people when families and friends could not be with their loved ones. It was heartbreaking,” he added.
The next day, a meeting was held with the resort’s staff and Bill invited suggestions for ways they could do something to honor healthcare workers. The result was the idea to award twenty divers who are working on the frontline to save other’s lives during this pandemic while risking their own, with a free week at the resort.

Manta ray, Manta birostris, gliding over a cleaning station in M’il Channel, Yap, Micronesia by David Fleetham
Divers around the world who had been guests at Manta Ray Bay in the past were invited to submit the names of candidates for the award by December 31, 2020. “We received nominations for 126 individuals from as far away as Germany, the U.S., Australia and Canada,” he said. “It was not easy choosing the winners but our committee of staff members took on the job and selected the 20 finalists.”
“While trying to choose the people to reward for their hard work during this Covid-19 crisis,” Bill added, “by reading the nominations we saw that every one of the nominees was doing things above and beyond the call of duty. Sadly, we don’t have the finances to offer over 100 free weeks in Yap, but we do want to recognize the contributions all of them are making to our world. So, we are offering the rest of the nominees a free week of diving in Yap which includes room, hotel tax, airport transfers, breakfast, diving and Wi-Fi. The only requirement is that they travel with at least three other people and stay in two rooms or more.”
“We do not yet know when Yap will open its borders,” said Bill, “but when it does, we will welcome these important guests to Yap to relax and dive with the manta rays and the other beautiful denizens of the ocean surrounding our island home. They are the true heroes of this devastating, historic time and we look forward to honoring them with a well-deserved dive vacation.”
Watch out for our exclusive trip report from a healthcare worker from the UK who is one of the 20 to have been awarded this amazing dive trip!
For more information on Manta Ray Bay and Yap Divers visit their website by clicking here.
Dive Training Blogs
Dream Dive Locker Build Out. Part I: Demolition (Watch Video)

It’s finally here! Time to start building the greatest dive locker the world has ever seen! Part I: Demolition! #dreamdivelocker
This is the first of a series of videos showing the evolution of building out my dream dive locker. My dream dive locker needs to be dive gear drying and storage, dry storage, workshop, office, editing suite, You Tube studio and classroom. That’s a lot of functions for a small space!
The first step is planning out the space and demolishing the laminate flooring. Then I taped up the walls to get a feel for the space. We have a lot of work to do!
But finally we will have a purpose built space to house all of our dive equipment! Subscribe to our channel to follow our progress!
Thanks for watching, Team!
James
Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/DiversReady
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