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September Savings from Diverse Travel
Save £££ on your diving holiday when you book this September. Check out the latest diving holiday deals from UK-based Tour Operator Diverse Travel.
Indonesia: Emperor Raja Laut Special Introductory Offer 2017/2018
Komodo, Raja Ampat, Banda Sea | Beautiful traditional Dutch schooner-style yacht
Literally just launched, a special introductory offer on the new Emperor Indonesia’s MY Emperor Raja Laut debuting this September.
Emperor Raja Laut is a beautiful traditional Dutch schooner-style sailing yacht now under the renowned Emperor Divers’ brand. She has 12 berths and a high level of service with seven crew and two dive guides. Sailing the iconic diving areas of Raja Ampat, the Banda Sea and Komodo National Park. Prepare to dive or snorkel with mantas, hammerheads, whale sharks and macro life. Or combine with land tours to meet the infamous Komodo dragon.
Price from £2999 including:
- 7-night package (also 12-nights available) to Raja Ampat based on twin share
- Return international flights – London Heathrow to Manado
- Return domestic flights – Manado to Sorong
- Airline departure taxes
- 7 nights shared cabin, 3 meals a day, afternoon snacks, 1 cocktail party on a local island, unlimited drinking water, tea, coffee, guide, 12 litre air tanks, weights
- 2 nights Half Board – Manado Novotel Airport Hotel
- All transfers according to itinerary
- Full ATOL Protection
Departures between 14 December 2017 and 02 May 2018.
See all Diverse Travel special offers here
Dive Mythical Sudan | 04 – 11 March 2018 | Save up to £125
Plus the first 10 bookers will receive free Nitrox fills (First come, first served basis. Nitrox-certified divers only).
Follow in Cousteau’s footsteps! Dive his Conshelf II underwater habitat and famous Shaab Rumi reef with its sharks and colourful drop-offs and Sanganeb’s northern and southern plateaus. The Umbria, considered to be one of the finest wreck-dives on the planet and then south of Port Sudan where different species of sharks are found.
* Number of dives may vary according to itinerary weather conditions. Minimum diving level: PADI Advanced Diver (or equivalent) with minimum 50 logged dives. Diving is permitted upon presentation of a valid certification card AND proof of adequate insurance covering risks related to diving activities.
Price from £1495 based on sharing a twin cabin including:
- Return flights from London Heathrow to Port Sudan on Saudia (via Jeddah) or Emirates/Fly Dubai (via Dubai)
- 7 nights’ full board accommodation in shared cabin
- Transfers between Port Sudan airport and liveaboard
- Dives: first day 2 dives; then 3 dives a day; last day 2 dives and return to Port Sudan
- Sodas, espresso, cappuccino, water, tea & coffee
- Robes and towels provided during the safari
Not included: Sudan Visa US$175/person; Government taxes and local agent fee 197 EUR pp; Booking of a specific cabin: 50 EUR pp/week; 15L tank: 40 EUR/week; Equipment rental; Guided dive: 8 EUR/dive; Alcoholic drinks; Crew tip (70 EUR recommended/week).
Booking deadline: 31 October 2017
See all Diverse Travel special offers here
Best of Red Sea | Emperor Asmaa I 9 – 16 Nov 2017 – Save £75
Dive the best top three sites in this area: Big and Little Brothers, Daedalus Reef and Elphinstone. These islands offer stunning wall diving and attract a diverse array of marine species and large pelagics. Large tuna, jacks and snappers cruise in the blue, accompanied by occasional hammerheads, silvertips, silky and oceanic white tip sharks and mantas. Even the rare thresher shark can be found here.
7 nights from £1049 per person including flights from London – save £75!
Price is per person based on sharing a twin cabin and includes:
- Return international flights – London Gatwick – Hurghada
- 20kg hold baggage allowance
- 7 nights in shared cabin (last night either on board or in a hotel)
- 6 day’s diving, guide, 12 litre tanks, weights
- Full board & soft drinks, red wine with dinner
- Environmental tax
- Marine Park fees and port departure fees
- Free Nitrox (subject to availability)
- Airport transfers
- Full ATOL protection
See all Diverse Travel special offers here
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 provide 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
See all Diverse Travel special offers here
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
See all Diverse Travel special offers here
South Africa | 9 nights | Aliwal Shoal Diving + Great White Cage Diving, Cape Town
The best of both worlds; diving the iconic Aliwal Shoal and then onto the great magnet of South Africa, cage diving with great whites!
Price – £1999 per person based on sharing a twin/double room including:
- Return international flights to Durban return from Cape Town on Emirates (via Dubai)
- 6 nights’ Full Board in twin/double room, Blue Ocean Resort, Umkomaas
- 8 dives: 6 Aliwal Shoal reef dives (2-tank morning trips) + 2 Baited Shark Dives
- Round trip airport transfers from Durban King Shaka International Airport
- One-way domestic flight Durban to Cape Town
- 3 days’ Cape Town car hire (Avis VW Polo TSI B Plus + GPS)
- 3 nights’ B&B, Mountain Facing Room, Quayside Hotel, Simon’s Town (Cape Town)
- 2 Seal Island Cage Dive Trips
- Government taxes
- Full ATOL Protection
Price does not include daily conservation levy of R114 (approx. £7).
These offers must be booked before 30 September 2017
Travel must take place before 31 December 2017
See all Diverse Travel special offers here
Indonesia I Manado + Lembeh Combo | Last Minute Offer
Eco Divers. From just £1850 with diving, flights, accommodation
Dive two of the world’s greatest dive places with an award-winning dive centre and here’s your recipe for holiday happiness.
Home to a huge concentration of unusual marine species as well as reef sharks, turtles, eagle rays, Napoleon wrasse, even dugong and orca!
Most sites are within easy reach from your hotel and yet they’re never crowded. The reefs of Bunaken National Marine Park are rich and unspoilt with abundant soft coral and fish life whilst the Lembeh Strait is arguably the best place in the world for macro photography.
10 nights from £1850 per person including:
- International return flights – London Heathrow on Singapore Air/SilkAir via Singapore
- 30kg baggage allowance
- 5 nights’ sharing air-conditioned Superior Room, Mercure Manado Resort
- 5 days’ boat diving Bunaken (up to 2 guided day-dives per day*) with cylinders & weights
- 5 nights’ sharing air-conditioned room, Eco Divers Resort Lembeh
- 4 days’ boat diving Lembeh Strait (up to 3 guided day-dives per day) with cylinders & weights
- Full Board Meal Plan including mineral water
- All local transfers according to the itinerary
- Government taxes
- Full ATOL protection
* Upgrade to 3-dive package: £23/day
Valid for stays between 01 – 30 September and 24 October – 30 November 2017
See all Diverse Travel special offers here
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.
Jake Davies boards Ghazala Explorer for an unforgettable Red Sea diving experience…
The second day’s diving was a day full of wreck diving at Abu Nuhas, which included the Chrisoula K, Carnatic, and Ghiannis D. The first dive of the day was onto the Chrisoula K, also known as the wreck of tiles. The 98m vessel remains largely intact where she was loaded with tiles which can be seen throughout the hold. The stern sits at 26m and the bow just below the surface. One of the highlights of the wreck is heading inside and seeing the workroom where the machinery used for cutting the tiles are perfectly intact. The bow provided some relaxing scenery as the bright sunlight highlighted the colours of the soft coral reef and the many reef fish.
Following breakfast, we then headed to the next wreck, which was the Carnatic. The Carnatic is an 89.9m sail steamer vessel that was built in Britain back in 1862. She ran aground on the reef back in 1869 and remains at 27m. At the time, she was carrying a range of items, including 40,000 sterling in gold. An impressive wreck where much of the superstructure remains, and the two large masts lay on the seafloor. The wooden ribs of the hull provide structures for lots of soft corals, and into the stern section, the light beams through, bouncing off the large shoals of glass fish that can be found using the structure as shelter from the larger predators that are found outside of the wreck.
The final wreck at Abu Nuhas was the Ghiannis D, originally called ‘Shoyo Maru,’ which was 99.5m long and built in Japan back in 1969 before becoming a Greek-registered cargo ship in 1980. The ship then ran aground on the reef on April 19th, 1983, and now sits at the bottom at a depth of 27m. Heading down the line, the stern of the ship remains in good condition compared to the rest of the hull. The highlight of the wreck, though, is heading into the stern section and down the flights of stairs to enter the engine room, which remains in good condition and is definitely worth exploring. After exploring the interior section of the ship, we then headed over to see the rest of the superstructure, where it’s particularly interesting to see the large table corals that have grown at the bow relatively quickly considering the date the ship sank. After surfacing and enjoying some afternoon snacks, we made sure everything was strapped down and secured as we would be heading north and crossing the Gulf of Suez, where the winds were still creating plenty of chop.
The next morning, it was a short hop to Ras Mohammed Nature Reserve for the next couple of days of diving. The 6am wake-up call came along with the briefing for the first site we would be diving, which was Shark & Yolanda. The low current conditions allowed us to start the dive at Anemone City, where we would drift along the steep, coral-filled wall. These dives involved drifts, as mooring in Ras Mohammed wasn’t allowed to protect the reefs. As a dive site, Shark & Yolanda is well-known and historically had a lot of sharks, but unfortunately not so many in recent years, especially not so early in the season. However, there was always a chance when looking out into the blue.
The gentle drift took us along the steep walls of the site, with plenty of anemone fish to be seen and a huge variety of corals. It wasn’t long into the dive before we were accompanied by a hawksbill turtle, who drifted with us between the two atolls before parting ways. Between the two reefs, the shallow patch with parts of coral heads surrounded by sand provided the chance to see a few blue-spotted stingrays that were mainly resting underneath the corals and are always a pleasure to see. With this being the morning dive, the early sunlight lit up the walls, providing tranquil moments. Looking out into the blue, there was very little to be seen, but a small shoal of batfish shimmering underneath the sunlight was a moment to capture as we watched them swim by as they watched us.
Towards the end of the dive, we stopped at the wreck of the Jolanda where the seafloor was scattered with toilets from the containers it was carrying. This provided a unique site to make a safety stop, which was also accompanied by a large barracuda slowly swimming by, along with a hawksbill turtle calmly swimming over the reef as the sun rays danced in the distance.
For the next dive, we headed north to the Strait of Tiran to explore the reefs situated between Tiran Island and Sharm El Sheik, which were named after the British divers who had found them. We started on Jackson before heading to Gordons Reef, where we also did the night dive. All the atolls at these sites provided stunning, bustling coral reefs close to the surface and steep walls to swim along, which always provided the opportunity to keep an eye out for some of the larger species that can be seen in the blue. Midwater around Jackson Reef was filled with red-toothed triggerfish and shoals of banner fish, which at times were so dense that you couldn’t see into the blue. Moments went by peacefully as we enjoyed the slow drift above the reef, watching these shoals swim around under the mid-afternoon sun.
The night dive at Gordon’s Reef was mainly among the stacks of corals surrounded by sand, which was great to explore under the darkness. After some time circling the corals, we came across what we were really hoping to find, and that was an octopus hunting on the reef. We spent the majority of the dive just watching it crawl among the reef, blending into its changing surroundings through changes in colour and skin texture. It’s always so fascinating and captivating to watch these incredibly intelligent animals, in awe of their ability to carry out these physical changes to perfectly blend into the reef. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the boat to enjoy a well-deserved tasty dinner prepared by the talented chefs onboard.
Check in for the 3rd and final part of this series from Jake tomorrow!
To find out more about the Northern Red Sea reef and wrecks itineraries aboard Ghazala Explorer, or to book, contact Scuba Travel now:
Email: dive@scubatravel.com
Tel: +44 (0)1483 411590
Photos: Jake Davies / Avalon.Red
The Shark Trust is excited to announce that, for two more days only, all donations, large or small, will be doubled in the Big Give Green Match Fund!
Donate to Basking in Nature: Sighting Giants
The Shark Trust is hoping to raise £10k which will be doubled to £20k. This will go towards Basking in Nature: Sighting Giants. And they need YOUR help to reach they’re goal.
The Shark Trust’s citizen science project is to monitor and assess basking sharks through sightings; encouraging data collection, community engagement, and promoting nature accessibility. This initiative aims to enhance health and wellbeing by fostering a deeper connection with British Sharks.
Campaign Aims
- Increase citizen science reporting of Basking Sharks and other shark sightings to help inform shark and ray conservation.
- Provide educational talks about the diverse range of sharks and rays in British waters and accessible identification guides!
- Create engaging and fun information panels on how to ID the amazing sharks and rays we have on our doorstep! These can be used on coastal paths around the Southwest. With activities and information on how you can make a difference for sharks and rays!
- Promote mental wellbeing through increasing time in nature and discovering the wonders beneath the waves!
Donate, and double your impact. Click Here
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