News
Think Flexibly with Regaldive
For Red Sea enthusiasts looking for cheaper and more flexible holiday options, the answer, says UK based tour operator Regaldive, is to think outside the box. With increased flight capacity to Hurghada now available from London Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester, customers can benefit from more regular and better value flights when travelling to any Southern Red Sea resort via road transfer from Hurghada airport.
For divers looking to get away from the crowds, the vastly undiscovered resort of El Quseir can be reached by road transfer in under two hours from Hurghada. With over 30 dive sites within easy reach of the resort, El Quseir is the ideal location for experienced divers wanting to be at one with the marine life. Underwater photographers can explore the coral covered pinnacles, navigate the labyrinth of coral gardens, and glide through the narrow passages and blind alleys of Serib Kebir, the Rock and Sharm Fungani while admiring the macro life and nudibranchs on offer.
Home to some of the best dive experiences in the Red Sea, Marsa Alam can also easily be reached by road transfer from Hurghada airport in around three hours. Offering divers the chance to come face to face with Spanish dancers, turtles, eagle rays, great hammerhead sharks and whale sharks, Marsa Alam combines the very best of shore and boat diving. Located close to the resort is the fascinating site of Sha’ab Samadai, also known as ‘Dolphin House’. This site is frequented by a pod of around 60 spinner dolphins and is home to a network of caves and tunnels, in addition to a carpet of seagrass hiding moray eels, leopard groupers, goatfish, lionfish, masked butterfly fish and much more.
Andreas Elia, Managing Director of Regaldive, commented “Up until now, there was little flexibility on when customers could travel to many of the Southern Red Sea resorts, including El Quseir, Marsa Alam, and Hamata. Previously, there was only one flight per week from the UK to Marsa Alam for example, allowing very little flexibility to customers looking to travel on anything but a Wednesday. Now, with more regular flights into and out of Hurghada, customers can choose to travel on a day that suits them, and travel by road transfer to their resort, allowing them to see more of Egypt in the process”.
Seven nights’ at the Marina Lodge at Port Ghalib in Marsa Alam cost from £463 per person, to include flights to Hurghada, road transfers and seven nights half board accommodation. A four day boat dive pack costs from £138 per person, when taking advantage of Regaldive’s Buy One Get One Half price deal on dive packs*.
Seven nights’ at Roots Luxury Camp in El Quseir cost from £709 per person, to include flights to Hurghada, road transfers, seven nights’ half board accommodation and five days diving.
For further information or to book, visit www.regaldive.co.uk or call +44 (0)1353 659 999.
*Buy One Get One Half price deal available on four, five and six day dive packs, valid for travel between 4 January and 26 March, 5 June and 21 July, and 13 November and 12 December, 2014
Fire on Monroe Bravo is the latest book in the Jack Collier series by Fred Lockwood. Our story begins with our lead characters, Jack and Sandro, owners of Marine Salvage & Investigation Company, arriving on the Monroe Bravo Oil & Gas Platform in the North Sea. Having secured a contract for their vessel the MV Stavanger to act as support ship to the platform for TransGlobal Oil, our protagonists are on a celebratory visit.
However almost as soon as they arrive a series of explosions rock the platform, causing huge damage, loss of life and the very real danger of a massive human, ecological and financial disaster.
As the danger mounts for both our heroes and the surviving workers, Jack and Sandro will have to escape the inferno, all while trying to save the platform and the men still trapped unable to help themselves.
The disaster sets the scene for the unfolding story lines following the fate of the platform and our main characters, the police investigation into a suspected terrorist act and the actions of TransGlobal Oil as they attempt to navigate the pubic outcry and financial repercussions.
In his eighth book, Fire on Monroe Bravo, Fred Lockwood delivers an explosive thriller, with plenty of above and in-water drama, and our heroes fighting for survival, what more can you ask for?
We thoroughly recommend this read and look forward to the next in the series. For more information about his book series, you can check out the reviews of his previous books here on Scubaverse.
- Title: Fire On Monroe Bravo
- Author: Fred Lockwood
- ISBN: 979-8325324536
Available in a paperback version and for Kindle from Amazon and book stores.
In June we were incredibly fortunate to be invited to dive in Alonissos, a small Greek Island in the Sporades island chain located in the North Aegean Sea. While I have long been a big fan of the Greek Islands as a great holiday destination, I had not had the opportunity to do any diving on previous visits and Mike and I were extremely excited to see what Alonissos had to offer both above and below the surface!
The Sporades are easily accessible via the airport in Skiathos (the first island in the chain), which is served by Jet2 flights from all major UK airports from May through October. Numerous ferries and charter boats make island hopping from Skiathos Town a breeze. After an hour boat ride, the picturesque port of Patitiri was a wonderful introduction to Alonissos, where we were met by our gracious hosts Kostas of Albedo Travel and Dias of Alonissos Triton Dive Center. Mike and I were delighted to be staying at the Paradise Hotel, aptly named for its stunning views over the sea and great location for walking to the waterfront.
Alonissos is beautifully situated in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades, the largest marine protected area in Europe. The surrounding seas offer fabulous marine life, including incredibly rare species such as the Mediterranean monk seal. They boast deep walls covered in gorgonians and sponges, stunning topography with caverns, swimthroughs and pinnacles, and the first accessible ancient shipwreck from 500BC!
In locations where historical sites have been reported, the waters are largely restricted, but with collaboration between government, underwater archeologists and dive centres, incredible underwater museums are being created for a truly unique diving experience. Alonissos is home to the first of these, the Ancient Shipwreck of Peristera Accessible Underwater Archeological Site. The chance to dive into history (along with reports of healthy reef life and amazing underwater topography) meant Mike and I were keen to get in the water.
Our introduction to the diving around Alonissos was at the Agios Georgios Pinnacles, in the channel between Alonissos and Skopelos. This fantastic site was named “The Chimney,’ and proved to have a huge amount to see. We got to a decent depth here (over 25m), and marvelled at a colourful reef wall with a wonderful swim through whose rocky walls were absolutely covered with life. As well as brilliant topography there was no shortage of macro life here. We saw numerous nudibranchs, five different species in total. The second dive at Mourtias reef nearby was a shallower dive along a nice wall with lots of crevices. Several moray eels and grouper called this site home. We enjoyed looking in the crevices for lobster and smaller benthic life, such as cup corals and tunicates.
Our itinerary allowed us two dives a day with afternoons left to explore the island with our hire car and evenings to enjoy the famous Greek hospitality. This proved to be a lovely mix of in-water and land based diversions.
The next days diving to the Gorgonian Gardens and Triton’s Cave was to be even better! These two stunning sites are nothing short of fabulous. The Gorgonian Gardens was a deep wall near to the Agios Georgios islands. The ever-present currents in this deep channel meant that the sea life was amazing … the namesake Gorgonian sea fans dotted the wall at a depth of 30 to 50 meters, getting ever larger the deeper we went. Above 30m was by no means less beautiful, with sponges, corals, scorpionfish, moray eels and some rare and colourful nudibranchs.
The second shallower dive of the day was to Triton’s Cave or the Cavern of Skopelos, on the east side of that island. The spectacular rock formations had wild striations both above and below the water making a truly epic topography. The cavern entrance was at 14m, and big enough for a buddy pair, winding up to 6m and passing two beautiful windows out into the blue. Emerging from the cavern, the light at the shallower depths and the incredible rock formations made for a fantastic gentle swimming safety stop and we all surfaced by the boat with massive grins.
Check out our next blog :Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 2)” to hear about our amazing dive on the 2500 year old Peristera Wreck!
Thanks to:
Alonissos Triton Dive Center https://bestdivingingreece.com/
Albedo Travel https://alonissosholidays.com/activities/
Paradise Hotel https://paradise-hotel.gr/
Alonissos Municipality https://alonissos.gr/en/
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