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 All the holiday news...
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New to the Red Sea diving fleet are two luxury liveaboards from Emperor. The Emperor Elite and Emperor Superior are 38m vessels, each accommodating up to 20 guests in nine twin-berth cabins and a double master suite, all with en suite facilities and air conditioning. Add to each vessel three sundecks, a dive-deck with platform, two saloons and dining room and you have a pair of spacious boats. Each one also has two large RIBs with outboards. The liveaboards are equipped for tech and nitrox diving and will always carry at least two dive guides. UK tour operator Dive Sportif says it is offering trips on Emperor Elite from Marsa Ghalib from August from £935 a week.
Emperor Divers, www.emperordivers.com
Dive Sportif 01273 844919
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If you'd like to improve your digital photography, sign up to be at Kungkungan Bay Resort between 6 and 27 August for tuition at the perfect macro destination, Lembeh Strait in Indonesia's North Sulawesi. Geared for all experience levels, the six-day series of workshops will be led by Rod Klein, Digital Editor of Fathoms magazine. You'll get the chance to record Lembeh denizens such as the pygmy seahorse, Ambon scorpionfish - or a seasnake like this one.
Eco Divers, www.eco-divers.com
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Bali's many and diverse dive sites offer some unusual experiences for divers, including the rare opportunity to dive with mola-mola (oceanic sunfish) from September to November, or manta rays in April or May. So says Dive Worldwide, which has arranged special airfares with Malaysia Airlines to offer seven-night diving holidays at prime viewing times. You can explore protected shallow bays, enjoy exciting drift-diving in wild currents or visit Tulamben Bay to dive USS Liberty, an army transport vessel torpedoed in WW2. These holidays cost £1029.
Dive Worldwide, 0845 130 6980
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The people at Harlequin Worldwide Travel tell us that, as professional and avid divers, they understand that it is attention to detail that makes your diving holiday a success. As such they offer destinations that include most of the Caribbean area and Bahamas, plus destinations as disparate as British Columbia in the west to Truk Lagoon in the east, both liveaboard and sleep-ashore. The brochure is luxuriously produced, which reflects the level of holiday the company offers.
Harlequin Worldwide Holidays, www.harlequinholidays.com
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Aquademia Koh Samui and Koh Tao dive centres in Thailand pledge that for the rest of the year they will donate 20% of fees to the DEC Tsunami fund when divers book dives or courses quoting the reference DVRUK 84320. They hope to encourage divers to keep coming to the area, as tourist income is vital to its recovery
Aquademia, www.aquademiadive.com
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Diver Pamela Ernstberger has been working with the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR) to organise non-profit certificated study trips for visiting divers interested in the marine environment. She persuaded the station to widen its audience beyond schools, and says the course provides plenty of diving and snorkelling opportunities. The next trip runs from 1-7 June, and £890 covers the course fee, full-board accommodation (which, she says, is "top-class") and all transport costs other than flights to Bermuda.
Seamore Bermuda, www.seamore-bermuda.com
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Electrified reefs are catching on - a mild current, it seems, is a good way to stimulate coral growth. Vila Ombak Diving Academy says it has recently helped to install the first Bio-Rock electrified artificial reef in the Gili Islands near Lombok, Indonesia, working with Global Coral Reef Alliance and the local community. The resulting "coral arks" are said to develop up to five times faster than normal and could prove more tolerant to water temperature changes. The academy is now offering a Coral Reef Education Programme so that visiting divers can get involved in the regeneration process.
Vila Ombak Diving Academy, voda@indosat.net.id
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Sharks are under threat and the world is at last getting concerned. Home to many thousands of sharks and some spectacular dive sites is South Africa's Natal Coast, which includes the celebrated Aliwal Shoal. At the invitation of the Natal Sharks Board, the British-based Scientific Exploration Society is to undertake a comparative shark population study there from mid-May to mid-June, so if you want to get close to raggies, bull and tiger sharks, you can put in to join the team of 12 divers. Divers from PADI AOWD or equivalent can apply - the cost is £2700 plus flight.
Scientific Exploration Society 01 747 854898
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