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 All the holiday news...
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Fortina Spa Resort Malta is working with the Oxygène Dive Centre to provide what it describes as "the ultimate in diving holidays", combining "luxury tower garden view" accommodation, dining and spa facilities with a full dive programme on the varied natural features and wrecks around Malta, Gozo and Comino. For £589 you get flights and transfers from Gatwick, seven nights' twin-room accommodation including all food and drinks, plus cruises and spa treatments. Oxygène Malta is a Scandinavian company that offers all PADI courses from beginner to instructor level, as well as advanced nitrox and trimix. A 10-dive package costs £159.
Fortina Spa Resort Malta, UK freephone 0800 917 3001
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It's one way to get into the swim early - Anthony's Key Resort and the Roatan Institute of Marine Sciences, in Honduras's Bay Islands, are offering week-long programmes for 5-14-year-olds, combining age-appropriate PADI courses and "experiential education sessions" working with dolphin-trainers. Parents can dive on the world's second-largest barrier reef while the kids learn the basics about diving and about dolphins, which live in a natural lagoon with a living coral reef and leave to be trained in the open ocean. The Discovery Scuba Camp runs from May to August 26, including seven nights' full-board accommodation, and costs $625 per child based on double occupancy. Adult occupancy starts at $825 but Divequest (www.divequest.co.uk) can put a package together.
Anthony's Key Resort,
www.anthonyskey.com
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Masterclasses in East Africa, anybody? The 1st Annual Festival of Marine Life will be held at the luxurious Breezes Beach Club & Spa in Zanzibar from 18-27 November. It includes dives, talks and workshops with photographers, film-makers and marine biologists including Heather Hammond, Alan James, John McIntyre, Catherine Muir, Alex Mustard, Paul Shepherd and Lawson Wood. The cost, including flights and accommodation, is £2495 per person sharing, and you can extend your trip with eight days on Mafia Island for £699, or with four- or eight-day safaris.
Dive Worldwide, 0845 130 6980
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The Hebrides see annual gatherings of basking sharks, and Full Circle Expeditions is running an expedition with the Shark Trust and Marine Conservation Society to film, observe and collect data there from 1-20 August this year. There will be plenty of diving opportunities in this area of spectacular reefs, and the possibility of seeing other marine species including orcas, dolphins and sea otters, as well as land-based activities. Eight berths are available on the 70ft sailing research vessel Zuza and £1950 covers all diving, accommodation and food.
www.fullcircleexpeditions.com, 0870 242 7627
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The world's first glass underwater restaurant will be a big attraction when Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa's Rangalifinolhu island, closed for rebuilding for a year, reopens in June. The ultra-luxurious island is linked to its sister-island Rangali by a 500m bridge, and with 79 beach villas, many with private pools, is set to become the largest resort in the Maldives. But that's nothing - the world's biggest underwater hotel is being built in the Bahamas. The Poseidon Undersea Resort, which opens in 2006, will allow guests to sleep in underwater rooms made of transparent acrylic, providing panoramic Caribbean views.
Hilton Maldives, www.hiltonmaldivesresort.com
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A third of casualties admitted to emergency wards are unable to give accurate, life-saving information in a timely and coherent way, according to Medical Information Anywhere (MIA). Its service is designed to enable travellers to store, access and edit personal and medical details so that they can be securely accessed at any time from anywhere in the world via an Internet link. MIA also offers a travel advisory and emergency concierge service, accessible by phone or email. Members receive a personalised ID card and key-ring attachment. Cost is £29.37 a year.
MIA, www.miaonline.co.uk
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Sri Lankan Airlines, which offers the only non-stop service between Heathrow and the Maldives, with flights every Thursday, Friday and Sunday, is planning a fourth weekly flight later this year. Prices start at £350 plus tax.
Sri Lankan Airlines 020 8538 2000
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