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 All the holiday news...
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You thought the Maldives was a sure bet to avoid loud music and rowdy holiday behaviour? Think again! Playaway Holidays is a start-up company aiming to "fill the gap" for 25-40-year old holiday-makers who want to mix diving, other watersports and relaxing spa days with wild beach parties and music from UK-based DJs. Based at the White Sands Resort and Spa, the inaugural Playaway holiday runs from 1-9 July. Prices from £899 provide flights and transfers, seven nights' accommodation, all meals, and unlimited soft and alcoholic drinks from 10am to midnight!
• www.playawayfromhome.com
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Thanks, KLM - the Dutch airline has singled out divers to pay a 40 euro per head "handling fee" for dive gear outside Europe (20 euros within), whether or not they are within the 20kg free baggage allowance limit. If you plan to visit Bonaire, Curaçao or any dive destination served by KLM, try packing your gear in suitcases.
• www.klm.com
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Like to keep in touch when you're diving in Egypt? Camel Dive Club is offering free 24-hour wireless Internet access at its Sharm el Sheikh resort to anyone using Camel's facilities. Remember to pack your laptop.
• www.cameldive.com
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Snooba Travel promises a bit of everything for divers around Grenada and the Grenadines between 12 August and 24 September, when the liveaboard Wind Dancer visits such sites as active underwater volcano Kickemjenny, big liner wreck Bianca C and the national park of the Tobago Cays. Prices start from £1570 for flights and transfers, accommodation for seven nights, all meals and drinks and five-and-a-half days' diving with up to five dives per day.
• www.snooba.com
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Longwood Holidays is offering various buy-one-get-one-free deals to lure even more divers to the Red Sea. Qualified divers booking a £125 five-dive package with Diver's Lodge in Hurghada can get a second package free if they book by 30 June to dive before 31 October. Good news for beginners is that PADI Open Water courses, which cost £169, are also available on a two-for-one basis. Seven nights' half-board accommodation in Hurghada starts at £415, including flights and transfers.
• www.longwoodholidays.com
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Ashby Powerboat School of Christchurch, Dorset has become an accredited BSAC Seamanship Centre. The school is run by divers Brian and Ashley Clough, who say that BSAC members who take an RYA Level 2 qualification with them also qualify for a boat-handling Skill Development Course certificate from the BSAC.
• www.ashbypowerboatschool.co.uk
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Sea Wolf Diving School, the first dive centre to open on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, now has a self-catering rental villa called Diver's Haven. Five minutes' walk from the dive centre, it has six en-suite rooms, kitchen, bar and swimming pool. Five nights' accommodation and three days of two-tank dives start from around £225. Flights to Montserrat via Antigua cost extra.
• www.divers-haven.com
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Humpback whales, manta rays, tiger and bull-shark feeding and rich coral reefs - tour operator SDA is using seaplanes to allow divers access to remote atolls and marine reserves in Fiji, while still being based at luxurious hotels and resorts, including the Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort. Seven- and 10-day tours start in September, costing from £2650 (not including international flights).
• www.seaplane-diving.com
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- Preview a holiday - Travel Dive now enables you to watch underwater films using video-streaming to your PC or laptop, starting with John Boyle's Critters trilogy. www.travel-dive.com
- Feeling lazy? EDC Sharm promises "Hassle Free Diving" - it stores your dive kit in bags at the dive centre, you turn up on Prince Ashref, its new 24m launch, and everything's set up for you.
- www.europeandiving.co.uk
- Celtic Diving of Fishguard, west Wales, has a new charter boat called Wandrin' Star. It takes 12 divers. www.celticdiving.co.uk
- The Caribbean island of Curaçao holds its first annual dive festival from 20-27 May, with dives, workshops and seminars and plenty of evening entertainment. Twelve hotels are offering guests airfare credits of up
- to US $200. www.curacao-event.com
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