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 All the holiday news...
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All those visitors to recent Dive Shows who thrilled to the uncaged diving with great white sharks of Mike Rutzen in South Africa, and all those who have read about his exploits in DIVER, can now get that bit closer to the reality. Mike's company Shark Diving Unlimited has launched a three-day PADI "Distinctive Speciality" course called White Shark Awareness, held in Gansbaai, South Africa. Participants are promised at least two cage dives with great whites, and the final dive is made in shallow water with Cape fur seals. Evening lectures with Mike Rutzen cover white shark hunting behaviour, biology and environment; Cape fur seal biology; and how divers should conduct themselves in the presence of sharks. The price is Rand 5700 per person (about £450).
www.sharkdivingunlimited.co.za
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Tanjong Jara Resort on the east coast of Malaysia is inviting divers to visit any of 10 sites off Pulau Tenggol, part of the Terengganu Marine Park. The small island, 45 minutes' boat-ride from the resort, is said to feature coral gardens and rare marine life species. Kuoni Travel can arrange seven nights at the resort from £1011 based on two people sharing a room, flights with Malaysian Airlines and transfers. A half-day diving trip to Pulau Tenggol costs £36 per person including lunch.
www.kuoni.co.uk
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Affordable "single traveller weeks", designed for divers travelling (though not, we hope, diving) alone, have been added to packages offered by Red Sea tour operator Longwood Holidays. Diving courses and packages in the scheme are open only to Longwood single travellers, and the company says that participating hotels in Sharm el Sheikh and Dahab have been selected for their sociable atmosphere. Prices start at £509 with flights and transfers, accommodation and five days' diving. Longwood says it is also now theexclusive UK representative for the liveaboard my VIP ONE (prices from £759 full-board with flights, transfer and six days' diving). Details are in Longwood's new Egypt & Jordan and Red Sea Diving brochures, which also show new hotels in Taba and Sharm and, for the first time, include Red Sea flights from Birmingham.
www.longwoodholidays.co.uk
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The Aggressor Fleet is to start operating in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, offering charters departing from Kungkungan Bay Resort from December. It will visit remote sites near the Bangka and Bunaken Islands and Lembeh Strait. A week's charter will cost US $2295 per person double occupancy next year. You can also book back-to-back North Sulawesi Aggressor / Palau Aggressor II holidays next year. Palau Aggressor visits sites such as Blue Corner, Jellyfish Lake and Ulong Channel, price $2695, but a back-to-back booking will bediscounted by $1000.
www.aggressor.com
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Yoga and diving have a lot in common - breathe more effectively, your air supply lasts longer and you're more relaxed. And Yogatravel, which runs diving and yoga holidays in Egypt, reports that more and more divers are signing up to learn to be calm under water. "Pranayama [breathing exercises] helps develop lung capacity and strength, and with strength you get control and a better understanding of what you can do," says instructor Jana Czipin, who also teaches the techniques to leading freedivers. Yogatravel's diving packages start in Cairo and run out to the Red Sea for four days' diving with its instructors in Dahab. Prices start from £649.
www.yogatravel.co.uk
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Anthony's Key Resort is a long-established all-inclusive resort that claims to offer the cheapest diver training in the Caribbean. This PADI 5-Star Gold Palm Resort lies off Honduras on the Bay Island of Roatan, where it is said that 96% of all Caribbean species can be seen. It promises access to 35 reef, wall and wreck sites, with 11 boats each making three runs a day. Rates start at US $599 for seven nights' full board, three dives a day plus night dives, transfers and a range of other activities (low season, international flights extra).
www.anthonyskey.com
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Werner Lau always seems to be opening new dive centres around the world - his latest is in Taba at the Charm Life Morgana Beach Resort. Fifteen dive sites are accessible by boat or 4x4 in this quieter part of northern Egypt (above). Boat trips are two-tank (mornings) or one, shore dives one tank, and the rate for five days' diving is 170 euros. And the nitrox is free!
www.wernerlau.net
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Safari Diving in Puerto Del Carmen, Lanzarote, has been bought by two keen UK customers, Steve and Wendy Hicks. Previous owners Dea and Rene Van Leeuwan had built up the business over 18 years and the British couple had been diving with them for 11 of those years. They say they now own the only dive centre in Lanzarote located directly on the beach. Safari Diving has four boats and does not charge extra for boat or night dives. A 10-dive package costs 210 euros.
www.safaridiving.com
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Barefoot Traveller is one of a number of UK dive tour operators to add Oman to its brochures recently. Dive sites include Cemetery Bay, Fahal Island, the Al Munassir wreck and the Daymaniat Islands, and it says that rays, dolphins, turtles and leopard sharks are among the attractions. Daily flights from Heathrow to Muscat take seven hours non-stop, and prices for seven nights' half-board at Oman Dive Centre start from £799 including flights and dive package.
www.barefoot-traveller.com
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PADI 5-Star Centre Emperor Divers in Hurghada has become the first National Geographic Diving Centre to be appointed on the Egyptian mainland. The NGD course requires more dives than PADI Open Water, as well as additional skills such as peak-performance buoyancy, navigation,flora and fauna identification and marine awareness.
www.emperordivers.com
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- Diver training agency NAUI has launched a Worldwide Dive & Travel Insurance Programme for NAUI-certified divers, dive professionals and students (www.naui.org).
- Carrymyluggage.com, an online baggage and sports equipment delivery service, says that sending dive gear ahead may be cheaper for some divers than incurring excess baggage charges on passenger flights. (www.carrymyluggage.com)
- Curaçao has a new tourist website - www.tourism-curacao.com
- A Four Seasons Resort has opened in Langkawi in Malaysia on what it says is the island's best Andaman Sea beach (www.fourseasons.com)
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