REGIONS TO RED SEA
Longwood Holidays has added flight departures from three regional airports from the beginning of November. Weekly departures to Sharm el Sheikh from Newcastle, Glasgow and Luton Airports add greater flexibility for those who live nearby, while Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow departures to the Red Sea Riviera are as popular as ever. The operator has a dedicated dive brochure.
Longwood Holidays 020 84182570
BALI DIVING PRIZE
British owner-operated AquaMarine Diving in Bali is promising to give away either a five-day diving package with accommodation at the Water Garden Hotel, or a five-day package at two different Alila hotels (you make your own travel arrangements). The prizes go to two visitors to the company's stand (No 211) at Dive 2004 at the NEC Birmingham. Other visitors will be offered discounts on trips booked before the end of June next year and 30 runners-up will receive AquaMarine - Bali polo shirts.
NEW REGAL DESTINATIONS
Award-winning specialist dive travel operator Regaldive has launched its new brochure with a host of additional destinations. Djibouti, Pemba and the Galapagos are among them. New resorts and new liveaboards in old favourite destinations such as the Red Sea and the Maldives sit alongside would-be favourites such as Manado in Indonesia, offering the Bunaken National Park and Lembeh Straits. There are new opportunities for dive travel but Regal has not lost sight of its core clients either. You can still get a one-week Red Sea package starting from £349.
Regaldive, www.regaldive.co.uk
SUMMER DOWN UNDER
As winter draws in at home, it's time to think of flying south to see the relatives. Oh, and why not do a bit of diving while you're there? With more than 600 miles of reef, Cairns on Australia's Queensland coast makes a good place to start. Three-day liveaboard trips begin every day but Tuesdays, and Pro Dive can provide a dive adventure with 11 dives at a choice of 16 sites on five reefs.
Pro Dive, www.prodive-cairns.com.au
RED SEA FLEET
Claiming something of a reputation with Sandhurst Military Academy (assisting with more than 100 military expeditions) and with both Oxford and Cambridge universities, Blue O2 is a holiday operator specialising in diver-training and liveaboard safaris in destinations as far apart as the US Virgin Islands and Indonesia. It tells us that it has a new fleet of vessels in the Red Sea, so watch this space.
Blue O2, www.blue-O2.com
SNAPDRAGON FROM SHARM
This shiny vessel is the 31m mv Snapdragon, launched this summer. Based at Sharm el Sheikh, it will cover itineraries that include the northern wreck sites and the Brothers. Her twin Caterpillar engines give Snapdragon a speed of up to 15 knots and she carries up to 18 passengers. A week's trip with six nights on board costs from £759.
Libra Holidays, www.libraholidays.co.uk
OPEN WATER OFFER
The Scuba Centre at Portland is responding to negative publicity surrounding the movie Open Water by offering £10 off a PADI Open Water (and in fact any other) diving course to anyone who has seen it, so keep those cinema ticket-stubs. The offer is valid until March 2005.
Scuba Centre, www.divedorset.com
TRAINING WITH A VIEW
What's the point of using kit that can give you a no-stop time of three hours at 20m and with no gas consumption problem to go with it, if there's nothing to look at? Why not do an Inspiration closed-circuit rebreather course in the Red Sea rather than in your local quarry? That's what Poseidon Divers in Dahab, Sinai, suggests. It offers Inspiration courses up to CCR Trimix level.
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