Mozambique - world class diving without the crowds

Advantages: Good diving, WHALE SHARKS!; not too crowded
Disadvantages: Infrastructure still developing, food overpriced

...weekly talks on mantas, whale sharks, and "other". These are pretty good as Tofo is one of the world centres for whale shark research. Talking of which - not really mentioned the whale sharks much! Whale sharks are the "gentle giants" of the sea, the biggest fish on earth, and most divers aim to see/ swim with one, but you don't have to be a diver to do this (in fact they're rarely seen on dives). As well as diving, the dive centre also offered ocean safaris, which were basically whale shark spotting trips with additional watching for other things; they have a "spotter" on a high chair to watch int he distance. I actually saw a whale shark on the way back from my first dive there, having never seen one before. We subsequently saw on average one a day, and would jump in the water with them if we could, though the encounters were limited by...

cathy_m80 24.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Mozambique (Dive Sites)

World-class diving on our doorstep

Advantages: Good visibility, fairly cheap, huge range of destinations
Disadvantages: Boats can be crowded

...I'm not an experienced Red Sea diver (been twice) but I've dived around the world a fair bit. I think the availability of the Red Sea to European divers means we sometimes look down on it. Many people are biased by either visiting or hearing about the built up resorts such as Sharm el Sheikh. But there's a huge amount on offer here, only 5 hours flight from the UK. My first dive trip was to Sharm itself. Despite being touristy and built up, it's the jumping-off point for a huge range of world-class dive sites. The Straits of Tiran and Ras Mohammed stand out. The Straits comprise a number of reefs (Jackson, Gordon, Thomas and Woodhouse) which offer exciting dives in strong currents. Two of our group saw a tiger shark here (unfortunately - and I do mean it that way round!) I missed it. Ras Mohammed is now a National Park and as such...

cathy_m80 19.08.2008 · Read review
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Review of Red Sea (Dive Sites)

50 places to dive - to start with at least!

Advantages: A fresh perspective, some good pictures
Disadvantages: Quite small, biassed towards US and Caribbean

...the potential to fall down due to a (?) non-diving editor, but the reviews are done by interview with individual divers, so that doesn't really happen. Apparently these are 50 experts from around the world - I have to say I haven't heard of most of them, but the ones I have are well-known in the diving industry (e.g. Mike Ball, who runs a liveaboard company on the Great Barrier Reef). Many of the reviews concentrate either on a particular site, or a particular feature of the area, e.g. diving with hammerheads, or sunfish (also called mola mola). They're well-written, but with an average of around 3 pages there's not much space for going into detailed information, it's only really a taster. There's some excellent pictures, such as the whale shark in the Belize section, but some of the pictures are a little underwhelming - there's quite a few...

cathy_m80 25.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of Fifty Places to Dive Before You Die: Diving Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations - Chris Santella

Some of the Best Diving in the World

Advantages: Marine reserve. Fantastic visibility. Vast array of sea life.
Disadvantages: High cost of living and little to do apart from diving.

...Sharks, turtles, sting rays, manta rays, moray eels, baracuda, they've got the lot. The entire Cayman Islands area is a marine reserve, and no-one is even alowed to drop anchor there. Every 100 metres around the islands you will find buoys to tie up to. These have been carefully fixed into the sea bed so that the corals don't get damaged by anchors. Consequently, the coral is second to none - the best I've seen anywhere in the world. This also means that there is a stunning array of sea-life, including some of the most colourful and unusual fish you could wish to see. Grand Cayman's coast is divided into a number of distinct areas by the local dive leaders, each with a name to identify it. These areas may be grouped into three main groups - West Coast, South Coast and North Coast, the east, I gather, is shallower and less...

petehall 08.01.2001 · Read review
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Review of Cayman Islands (Dive Sites)

Excellent diving in the Maldives

Advantages: Warm water, clear, lots of life
Disadvantages: Some dives not that exciting

...I recently did a dive trip to the Maldives, not a destination I would have planned on as I've always thought of it as a honeymoon destination. I travelled on a liveaboard boat, doing a circuit of dive sites around North and South Male atolls and Ari Atoll. Water temperature was mostly 28-30C, with mostly visibility of 15-25m. The weather was generally very warm, and fairly humid. Some of the dives were phenomenal. The highlight was the dive at Manta Point (though it's best to point out that there isn't just one but several manta points around the Maldives, partly according to season). We had 20+ mantas swooping in just over our heads, hovering and observing us as we observed them! Our second dive there wasn't as good but still around 10 mantas checking us out over the cleaning station. There were several other drift dives that were...

cathy_m80 27.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Maldives (Dive Sites)

Dive In At The Deep End!

Advantages: Easy acess to hotel, coral reefs onsite, friendly staff, good prices
Disadvantages: None

...wasn?t too bad considering that price includes, the hire of the equipment and tank, the instructor and also the final certification. Our dive school taught through the PADI learning program. PADI is recognized the world over so it means you will be able to dive anywhere in the world! The Open Water course that we did took about 3 - 5 days of training with theory and some open water and confined water dives. The theory consisted of reading the PADI manual and completing the knowledge reviews at the end of each chapter. You will do five confined water dives and this is where you learn some underwater skills. Next you complete 4 open water dives where you get to apply your skins and practice a few so the instructor can see that you are capable and confident with what you are doing. On the last day of the course you have to sit...

Jamie73 01.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Sinai Dive Club

Maybe the best dive site in the world

Advantages: Quick to get there, cheap deals available and outstanding diving
Disadvantages: Too busy

...I have been very lucky in that I have been scuba diving in many different parts of the world. The Red Sea and in particular Sharm-El-Sheikh is probably up there with some of the best. The first thing to say is that you can pick-up some great budget packages from the UK, just look in the back of any dive magazine to find some deals. Secondly it's just a short flight from the UK, you can pretty much go anytime of the year with good weather pretty much expected (although water temperatures will vary). The only downside about travelling is the scramble to get your visa when you arrive at the airport, it's unavoidable and remember to take foreign currency with you. I usually stay in Sharm-El-Sheikh and as a resort I think it is clean and tidy and offers something for everyone in terms of the mixture of food and entertainment...

Royston1 23.08.2001 · Read review
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Review of Sharm el-Sheikh (Dive Sites)

Dive into the live....

Advantages: Lagwagon at their best
Disadvantages: Slightly repetitive

...Southern California's Lagwagon formed in 1990, originally under the name Section 8 and boasts the fact that the band was the first to be signed to the now famous Fat Wreck label, debuting with Duh in 1992. Despite early changes to the line-up, currently Lagwagon stand as five; Joey (vocals); Flip (guitar); Jesse (bass); Leon (guitar); Dave (drums). Their so-cal brand of punk rock continues to be the inspiration for kids today, or at least inspired from bands who themselves were impressed with Lagwagon years ago. It is ironic that Fat Wreck chose Hollywood as the location for their next instalment of the Live in a Dive series, the 7th to be exact. More appropriately, however, may be Lagwagon as the label's choice to play that venue, a band befitting of any venue, anywhere in the world. Having seen Lagwagon live, having been...

heideroosjes 24.04.2005 (25.04.2005) · Read review
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Review of Live In A Dive - Lagwagon

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Advantages: Heart-wrenching, beautifully written
Disadvantages: disjointed at times

...The true story behind this novella is what drew me to reading it. Then, I did not know who Jean-Dominique Bauby was or, for that matter, what "locked- in syndrome" was. Not only does this book tell its reader a great deal about the author through the first person narration, but also via the obituary placed at the end of Bauby's emotive story. You come to learn Bauby's deepest fears, regrets, hopes and loves from this novella and everything you feel for him is cemented when you read the obituary. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is not your typical autobiography. It doesn't start with mundane and insignificant details of the author's childhood, followed by his struggle to rise to fame. In fact, it starts with his dreams, his darkest fears. As a reader, we are instantly drawn in to the hidden corners of Bauby's mind. He has no secrets...

chellbian 06.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Diving-bell and the Butterfly - Jean-Dominique Bauby

Dive in to Darius

Advantages: Darius himself, lots of songs and styles
Disadvantages: Extra feature doesnt work

...As you may be able to tell, I am a mad Darius fan. I know many people only remember him as the cheesy, Britney impersonating runner-up from Pop Idol. But if you look and listen closely you'll soon see he's the boy next door, Charming, handsome and with a good voice. Vowing he would return and with a No.1 single and a triple platinum selling album by the time he was 35 years old, he achieved both easily with the release of 'Dive In'. Released 2nd Dec 2002 Label: Mercury Genre: Pop Highest UK chart position 6 Awards: Silver 13th Dec 2002 Gold 13th Dec 2002 Platinum 13th Dec 2002 Total UK sales: 382,828 1. Colourblind ( 3:37) From the first striking chord of the guitar, you know that this is a feel-good summery song. Basically an acoustic song, that sounds great with Darius' deep, gravely voice. With its fresh...

welshgal17 02.06.2005 · Read review
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Review of Dive In - Darius