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Scuba Travel Worldwide Diving Holidays

Sharm Summer Special

With the Met Office promising a “barbecue summer”, the last few weeks have been disappointing for everyone in England. Egypt on the other hand is enjoying one of the best diving seasons in years! With sightings of hammerheads off Jackson Reef, schooling barracuda in Ras Mohammed and water temperatures reaching 29 degrees on some local sites, it is a wonder why we are not all packing our bags and heading for Egypt… and with an offer like this why resist …

2 FOR 1 DIVING PACKAGES !

Throughout August Scuba Travel in conjunction with Emperor Oxygene Sharm are offering a free diving package for every diving packge you buy! This means the second person can save up to £100 on normal Sharm Go Diving Package! Even better, the offer applies to any diving package (as long as the free package is of the same value or less than the paid package). We have highlighted our usual 5 day Go Diving package below but please call for variations – learn to dive, adanced courses, referrals or more!

8th – 15th August
Sharm Go Diving
• Flights from London Gatwick
• Return Transfers
• 7 nights B&B basis at the Bay View Hotel (twin/double room)
• 5 days diving (2 dives per day)

first person pays £615 – second person pays £515

15th – 22nd August
Sharm Go Diving
• Flights from London Gatwick
• Return Transfers
• 7 nights B&B basis at the Bay View Hotel (twin/double room)
• 5 days diving (2 dives per day)

first person pays £615 – second person pays £515

22nd – 29th August
Sharm Go Diving
• Flights from London Gatwick
• Return Transfers
• 7 nights B&B basis at the Bay View Hotel (twin/double room)
• 5 days diving (2 dives per day)

first person pays £615 – second person pays £515

29th Aug – 5th Sep
Sharm Go Diving
• Flights from London Gatwick
• Return Transfers
• 7 nights B&B basis at the Bay View Hotel (twin/double room)
• 5 days diving (2 dives per day)

first person pays £615 – second person pays £515

(all prices are subject to availability at the time of booking. This offer is based on 2 people sharing a room , single supplements will apply, please ask for a quote. Normal booking conditions apply, please ask for details.)

See all our offers at www.scubatravel.com/offers

30th July

A round up of the week’s sightings – 30th July

Egypt: This summer is delivering all the goods in Egypt.  The Northern Red Sea is alive and Whirlwind’s guests had plenty to smile about.  With turtles and a silky on Shark Reef, Ras Mohammed was the place to be.  Down South, the Brothers is where all the action is.  It’s been all about the big fish here.  A pair of massive manta are circling and 2 whalesharks are hanging around the area.  Added to this was the exciting sighting of a tiger shark, the hammerheads and oceanic white tips and you have a dream week come true.

Philippines: Oxygene Cebu are delighted to report that the giant swirl of sardines that was sighted previously is sticking around.  Dive down at Pescador and you would swear the water is alive as the dense ball of fish twists and turns.

Tenerife: If you thought there were no big fish in the Med, then Oxygene Tenerife would like to prove you wrong.  En route to El Puertito with 2 guests on a Discover Scuba, the boat encountered a pair of juvenile hammerheads.  At only 1.5m these beautiful sharks still have some growing to do but they curiously circled the boat before moving on.

Find recession busting prices on our last minute special offers – with or without your dive buddy, let Scuba Travel find the dive holiday for you

Call one of our helpful travel team on 0800 072 8221 to discuss your next diving holiday.  Alternativly, take a look at www.scubatravel.com for more information on any of our worldwide destinations.

Top 10 tips for Newfoundland

Ang & Caroline’s top tips for travel to Oxygene Newfoundland

1. Take sun cream with you! The diving season runs over the summer months in Newfoundland and the skies can be blue blue blue.  It is easy to get sunburn after spending all day in the RIB or on the boat… Caroline’s peeling nose is a testament to this!

2. Get your thermal protection right – whilst there are many divers who hit the water in Newfoundland in a wetsuit, most will opt for a dry suit.  Thanks to the lovely chaps at Fourth Element, we had the excellent Arctic and Exotherm layers to keep us warm.  And they worked a treat, even down to temperatures of 3 degrees on the deepest wrecks.  Easy to get on,fast drying and the bag is handy to carry things around on the boat.  No wonder that the locals love them – we did too!

3. Change your currency before you go – we experienced some difficulty getting cash out of certain ATMs so a stash of Canadian dollars is useful.   Most shops will take card payments but cash is helpful at some locations. American dollars are also widely accepted in many shops.

4. Check in online with Air Canada – you can pick your seats on both legs of the journey and saves time at the airport.  You can also register for frequent flier miles.

5. Take a camera – a camera really is essential on this trip.  The wrecks are truly beautiful and with awesome visibility, getting great photos could not be easier.  There is also bags of marine life.  Newfoundland is also a really photogenic place on the surface.

6. Enjoy the baggage allowance – Air Canada allow you to take 2 pieces of 23kgs as hold baggage and 10kgs of hand baggage so you don’t have to worry about leaving anything at home.

7. Get scalloping – Newfoundland serves us some awesome fish.  Nautical Nellies in downtown St Johns makes yummy fish dinners but surely nothing is more satisfying that catching your own dinner.  We collected a huge horde of scallops (with licensed divers of course) that kept us well fed for over 2 days. 

8. Take a day or two to fit in some sightseeing – There are masses of walks, tours and activities so plan a day off in your trip to fit in some dry activities.

9. Try the moose burgers! Moose is a much valued meat in Canada and it tastes fabulous.  Captain Bill makes a mean moose soup and moose burgers are scrummy.

10. Screech – this is the local rum and whilst it is sure to kick a great night off with a bang, definately treat it with respect

You can find out more about the Ocean Quest & Oxygene Newfoundland on our website or by calling one of our helpful team on 0800 072 8221.

Alternatively check out www.scubatravel.com for more information on all our diving holidays.

Supporting Project Aware

UPDATE

"one of the toughest things I've ever done!"

"one of the toughest things I've ever done!"

Thanks to everyone that has sponsored us so far , we have smashed our traget of £1000 and have raised a jaw dropping £1165 for Project AWARE.

George took part in the Worthing Triathlon this weekend and although he punctured on the bike ride after a quick change he managed to finish in 2:40:18 . It was a great day and the weather was perfect for such an event.

Caroline is up next and will be swimming at Dorney Lake on 12th September, if you haven’t sponsored us yet you can make a donation at www.justgiving.com/scubatravel/

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Scuba Travel are fundraising for Project AWARE

Us divers are a lucky bunch!  We get to travel the globe exploring some of the most remarkable, unqiue and undiscovered corners of the globe.  Each time you descend onto a site, a whole new world emerges that few other tourists see.  So it seems only natural that we should want to preserve this marvelous environment.  Project AWARE is a non profit organisation run by PADI to do just that.

Here at Scuba Travel we are keen to play our part and are committed to responsible tourism.  So this year we have been trying to come up with ideas for raising some Project AWARE cash.  Sue set the pace by running the London Marathon earlier this year.  Not to be outdone, George is running the Worthing Triathlon on 16/8/9 and Caroline is jumping in for a 1 mile swim at Dorney Lake on 12/9/9.

Please support our efforts and Project AWARE.  Add your sponsorship visa our secure JustGiving page.  It only takes a moment to make a difference and with Gift Aid for UK tax payers, your donation goes even further!

Back to Bell Island

Dive all 4 wrecks in one trip!

Our last posting on the Bell Island wrecks covered only 3 out of the 4 wrecks – the PLM, Saganaga and Lord Strathcona.  But at that point we had yet to dive the final wreck – the Rosecastle.   Sailling out to Bell Island over a flat sea, I was thrilled that not only was I going to see the Rosecastle, I could be sure our little group, led by the expert Debbie Stanley, would be the only divers on her… what a treat!

The Rosecastle was struck 2 months after the first round of sinkings at Bell Island but like the others, she was taken down by German Uboat torpedos.  She had actaully survived one attempted strike previously in the Second World War but this time was not so lucky.  Sitting at anchor she was an obvious target to Uboat crews avoiding the more heavily defended St John’s harbour.

The Rosecastle is a big dive – no doubt about it.  It is the deepest of the 4 wrecks with her decks around 35m.  The extra depth makes her also a degree or two cooler than the others so it was a dive we wanted to build up to over our trip.  But she was well worth the wait.  Like the Saganaga and the Lord Strathcona (my personal fave of the bunch), she is smothered in anemones but she is also home to some gorgeous soft corals and good marine life.

The extra depth also means she is in even better condition-if that is possible!  Glass sits in the windows, the engine hatches are open and the ladders still run up her tall lofty masts.  The rear mounted gun is a reminder of her conversion from a merchant ship to war time.  It is a breath taking dive in every respect and completes a set of war wrecks that are outstanding and unmissible.  The sheer size of each vessel is enormous so you can literally dive each wreck time and time again but see something new on each and every descent.  I could not recommend the Bell Island wrecks more strongly and Oxygene Newfoundland certainly know every knock and cranny.

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