dive site directory - Past Features
 
© dsd Scuba Diving Coron in the Philippines
We recently visited Coron in the Philippines, the location of a fleet of Japanese World War II vessels. Lesser known than some of the other wreck diving destinations of the Pacific, Coron is certainly worth a visit if you are a wreck enthusiast. The wrecks are large, easy to dive on, and the guided 'tours' allow for some straightforward penetration giving you the opportunity to fully explore inside and out. There is an abundance of reef life on the wrecks, although nothing in the way of pelagics – although in such low visibility (often only 5 metres!) who knows what was out there? The highlight of the trip for us was diving in Barracuda Lake, a volcano crater that has links to the sea. Saltwater overlies freshwater that is superheated to a scorching 38°C. Aside from the unusual haloclines and stunning scenery, you end the dive by having a good clean by some shrimps – fantastic! Thanks to Martin & Tracy Frankcom for inviting us along on their holiday!
Scuba diving in Cocos, Costa Rica
This is the section you've been waiting for, and it's certainly the section we've been waiting to write! Cocos is quite simply one of the top diving locations on the planet and one of the few places left where it is easy to see large shoals of hammerhead sharks on almost every dive. On others they come so close that, should you want to or be brave enough to do so, you could almost reach out and touch them (if some of our shots don't have the whole shark in frame, that's because it was too close to do so!). Add to that a profusion of other sharks such as white tips, black tips silver tips and if you're very lucky Galapagos sharks and even tiger sharks and it's any shark lovers dream!
If that’s not enough for your senses you also get to see fully grown tuna hunting on the reefs, balls of trevally so dense you can get lost in them and an excellent selection of rays including mantas rays, mobula rays, marbled rays and eagle rays – oh and did I forget to mention all the turtles and the rosy lipped bat fish which has to be seen to be believed? I think by now you're getting the picture; visit the section, have a browse and if at all possible go and visit Cocos for yourself as you won’t be disappointed.
The only sad thing about diving in Cocos is that even though it has a 25 mile fishing exclusion zone around it the park rangers are really struggling to keep the long lines out and keep them from devastating the shark population, so if you want to visit it at its best we would urge you to visit it soon. You can't help to come back from Cocos blown away and in no doubt that the annihilation of sharks by long lining for shark fin soup is totally unacceptable and extremely sad. We would urge you to do whatever you can, however small that may be to do your bit to support shark preservation. Cocos is how diving 'could' be if we as a species had more regard for the ocean and its inhabitants and if people (including quite a lot of divers we are sad to say) would stop eating marine life as if it is an inexhaustible resource and start looking after it for the amazing and precious resource that it is.
© Dive Aqaba
Scuba diving in Jordan, the Red Sea
We have just added five new dive sites and acccompanying photos to a completely new country on dive site directory: Jordan. Diving in the Red Sea off the coast of Jordan is first class and to date has none of the associated crowds of the better known parts! The eastern shore of the Northern Red Sea is the deeper side and all the dive sites in Jordan are close to shore, with soft corals and filter feeders proliferating due to stronger currents than those found along the western shore. Aqaba Marine Park was established in Jordan in 2002 to protect the coral reefs for future generations of divers and has since installed mooring buoys at all the popular dive sites. There are an abundance of wrecks and reefs suited to all levels of diver making it a great destinaion to visit.
© Charles Duff
Scuba diving in Mtwara, Tanzania
Thanks goes this month to Charles Duff who believes the peaceful, clear and calm waters of Mikindani and Mtwara in southern Tanzania are the best-kept secret of the east coast of Africa. Charles has contributed a detailed overview to this section plus 9 dive site reviews, giving a comprehensive account of the area. Thanks Charles!
We have also recently added an overview to our Sardinia section. Sardinia is located in the Mediterranean near Italy and is home to some spectacular caves. We have also added two brand new areas to our Australia section: the remote locations of Christmas Island and the Cocos Keeling Islands.
© Ed Fisher
Scuba diving in Malta
After being away last month being quite simply blown away by the diving in Cocos (coming soon!!) we’ve come back and it’s been all hands on deck to catch up with contributions. Our first new set of dive sites are two new wrecks, the P29 and the MV Xlendi Ferry to our already extensive Malta section (thank you Martin and Tracy Frankcom for contributing these!). We’ve also added a fascinating account of diving an archaeological site at Xlendi bay in Gozo contributed by Ed Fisher. The account of diving Xlendi bay is a true story of under water exploration backed up by sketches of the site and is well worth a read!
© Tony Gilbert
Scuba diving in Perhentian, Malaysia
The Perhentian Islands lie off the north east coast of Malaysia close to the Thai border. Wide, sweeping, powder white beaches, dense rainforests and breathtaking sunsets are reason alone to visit. There are around 30 dive sites, including a few wrecks. The climate means the diving and island season is from mid to late March to October, after which the monsoon season starts. Thank you to Tony Gilbert for contributing diving information, photos and reef maps.
© Tony Gilbert
New photos on dive site directory
We would like to thank Rik Vercoe for contributing some stunning photography from the Similan Islands in Thailand. A massive thank you also to Tony Gilbert who has managed to take some fantastic shots in tricky conditions in the pinnacle of wreck diving that is Scapa Flow, Scotland. There are more to come from Tony so watch this space! Also this month, check out our latest addition to the Canary Islands section with the reviews from the island of Fuerteventura
© Rick Davies
Scuba Diving in the Great Lakes, USA
We are very happy to be extending our USA section with a series of reviews from the Great Lakes, comprising of six wrecks in Lake Huron and one in St Clair River. Thanks to our very own marketing manager Rick Davies for these reviews, he’s living in the USA currently so you can expect a lot more USA sites to be added to the website in the foreseeable future!
© Jenny Pickles
Scuba Diving in the Maldives at Lhaviyani Atoll
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