dive site directory - Past Features
© dsd
Scuba Diving Australia's East Coast
We have updated our East Coast Australia section to include more overviews, diving photos and diving reviews. See our extended South West Rocks section, for its latest additions and our brand new Brisbane section. Brisbane is not a place you would automatically think of if planning where to dive in Australia and the diving there is not as good as elsewhere in the country, but it's always useful to know about the diving in a region, however good!
© Tony Gilbert
Scuba Diving in the Isles of Scilly, UK
Lying nearly 30 miles WSW of Cornwall, the Scilly Isles lie directly in the path of the Gulf Stream, which blesses them with warm moist weather and mild climate. The 56 islands and hundreds of rocks are made of granite resulting in clean sandy beaches, a bright seabed and clear green water. Reefs provide the diver with multilevel profile opportunities as depths can go to 40m - 70m at the shorelines, providing stunning vistas chocked full of marine creatures. Seals can often be seen on sites and dolphins and porpoises frequent the area, as do occasional basking sharks. Hundreds of wrecks have foundered over the centuries and there are around 1000 recorded and estimated to be 3000 wrecks meaning there is something to entertain every diver. Thanks once again to Tony Gilbert for contributing this sections write-ups and stunning photos.
© Anna Wright
Scuba Diving in the Seychelles
The Seychelles lie 1,500km off of the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. They are made up of 155 islands including many remote coral islands. The marine life around the islands can be spectacular with large numbers of fish and coral species present. The use of gill nets for shark fishing as well as the practice of shark finning are now banned and in some areas turtle poulations are recovering. Regular dive site directory contributor Anna Wright visited the Seychelles during 2007 and managed to explore 7 different sites on two seperate islands.
© Monty Halls
© Monty Halls
Spectacular Scuba Diving in Sudan, the Red Sea
This month we are very happy to bring you some of the very best diving the Red Sea has to offer from our recent trip to Sudan. Nine beautiful reef dives and two fantastic wrecks including that of the Umbria which is arguably one of the best wreck dives in the world. We were lucky enough to dive with a fantastic set of divers including the renowned diver and TV documentary maker Monty Halls who very kindly donated some of his excellent photography to compliment our reviews. Although the recent unrest in Sudan has hardly put it high on the to do list of holiday destinations we're sure you'll agree once you've seen the reviews that it is a must for any diver.
© Malik Chibah
© Ben Randall
Shark Cage Diving in Cornwall with Blue Sharks & Cage Diving in South Africa with Great Whites
It’s hard to believe what a fantastic day we had cage diving out of Cornwall in search of blue and porbeagle sharks. Beautiful weather, fantastic scenery and easily one of the best close encounters we have had with large marine life to date. At one point we had three two metre long blue sharks circling us and coming up close giving us and the divers we were with ample opportunity to take lots of photos of these stunning animals. It leaves you in no doubt that we need to do everything we can to protect these beautiful creatures from extinction. Many thanks to Jenny Pickles and Malik Chibah for contributing their excellent images.
Click here to find out more.
If that doesn't fulfil your appetite for shark action we've also just added an excellent video of cage diving with a great white in South Africa courtesy of Ben Randall, we particularly like the sound effects when the white is chewing on the cage! View the video.
© Carsten Sørensen
Three New Locations Added to the Philippines Section
We’ve added three new diving locations in the Philippines thanks to the contributions of Carsten Sørensen. As well as reviews for a selection of dive sites for each location all sites are accompanied by photos to help you get a really good feel for the diving there. The new locations are Cabilao Island, Boracay and Sabang on Mindoro. Thanks Carsten!
© Tony Gilbert
Scuba Diving in St Abbs, Scotland
Just in case you are in any doubt of the quality of diving in Scotland, and if you have read our previous articles on Sky and Scapa Flow this is very doubtful, Tony Gilbert has kindly written up 14 new dive sites for St Abbs. As well as detailed write ups Tony has also contributed stunning photographs of each site and even a wreck illustration to accompany the wreck of the Glanmire. All this leaves us wishing that the skies were a little bluer, it was a little warmer and that the UK diving season wasn’t so seasonal!
© Carina Hall
More Dive Sites and Stunning images of Diving in Borneo
Many thanks to Carina hall for extending our Borneo section further with a selection of new dive sites and some stunning images. We're sure you'll agree that once you've visited the section you'll be in no doubt that Borneo is a must dive for any avid reef diving fan. We're currently in the process of building a Borneo screen saver using Carina's images to help readers beat the winter blues, and will put this up soon on the screen saver page.
Currently the new dive sites only have images not reviews so if you have dived any of the sites please leave comments and we will add them to the pages.
© Rik Vercoe New Wreck Illustrations for Truk Lagoon and Red Sea
Many thanks to Rik Vercoe for contributing more excellent and detailed wreck drawings / illustrations of wreck dives in Truk Lagoon, Micronesia and Fury Shoals, Marsa Alam in the Red Sea. We're sure you'll agree that they give you an excellent overall impression of the wrecks which should come in very handy when you are visiting or planning diving at the dive sites. Wreck illustrations include Aikoku Maru, Fujikawa Maru, Hoki Maru, Kansho Maru, Sankisan Maru in Truk and Abu Galawa and the Tienstin Wreck in Fury Shoals.
© Rik Vercoe Scuba diving in Vietnam and Cambodia
Thanks also to Rik for his reviews and photos of three dive sites in Cambodia and Vietnam. Whilst this might not be the best diving in Southeast Asia, the reviews and photos are descriptive and give a good indication to the type of diving to expect from this region.
Scuba Diving Skye in Scotland
We've just returned from Skye in Scotland after experiencing some of the best reef diving the UK has to offer, in fact some of the reefs easily rival those abroad for sheer variety and abundance of marine life. This combined this with visibility of up to 15m, the stunning scenery above the water and a good chance of seeing both whales and basking sharks between dives makes Skye a diving destination that is well worth visiting.
© Martin &
Tracy Frankcom Scuba Diving Coron in the Philippines
This month Martin & Tracy Frankcom have kindly donated a selection of reviews for wreck diving in Coron in the Philippines. There are detailed write ups and images of 9 Japanese World War II vessels as well as one reef dive in the local marine park, all illustrated with photos. This is a world class diving location rivalling even Bikini and Truk Lagoon and is well worth a look if you a self-confessed wreck junkie. Thank you Martin & Tracy!
© Rik Vercoe
Scuba Diving in the Southern Red Sea
We have been working on a massive revamp of our Southern Red Sea section over the last two months. This has involved adding hundreds more photos, improved dive site maps and 15 new dive sites. The old Marsa Alam section used to include Fury Shoals and St John's. These are now sections in their own right due to the sheer volume of content they contain. Navigate from the Red Sea home page to see where these areas lie in relation to Marsa Alam. We would like to thank Rik Vercoe and Gerhard Niezen for contributing more reviews to our ever-growing Red Sea directory, helping to make it to be what is probably the most detailed Red Sea dive site resource on the internet.
© dsd Scuba Diving Isla del Caño, Costa Rica
Caño Island in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica is home to the best diving in mainland Costa Rica. The diving will see you encounter a stunning array of tropical fish including schools of snapper and grunts that just go on and on. Stingrays and white tip reef sharks are in abundance and it is not unknown for tiger and bull sharks to frequent the area, particularly on the deeper site of Bajo del Diablo. Perhaps the highlight for divers is the number of cetaceans found in the water including dolphins, false killer whales and humpback whales. Caño Island is not far from Corcovado National Park, one of the last remaining tracts of primary rainforest in the country. It is an area of outstanding natural beauty and the wildlife is phenomenal - definitely worth a visit!
© Tony Gilbert Scuba Diving in the UK
We have brought more colour to our UK section courtesy of Tony Gilbert who has added a series of highly detailed dive site write ups accompanied by stunning photographic and macro photographic imagery. If you were every in doubt of the quality of UK diving and wondered if there was anything to see in the murky UK waters look no further than these reviews to allay your fears. If you consider yourself a warm water only diver they may have you going online immediately to look for a drysuit! The reviews include the Akka in Scotland, the James Egan Layne and HMS Scylla in Plymouth and the Puffin Sound Drift, Seagull Islands Drift, Trearddur Bay, Ynys-y-Moch in Anglesey.
© Anna Wright Scuba Diving in Tobago, Caribbean
Tobago is a tiny island in the Caribbean at only twenty five miles long and seven miles wide. It is the sister island of Trinidad with a relaxed, slow pace of life, secluded bays and sandy beaches. The coral seas have rich fringing and patch reefs with sponges and hard and soft coral. We have extended our Tobago section by adding seven new dive site reviews and accompanying photos contributed by Anna Wright. These include Japanese Gardens and Diver's Dream
© Martin Frankcom Scuba Diving in Bikini Atoll
Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was the site of 23 nuclear bomb tests between 1946 and 1958. It is a haven for divers due to the blasts which sunk ten major ships that were moored in the lagoon at the time. The wreck diving here makes this a world class diving destination with the highlight being the USS Saratoga, one of the best dive sites in the world.
A big thank you to Martin & Tracy Frankcom who have provided us with reviews of the wreck diving here and some superb photos of the dives to really give a feel of what the diving is like in Bikini.
© Rik Vercoe Scuba Diving in Truk Lagoon
Truk Lagoon (officially spelt Chuuk) is one of the best wreck diving locations on the planet. It served as a Japanese military and naval base during the Second World War and intense U.S. bombing led to the creation of many wrecks. Rik Vercoe has supplied us with a fantastic selection of photographs for 25 different sites in Truk, which should compel every diver to rush out and book a holiday there.
© dive site directory Scuba Diving in the Red Sea
In September we visited the Red Sea on a liveaboard trip to Safaga starting from Hurghada. This has allowed us to extend both our Hurghada and Safaga sections further, adding many new dive sites and photos. Some of the highlights of the trip were diving the wrecks of the revered Salem Express and the Al Kahfain, a recent ferry sinking from November 2005. We've also got reviews for some of the famous southern wall dives including Panorama Reef and some lovely reef dives such as Gota Abu Ramada. Thanks also to Ian Higgins who has also contributed some new sites to this section.
© Anna Wright Scuba Diving in South Ari Atoll, Maldives
We release information on scuba diving in the Maldives with three new dive sites at South Ari Atoll. The three new sites AA Thila, Broken Rock and Kuda Rah Thila are all first class and are brought to life thanks to Anna Wrights excellent images and reviews. Thanks Anna for contributing again!
Scuba Diving in Tanzania
We have expanded our Tanzania section to include the island of Zanzibar and the region of Mtwara in addition to the Pemba dive sites. Tanzania is known for its big drift diving and healthy reef systems where macro life such as nudibranchs give photographers something to get excited about. Thanks to Sharon Richards and Blue World Diving for contributing to this section.
Scuba Diving in Ko Lanta, Thailand
World class diving - with plenty of big stuff! Ko Lanta in Thailand is home to some fantastic diving and is a photographer's paradise. Whale sharks and manta rays can sometimes be seen at Hin Daeng & Hin Muang, which also have the deepest drop-offs in Thailand. There is also the King Cruiser wreck to break up the reef dives. Thanks to Saffron Kiddy for supplying us with comprehensive reviews and to the stunning photography from Liquid Lense.
Scuba Diving in Bali, Indonesia
Indonesia is a world class destination for scuba divers and Bali is a popular region to visit due to it having excellent tourist facilities. For divers there is a little bit of everything on offer from wreck diving to reefs and walls with marine life ranging from sharks and manta rays to unusual ghost pipefish or nudibranchs. We now feature 20 dive site reviews and a selection of photographs in Bali to add to our existing Indonesia section. Highlights include Toya Pakeh, Manta Point and Mimpang.
© Anna Wright Scuba Diving in Bonaire, Caribbean
This month sees a new addition to our Caribbean section with 5 new reef dives in Bonaire contributed by Anna Wright. Anna has provided us with a large number of dive sites across the world recently and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank her profusely. As well as comprehensive reviews, Anna has provided us with some great photography of the places she has visited. Her contributions include sites in Dahab in the Red Sea, Baa and North Nilandhe Atolls in the Maldives, diving in Malta and reef diving in the United Arab Emirates.
Scuba Diving in Australia
Australia is one of the most popular diving destinations in the world. Most divers visit the renowned Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest reef system which offers some fantastic diving. We have a new section up with 14 dive sites and complimentary photos in Cairns, the gateway to the northern extent of the Great Barrier Reef. We also feature some of the great temperate diving available in the southern states of this massive country with dive site reviews for the harbour city of Sydney and the remote Lord Howe Island. Many thanks to all those who have contributed to this section.
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Unlock the Treasures of the Caribbean
 Unlock the treasures of the Caribbean in The British Airways Caribbean Challenge and you could win a luxury holiday for you and 11 of your friends at the Royal West Moreland Estate in Barbados.
Each island on the game’s interactive map offers you a simple action, quiz, or mind game to complete.
Complete just three of the games successfully and you can 'Unlock the treasure of the Caribbean', receiving discounts on Caribbean breaks and the chance to win the luxury holiday.
The trip is for 12 people so the more of your friends that take part, the greater the chance you have of being there with them!
www.caribbeanchallenge.co.uk
Reef Check Australia's International Year of the Reef Photo Competition
What do coral reefs mean to you?
In celebration of the Second International Year of the Reef, Reef Check Australia and Project AWARE are
running an International "What do coral reefs mean to you?" photography competition.
This annual competition is designed to showcase the multitude of different ways that 'we' value our
reefs. These 'values' include social activities and recreational pastimes such as diving, snorkeling,
sailing and fishing, traditional cultural activities for many indigenous Australians and commercial
ventures such as tourism and gathering seafood. The overall aim of the competition is to raise public
and political awareness of the importance of responding to climate change and other global threats to
coral reefs.
The competition will be run through a photo gallery portal on the Reef Check
Australia website. This allows anyone with internet access to become a member of Reef Check Australia and to uploaded
images directly to the Reef Check web server. In addition registered members are also able to vote on all the competition
entries excluding their own. Competition participants will be invited to submit
entries in five separate categories:
- People and the Reef
- Creative Visions of the Reef
- The Reef in our Hands
- Animal Behaviour
- Icons of the Reef
The competition will open for entries in May 2008. For further information please Reef Check Australia
via email, media@reefcheckaustralia.org, or telephone, (07) 4724 3950.
Book Review
The Essential Underwater Guide to North Wales
Volume Two, South Stack to Colwyn Bay
Chris Holden
ISBN 978-0-9545066-1-2
The Underwater Guide to North Wales is an intensely detailed description of dive sites around Anglesey from South Stack near Holyhead to Colwyn Bay near Conwy. The book is rammed full of facts about dives sites all along the coast as well as providing details of slips, dive shops and charter boats available. There are detailed local maps of each area adapted from admiralty charts that give a good feel of what to expect from a dive site. Photos of surface are used to help locate each site along with map references and GPS coordinates. There are also photos of wrecks before they sank and a selection of underwater shots.
Some very nice features of the book are the use of the subdivisions into boat and shore dives and the icons used to give a quick overview of what to expect from the site (e.g. strong currents, the presence of ferries etc). Chris Holden has done an immense amount of research to put this book together and I doubt there is anyone out there more knowledgeable about the area than him. If you are planning a diving trip to this area then the Underwater Guide to North Wales is an essential buy. If you live and dive locally then it really is a must. Even if you don't, perhaps buying it might convince you that North Wales is worth a trip!
Book Review
Diver by Tony Groom
ISBN 978-1-906266-06-6
Diver is author Tony Groom's personal account of life as a mine clearance diver in the Royal Navy and as a commercial diver in the oil and gas industry. It describes the rigorous training he went through to become a clearance diver and then follows up with entertaining and sometimes horrifying accounts of the things he has experienced during his career. This includes his time spent serving in the Falklands War where he was left to handle unexploded bombs on board ships which were simultaneously under attack by air raids.
As this is the first book I have been asked to review at dive site directory I was a little concerned what to write if I didn't enjoy it, but fortunately I couldn't put it down so I don't have that problem. Humorous and compelling, this book will have you laughing aloud and turning the page in anticipation of what is going to happen next. You have to remind yourself on occasion that this is a description of somebody's life experiences rather than a fictional story. I can really recommend this as an excellent read to anyone and everyone. You don't have to be interested in war history, commercial diving or even a diver to find his book fascinating but if you are a diver it will enable you to comprehend how difficult it must be hunting for mines in limited visibility. Never again will that first leisure dive of the season in murky UK waters seem so difficult!
Travelling Diver launches new red sea wrecks diving guide – with unique NAS endorsement
For the first time ever, the Nautical Archaeology Society is officially recommending a diving guide – the newly launched Red Sea Wrecks – Northern Egypt, published by Travelling Diver, for recreational divers.
“We are absolutely delighted to have achieved the first ever official NAS recommendation” says Travelling Diver CEO, Daniel Ronen, “to have a wrecks diving-guide endorsed by one of the world’s leading nautical archaeology organisations is a real achievement and testimony to the lengths we have gone to make a truly exceptional guide. Their testing and evaluation team really saw that”.
The NAS is deeply involved with all aspects of nautical archaeology and the user-friendly logbook format and detailed information gives divers to these popular dive sites a chance to understand more of what they are seeing, as well as a memento of the experience without damaging these historical sites. It is hoped that the endorsement will help reach the wider diving population and encourage divers to observe, learn about and possibly even help preserve these relics of the maritime past.
With a one-sheet-per-dive-site logbook format, the guide integrates into a standard 3-hole diving logbook binder and contains detailed maps, routes, history and background information to the included wrecks, as well as space in a clear and easy format for divers to log their dive experiences.
The information in the guide is structured to give the holiday diver the best possible experience of planning, diving and learning about these wrecks. Each site has been carefully researched both for its historical context and background but also as a dive site, and includes specific information about the best dive routes, points of interest and marine life to be found on each wreck.
The guide contains details of the 13 most dived wrecks of the northern Red Sea, including the ever popular Thistlegorm, Carnatic and Dunraven, as well some of the less well known, such as the Gubal barge. Usefully, three reef sites of the Abu Nuhâs wreck graveyard system are also included (totalling 16 sites).
The retail price is £12.50 and is available direct from the Travelling Diver website, NAS office, local dive stockists and tour operators.
For more information on and how to get involved with Travelling Diver and the NAS, simply visit: www.travellingdiver.com or www.nauticalarchaeologysociety.org.
Review samples are available on request from: daniel@travellingdiver.com
Exhibit your diving photography on dive site directory
If you would like thousands of divers to see and appreciate your diving photography why not exhibit on dive site directory? All you have to do is send in your photos to us along with a short review of the dive site where you took them and we will put them online for the rest of the diving community to enjoy.
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