Boracay is a beautiful tropical island located at 200 miles (315km) south of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. This island resort is one of Philippines’ most popular tourist destinations because it is consistently voted by popular scuba diving and travel magazines as one of the best scuba diving destinations in the world.

There are many dive centers and operators in Boracay offering diving trips to top rated but hard to reach dive sites such as those in the Sibuyan Sea, Tablas, Romblon and Semirara. Close to Boracay are also excellent dive sites catering to divers of varying diving skills. Non diver will find snorkeling in Boracay an enriching experience because of its rich and diverse marine life near the beaches.

Friday’s Rock is a nearby rocky outcrop in Boracay’s western shore. Expect to see a variety of brilliant colored soft and hard corals, flittering butterfly fish, curious wrasses, darting damsels, playful blue tangs, ominous stingrays and snappers when diving around Friday’s rock. Hidden under the rocks, crevices and corals are big scorpion fishes and lion fishes.

There are two great dive sites near the main island of Boracay, known as Punta1 and Punta2. Punta 1 is a shallower dive of the two spots and is a drop off of about 24m (80ft) and Punta 2 starts at 30m (100ft) and goes way down to about 50m (170ft). These two dive spots are home to various species of garoupas, trigger fish, angel fish, sweet-lips, tuna, barracuda and the occasional reef shark.

At the southeast coast of Boracay is Crocodile Island (the island is named as such because of its shape). The island a very popular dive location and is a wall dive to about 25m (80ft) in depth. This dive site is also very rich in marine life so much so that many species of fish and corals make this location their permanent home.

Crocodile Island is also home to some poisonous banded sea snakes some of which are long as two meters (6.5ft) in length. Scuba divers need to be very careful of sea snakes because all sea snakes are poisonous and their bites lead to fatality.

Another great dive location near the main island is the Laurel Island. This dive site is for the more experienced and advanced divers because the undercurrent here can be very strong and because of this, drift diving is the main scuba diving activity here. Furthermore, the strong undercurrent encourages corals to open up their brightly colored yellow and orange polyps to feed on passing planktons. Divers can also find big colorful sponges and huge waving gorgonian sea fans here.

At northern tip of Boracay is a dive site known asYapak. This is a deep wall diving location starting at about 30m(95ft) and descending into the depth of 60m (190 ft). Once again, the undercurrent here can get pretty strong. Scuba divers will encounter larger pelagic fishes here, such as barracudas and various species of sharks.

Hammerhead sharks and giant manta rays are the main attractions when diving in Yapak. Other excellent dive sites around Boracay are Carabao (buffalo), Cathedral Cave, Buruanga, Black Rock and Dog Drift. Is it any wonder why Boracay is consistently rated as one of the best scuba diving site in the world?

Article Source: http://www.travelarticlelibrary.com

Chris Chew have been scuba diving for three decades. See his travel websites at Palawan Island Resort and Tour Bali Volcanoes

With around 250 Grand Cayman diving sites to choose from, picking a couple of sites for a one-week vacation can be confusing. With the diverse array of fishes and corals found in every dive site, it’s very difficult to resist viewing the features of each. For fish lovers, a diverse array of fishes and corals await them underwater. The wreck divers, on the other hand, can choose from a variety of wreckages with an eerie atmosphere that will definitely send chills down a person’s spine.

Stingray City
Located in the northwest corner of the Grand Cayman’s North Sound is one of the best Grand Cayman scuba diving sites. Inside a natural channel which goes through the barrier reef is Stingray City, a dive site that has been shown in cruise ship commercials and featured in dive magazines. In this world-famous shallow dive, one can kneel on the sand and feed or pet the stingrays. Even better, these graceful creatures swirl around divers, giving them a fantastic show. This is definitely a wonderful place for taking underwater pictures.

Wreck Diving
Wrecks can be viewed in some Grand Cayman scuba diving sites. One of the famous wrecks in Grand Cayman is the Oro Verde, an 84-foot steel freighter which was scuttled and sunk by the Caymanian government in May 31, 1980. Since then, this ship has been inhabited by a lot of extraordinary characters like a 300-lb jew fish named George, a six-foot green moray named Kermit and four-foot barracuda named Puff. In this area, some yellow tail snappers and angel fish may also swim by for a bite.

Big Tunnels
Another must-see Grand Cayman scuba diving site is the big tunnels. The coral formations in the drop off are quite unique. It looks like Neptune himself scratched the area with his trident. With networks of canyons and crevasses, it is a home to the barrel sponge, the black coral, gray angels and eagle rays. The trinity caves are also located in this area. Here, one can see a system of four coral canyons that converge on the surface of a vertical wall.

Eagle Ray Pass
Located in the North Wall, this is another Grand Canyon diving site that one should not miss. Formed by towering coral heads, coral archways and narrow crevices, this pass is a home to a lot of sponges, gorgonian fans and black corals. A lot of Spotted Eagle Rays also swim along the surface of the wall.

The West Wall
This is the most popular Grand Cayman diving site. It has a large variety of fish and other marine life. Here, divers can enjoy looking at schools of grunts, snappers and angelfish. Another wonderful feature of this site is that the creatures here are quite friendly. Because most of them are not camera-shy, many divers enjoy taking pictures of the fish in this area. Close to this area, a site called Orange Canyon is a great place to visit. Here, one can see tons of orange elephant ear sponges.

Being a place with warm and clear waters that have a visibility of 100 feet above, going to these diving sites would definitely be a great experience.

Article Source: http://www.travelarticlelibrary.com

Want to know more about Grand Cayman scuba diving sites? Visit AskTheScubaExperts.com to learn more about Grand Cayman snorkeling sites and scuba flippers.

My local dive centre, Galaxsea Divers, organised a dive trip down to Marsa Alam in southern Egypt. Marsa Alam is one of the newer resorts in Egypt and is primarily a diving resort so I took the opportunity to visit the area. Our group booked a 7 night trip to Marsa Alam, staying at the Marina Lodge on Half Board basis with 5 days diving. The cost per person was £659. Our flight was direct from London Gatwick and took just over 5 hours.

Port Ghalib at Night

Port Ghalib is a rapidly developing facility which will eventually have a capacity of more than 1,000 vessels of various sizes up to 60m. The Marina Lodge is on the south side of the port while to the north are some apartments and a couple of restaurants.

The Marina Lodge is a very well set out hotel. The rooms are spacious and comfortable. The powerful shower was very welcoming after a day diving. Each room also had a built in safe, television and mini-bar. Breakfast and dinner is served in the restaurant. Most tables are indoors but there are a few tables located outside. Having stayed in a number of hotels in Egypt, I would rate the food at the Marina Lodge among the best I have been served. There was a good selection and variety of food every day whilst there were plenty of waiters on hand to serve drinks.

Signing in at Emperor Divers is the same efficient procedure as they have at all their centres. The necessary paperwork doesn’t take long to fill out and they also provide a price list of the various extras (eg – third dive of the day, additional trips, equipment hire). I brought all my own equipment so I was given a small crate in which to keep my gear during my time at Emperor Divers.

Our first days’ diving was at the local dive site of Marsa Mubarak. This gave all the divers the chance to get used to the daily diving routines with Emperor Divers, perform a weight check in the water and generally orientate themselves with diving in the Red Sea. We completed two dives at Marsa Mubarak which were pleasant without being spectacular.

The following day, we headed a bit further south to Ras el Torfa. Despite the long coast line, there are relatively few dive sites where a boat can moor safely. The Egyptian coast runs north/south as does the wind and current. The dive sites tend to be in little bays which cut into the reef which allows the boats to moor safely away from the effects of the wind and waves. At Ras el Torfa, we dived the southern part of the reef first as later in the day, visibility gets worse. At one point in the dive, there is a very low piece of table coral with a couple of small reef sharks hiding under it. This was mentioned on the dive briefing and sure enough, when we got to table coral, the little sharks were hiding there.

The third day’s diving was one of the trips that cost an additional 20 Euros. Abu Dabab is about 30 minutes away by bus at the Sol Y Mar resort. The bay is a sandy bottom, covered in sea grass and is renowned for attracting turtles and the Dugongs (aka Sea Cows). These gentle giants are related to the Manatee and are generally comfortable in the company of divers and snorkellers. As the Dugong is a wild creature, there are no guarantees of seeing one but we were told, our chances were good. Abu Dabab is a shore dive so the soft sand and breaking waves made entry and exiting the water a bit more of a challenge. The dive site isn’t deep, generally around 5-8m and no more than 13m which mean nice long dive times. Our group decided to spread out to cover as much area as possible. Soon after the dive started, we found a turtle, complete with a couple of ramoras on it’s shell, getting stuck into its lunch of sea grass. It was completely unfazed and we surrounded it taking photos for a few minutes before continuing with our search. At one stage, we found a Ghost Pipe Fish. This is a tiny little creature that looks very similar to a dark piece of seaweed or sea grass. However, on closer inspection, you can see its little fins and recognise it as a little fish instead of a turtle’s snack. The first dive didn’t result in any Dugong sightings so after lunch, we went in again. The dive was similar to the first with some excellent close up time near a couple of turtles but once again, no Dugongs.

Day four was back to the boat for a couple of dives at Marsa Shouni Soraya. We made two mooring dives, one to the south part of the reef followed by one to the north part of the reef. There was a good selection of marine life without anything too spectacular. On the way back, some of our group opted for a third dive which was a drift dive at Marsa Mubarak.

My final day’s diving was at the famous Elphinstone Reef. The journey from Port Ghalib is about 2 hours by boat and there is a supplement of 35 Euros for the trip. Elphinstone has a reputation as an excellent dive site although there is a requirement that all divers must have logged at least 30 dives and they must also carry an SMB (Surface Marker Bouy). Elphinstone is a long pinnacle a few miles offshore running north/south. There is generally a north-south current making it an ideal drift dive although current direction may vary. The reef is about 300m long so the plan for the two dives was to drop us at the north end of the reef and drift to the south end. The first dive was on the eastern wall of Elphinstone and the second dive was on the western wall. The great thing with Elphinstone is that if the current is running north-south (as it was for us), it’s a nice effortless dive which you can do at a shallow depth (10-15m). This in turn means you won’t use as much air so you get a longer dive time.

Both the east and west walls of Elphinstone drop off into the blue so there is a mass of coral to search as you drift along. Its also worth keeping an eye out to the blue just in case something a bit larger swims past. Although, nothing spectacular made an appearance for my final dives of the trip, the dives were very pleasant and I managed to take a few nice pictures.

My final full day in Egypt was a non-diving day so I took the opportunity to head up to the town of El Quseir which is around 65km north of Port Ghalib. Quseir dates back to the times of the Pharaohs when it was a trading port with other parts of the East African coast. Later in Roman times, trade routes to Asia were developed and Indian pottery has been uncovered in the area.

El Quseir is also a traditional embarkation point for Muslim pilgrims on the Hajj (the pilgrimage to the holy sites of Mecca and Medina). There is a quarantine building on the waterfront where returning pilgrims were kept for up to 60 days while screening for diseases. Throughout the town are numerous tombs of Shaykhs (holy men) who died in Quseir during the Hajj. Their origins in West Africa, Yemen,Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Somalia and India testify to the great diversity of pilgrims that passed through the town. The tombs show that to die on the Hajj was not unusual and was considered a blessing. The journey and ritual have also always been physically challenging, today due to sheer weight of numbers made possible by cheap air travel, but previously due to the long and inhospitable terrain that had to be crossed.

Modern day Quseir is still pretty well unaffected by tourism although there are a few shops where souvenirs and the like can be bought. There are a few cafes and restaurants and the old fort dating back to 1571 is worth a visit. There is a nominal entrance fee of around 15 LE. The fort was originally built by the Ottoman Turks to protect the town and Mecca-bound pilgrims from attacks by the Bedouin. The fort was abandoned by the mid 1700s before Napoloen’s army occupiedEgypt and strengthened the defences. The British navy bombarded the fort but failed to take the town. In more recent times, the Egyptian coast guard had used the fort until 1975.

Trips to Marsa Alam can be booked on line with Explorer Travel at www.redsea.explorertravel.co.uk

As part of my business, I get a lot of people looking to book up a diving holiday so they can learn to dive in the sunshine (usually Egypt). I’ve personally been diving in Egypt for years and consider it to be one of the best places in the world and as a PADI Divemaster, it’s a subject I’m always happy to talk about.

For the novice, Egypt is an excellent place to learn to dive. The weather is always great, the water is always warm, the visibility is always good and the sea is generally quite calm. However, the problem is that when you go off to nice warm destinations such as Egypt, your time there is limited. If you are learning to dive, you want as much time as possible in the water not spending time with your head stuck in a book.

So how do you get round this problem?  The answer is actually quite simple. When learning to dive, the initial course is essentially split into 3 parts; theory, confined water dives and open water dives. The theory part of the course involves reading a manual and understanding some basic concepts of the sport. The confined water dives are performed in a swimming pool where you learn a number of skills such as clearing your mask underwater (don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds). These skills are completed over the course of a couple of dives and once they are to a sufficient standard, they are repeated in the open water (ie – the ocean).

Many people don’t realise that you don’t need to complete the whole course in a consecutive days and those wanting to learn to dive can use this to their advantage. I generally advise people that their best option is to complete the theory and confined water dives at a local dive centre. This means that once they arrive at their holiday destination, all that remains is to complete their open water dives and they are certified. In turn, this means they have an extra 3 days of their holiday left to enjoy their new found status as certified scuba divers which would otherwise be spent studying or in the swimming pool.

The way to do this is quite simple. The most popular entry level diving certification is the PADI Open Water Course so what you need to complete prior to travel is the Open Water Referral. This covers the 3 days of theory and confined water elements of the Open Water course. Once completed, all that remains is to complete the final 4 open water dives which is usually done over 2 days whilst you are in your holiday resort.

The way to do this is quite simple. 

1. Find your local dive centre which will be listed in the Yellow Pages and give them a call to tell them your situation. Explain that you want them to take the Open Water Referral (theory and confined water dives). This shouldn’t be a problem for any dive centre and they will discuss when you can complete this.
2. Contact the dive centre in your holiday resort to book the final part of your Open Water course which may also be called Open Water Referral. They will advise you what you need to bring along and the final 4 dives normally have to be completed no later than 12 months after the theory and confined water modules.
3. Complete the theory and confined water dives before heading off to your holiday resort.
4. At your resort, spend just 2 days instead of 5 completing the final 4 open water dives and congratulations, you are now a certified scuba diver with most of your holiday ahead of you.

 For more information about learning to dive in Egypt, contact Explorer Travel (http://www.redsea.explorertravel.co.uk/Diving/Intro.htm)

I’ve been to Sharm a number of times and its always interesting to see how the place has changed. My last visit was two years ago so the first change I noticed when we arrived that the cost of your visa (on arrival) is down to US15. The visa itself has also changed from the previous 2 ‘postage stamps’ (1 orange, 1 blue) to a larger single sticker complete with hologram. The visa and immigration process, along with luggage collection did seem to be a lot quicker than last time and when we left the arrivals hall, I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the all the old style taxis had been replaced with newer cars. Presumably, the old taxis have been passed on to various science museums.

We spent our first full day in Sharm down on the beach at Na’ama Bay and it struck us that although there were a number of people around, the resort did seem a lot quieter than last time we had visited in August. Conversations with people who work in Sharm as well as other frequent visitors went along with our line of thought. The number of British visitors seems to be around the same and there did seem to be a slight increase in visitors from neighbouring Arab countries. The big difference in numbers seemed to be a drop in the number of Russian visitors. This may be due to the fact that in the past, Egypt has been an easy destination for Russian tourists due to they could just purchase their visas on arrival. Stricter visa application procedures in other countries had meant that it was harder for Russians to visit places in Europe but in the last 12 months or so, an agreement between Russia and many EU countries has meant that it is now easier for Russians to obtain Schengen visas so they may well be visiting different destinations.

After a few nights in Sharm, we took a trip to the Old Town which is a short taxi ride away. The official price is 15LE (around £1.50) but sometimes as a tourist, it can be tricky to persuade a taxi driver to take you for that. However, we managed it and we were soon in the Old Town. We headed for a Thai restaurant we’d used before and once again the food was excellent and good value for money. After the meal, we headed around the various shops to buy some fruit which is cheaper and more plentiful than in Na’ama Bay. As much as Na’ama Bay had seemed quieter, the Old Town was far busier than I remembered. There also seemed to be more shops than when I was last there 2 years earlier. We spent about 45 minutes wandering round and we bought 3 bags of fruit then headed back to Na’ama Bay.

In between my diving trips, we spent the days at the beach alternating between laying in the sun, snorkelling or just relaxing in the sea. From the beach, its hard to believe just how good the snorkelling can be but within a short time I had seen Parrotfish, Angelfish, Butterflyfish, Surgeonfish, Picasso Triggerfish, Clownfish (Nemos), Porcupinefish, Pipefish and a Yellow Edged Moray Eel.

I also saw two Scorpionfish having a bit of a fight. This is something quite unusual. I’ve never seen Scorpionfish behave like this out on the coral reefs, never mind in Na’ama Bay. There is a more serious angle to this though. Scorpionfish are very difficult to see as their primary defence is camouflage.  Their secondary defence is a row of poisonous spins which run along their spin and as a result people can step on them by mistake. You won’t find Scorpionfish in the sand but there are a couple of very small pieces of coral in Na’ama Bay where they like to hide so it is very important that you NEVER stand on the coral. There are a lot of creatures in there who can cause you a lot of pain and the Scorpionfish is one of them.

So our two week holiday soon came to an end. It has been two years since I was last in Sharm and the resort is expanding all the time. Among the new additions to the centre of Na’ama Bay is a new TGI Fridays and a number of hotels. New shopping malls are also being completed. Further south in the Old Town, the streets seemed busier than ever but the biggest area of growth was north of the airport in Nabq Bay. The evidence is there for all to see that Sharm is aiming to boost the number of visiting tourists and maintain its status as the number one resort in Egypt.

For more information about visiting Sharm el Sheikh or any of the other Red Sea resorts, please visit www.redseaexplorer.com