July 9, 2010 in Discover scuba diving | Comments (0)
Tags: Best, Coral, Destinations, Dive, Holes, Islands, Places, Prettiest, Reefs, Scuba, Worlds
Are you tired of snorkeling in the public pool? Well it’s about time you got your fins together and went on a real SCUBA adventure. Where can you start? Here are a few suggestions:
Palau, Micronesia
Palau is considered to be one of the most exciting diving sites in the world. There are over 100 dive sites along the 90 mile coral lagoon of Palau. You will find Blue holes, underwater caverns and a colorful variety of exotic marine species. Sharks, turtles, dolphins and rare fish gather at Palau at the crossroads of three of the world’s major ocean currents.
The Galapagos Islands
These magnificent islands rest on the Pacific Ocean, 972 km west of mainland Ecuador. The Islands are a heaven, a garden, an alternative universe for wild life. In a short visit under the sea of the Galapagos you are most likely to discover a new fish and maybe get lucky enough to have it named after you.
The Great Barrier Reef, Australia
The Disney Land of diving features thousands of sites and the largest coral reef in the world. There are over 2900 reefs and 900 islands stretching along 2600 km from Gladstone to Cape Tribulation. A large part of the reef is a protected marine park, but we’re sure that you will find a nice enough spot to dive in.
California, La Jolla Cove
The entrance takes quite a few steps down, through a rocky cove and resting sun-tanners. Just beyond the entrance, you will find a large kelp forest and rocky area, beginning in 6 feet of water, and heads out to La Jolla Canyon. This is a great place to see local fish and crustaceans, and maybe even a shark or two. Down the coast is by far the best place to see huge variety of what this cold water haven has to offer. The Cove is protected, so you cannot take anything to keep as a souvenir.
Egypt, The Blue Hole.
In the Red Sea shore of the Sinai Desert, rests the blue hole. Surrounded with Bedwyn merchants, selling everything from diving gear to local food, the Blue Hole is one of the world most famous diving sites. The site doesn’t look like much until you realize that the sea floor drops abruptly away from the coastline. Many divers risked their lives in this hole. The tunnel that connects the hole with the open sea is more than 50 meters deep, that’s when nitrogen narcosis begins to influence.
California, Kelp Beds – Spring Fall
When the sun is out, and the water is clear, you will feel like you are diving in a cathedral. The beauty and life of these underwater forests are endless. This can be a tough dive, due to the fact that you can get caught up in the kelp. But we’re all about adventure, aren’t we? Limitless Adventures would like to invite you to join us on a customized SCUBA diving adventure. Whether you’re a beginner who wants to get certified and complete your first Open Water dive, or you’re an advanced diver looking to further your skills, we take care of everything! Check out www.limitlessadventures.com and explore our best SCUBA destinations: The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Zanzibar in Tanzania, Southern California, and many more.
www.limitlessadventures.com designs, customizes, and promotes safe and fun adventures all over the world.
June 16, 2010 in Scuba diving tips | Comments (0)
Tags: Diving, Islands, Malaysia, Paradise, Perhentian, Piece, Rare, Scuba
The crystal clear waters and brilliant white sandy beaches of the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia have for many years captured the hearts and imaginations of the backpackers and travellers who passed through. Recent years however have seen a different type of traveller coming to the Perhentian Islands, as their reputation as a premier diving destination has slowly increased amongst the scuba diving community.
In fact it would be fair to say that a large amount of the success of the Perhentian Islands as a scuba diving location should be attributed to the neighbouring Thailand, and the dive resorts of Koh Tao, Phuket and Koh Samui. Large numbers of travellers who have learned to scuba dive in the larger Thai resorts often find themselves gravitating to the natural beauty of the Perhentian Islands. Looking for one last dive before the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore!
The Perhentian Islands comprise of Pulau Perhentian Kecil and Pulau Perhentian Besar, and are located approximately 20 kilometres off the coast of Malaysia. Offering what can only be described as a slice of paradise, the palm fringed beaches encircle these tropical islands, whilst the clear blue waters hide a wealth of marine and coral life below.
The scuba diving in the Perhentian Islands is of a high standard, and a wide range of dive sites has meant that the islands have become a popular destination for people looking to take a scuba diving course. There are approximately ten major dive sites which are regularly visited by the dive centres in the Perhentian Islands. Of these, Tokong Laut (Temple of the Sea) is widely acknowledged as being the best dive site on the islands. A large rocky outcrop of boulders just off the northwest coast of Perhentian Kecil offers some of the best examples of soft coral formations in the region. This carpet of stunning soft corals provides a home to a wide variety of marine life including kingfish, barracuda, nurse sharks and black tip sharks.
For fans of wreck diving, there are two excellent dive sites in the Perhentian Islands. The Sugar Wreck, a 90 metre cargo ship which sank in 2000, and the Vietnamese Wreck were it is still possible to dive inside the wreck itself.
If you are planning to go scuba diving in the Perhentian Islands, the best time to visit is between April to October, when both the visibility and weather are at their most favourable. November to March sees the monsoon season, when the weather becomes poor and access to and from the islands becomes limited due to the rough seas.
The Perhentian Islands offer superb scuba diving, and the shallow nature of the dive sites here make it a good choice for the novice or more inexperienced scuba diver. However what makes the islands so very special is their stunning natural beauty and undeveloped landscapes. You truly feel as though you are diving in your very own piece of paradise!
May 29, 2010 in Scuba diving tips | Comments (0)
Tags: Boracay, Diving, Islands, Scuba
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?