Costa Rica Dive Experience – 9 days from £1740 pp

Diving on the southern Pacific-side of Costa Rica is an Aladdin’s cave for the serious SCUBA diver. It has an abundant marine-life ranging from reef sharks to Humpback Whales, Giant Manta Rays to turtles and Puffer Fish to Barracuda - to name only a few. Stretching just 150 miles wide, from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, and 250 miles long from Nicaragua to the Panama border, Costa Rica is one of the few places on earth to offer an incredible diversity of scenery, climate and adventure opportunities.

Dive Worldwide has a number of suggested itineraries including the 9-day Costa Rica Dive Experience. Highlights include Irazu Volcano National Park, Coco Beach, diving the Catalina Islands and two dives in the Gulf of Papagayo.

Starting any date in June or July, the holiday costs from £1740 pp (two sharing) which includes, flights, transfers, diving, National Park fees, excursions and activities. Call 845 130 6980 (www.diveworldwide.com).

When booking late is a guaranteed disaster!

When booking late is a guaranteed disaster!

Dive Worldwide offers unique Galapagos options for 2010/11

While many tour operators are experiencing late bookings from those looking for bargains, places for Dive Worldwide’s unique trips to the Galapagos aboard the Sky Dancer boat in 2010 and 2011 are being snapped up; the vessel is one of few liveaboard boats that has a licence to visit the dive sites of Darwin and Wolf; the Holy Grail of SCUBA and considered the best dive sites on earth.

Timing is everything and the two departure dates for 2010 (5 June and 20 November) have been carefully designed to coincide with the shark whaling season; other large species divers can expect to meet are Sea Lions, Hammerhead Sharks (in their hundreds!), turtles, stingrays and Mantras.

The newly built Sky Dancer (max. 16 guests) features all the amenities the serious diver could wish for including Nitrox fills, en suite cabins and spacious lounges for relaxing after a hard day’s exploring underwater. Dining is a daily highlight with fine food and wine to enjoy with new found friends.

The dive deck features a water fountain, mask defogging station, two showers, and a supply of fresh towels. For photographers there are special tanks for rinsing cameras and a photo-table complete with photo supplies. There will also be a photo pro on hand for assistance and camera equipment for hire.

Out of the water, the itinerary allows plenty of time for exploring the remote, beautiful Galapagos where animal encounters are likely to include Sea Lions playing in the sand, Marine Iguanas, Giant Turtles, penguins diving from rocks and booby birds performing mating dances. Two hundred years on, it is easy to see why Charles Darwin was so captivated by the islands.

The holiday departs on 5 June and 20 November 2010 and cost from £4389 pp. This includes international and domestic flights, transfers, 7 nights on boat (full board), 2 nights in Quito hotel, marine park fees, up to 4 dives a day (including equipment) and professional guides.

For further information call 0845 130 6980 (www.diveworldwide.com)

Ends

For further press information call Mick Thompson or Jane Parritt at Media Contacts PR: 01367 820 766 (mick@mediacontactspr.co.uk).

Dive Worldwide - Great White Shark Diving Weekend

The ultimate weekend is available from Dive Worldwide – shark diving in South Africa but the trip can also be enjoyed by non divers.

The trip includes two full days of cage diving with Great White Sharks. Fly out Thursday night and arrive back on Tuesday morning. The best time of year to see the sharks is from May – August.

Non-Divers
The exhilarating and unforgettable experience of sharing the water with these incredible animals is also available to non-divers; either from the boat, as great white sharks frequently swim at the surface offering great views, or from cages, following a one day PADI Discover Scuba course.

Upon arrival day in Cape Town you will have a one hour introduction to the theory of diving, watch a video and then discuss the most important aspects of the equipment safety. A pool dive enables you to become familiar with the equipment, then it is off to a suitable dive site around the peninsula, where you will be able to enjoying the marine life and the sensation of being underwater.

The trip costs from £1455 pp which includes flights, transfers, diving and lunch on both days, and 3 nights’ B&B.

Call 0845 130 6980 (www.diveworldwide.com).

Sardine Run Diving Adventure

If BBC TV’s Nature’s Great Events Sardine Run, narrated by Sir David Attenborough (screened tonight, Wednesday 4 March), has fired your imagination then why not plunge the warm waters of South Africa for yourself with Dive Worldwide to witness this extraordinary phenomenon first hand?

Each year, around June, one of the most amazing spectacles in the animal kingdom takes place off the KwaZulu Natal coastline. Millions of sardines migrate north, following cold winter currents toward the warm Indian Ocean, a gigantic smorgasbord attracting thousands of marine predators - dolphins, sharks, seals and game fish, even occasional Orcas and whales. The resultant feeding frenzy drives the shoals to the surface where they fall prey to dive bombing avian predators.

During the Sardine Run it is possible that you will get to see Humpback and Brides Whales, Common and Bottlenose Dolphins, Bronze Whalers, Dusky Blacktip and Bull Sharks, sailfish, tuna, Cape Gannets, skewers, Storm Petrels and, albatross. Although trips can be arranged from Aliwal Shoal, Dive Worldwide recommends the Port St. Johns area where, historically, the chance of sardine encounters is higher.

Dive Worldwide’s 10 day Sardine Run Adventure (click for full itinerary) costs from £2319 pp (two sharing) which includes flights, transfers, 7 nights’ B&B (lodge), 5 days’ diving (up to 3 dives per day), tanks and weights. Trips depart 14, 21 and 28 June and 5 July.

South Africa's Bitesize Shark Breaks!

BBC2’s Oceans series recently searched for Great White Shark (Caraharodon carcharias) in the Mediterranean which experts now believe provides a nursery for birthing and raising young. Join Dive Worldwide for a rush of adrenaline during a 5-day Great White Shark Weekend in South Africa. PLUS, right now get more South African Rand to the British pound whilst exchange rates are favourable. Holidays depart London daily throughout 2009 – best time to see Great White Shark - May till September.

The Atlantic and the Indian Oceans meet at the Cape Peninsula, the resultant differences in sea temperature promote a huge diversity of marine-life. Forests of kelp, abundant reef walls and caves - host to corals, sea anemones, sponges, seafans and nudibranches (sea slugs), local wrecks providing challenging dive experiences. Divers have an excellent chance to see Great White Sharks, as well as less dramatic but equally spectacular dolphins, seals and penguins. Both divers and non-divers can enjoy exhilarating and unforgettable shark encounters, either from the boat, as sharks frequently swim at the surface, or from cages. After arriving in Cape Town, non-divers follow a one-day PADI Discover Scuba course which involves a one-hour introduction to diving, a pool dive to become familiar with the equipment and a dive at a suitable dive site around the peninsula. Here, new divers will be able to enjoy the marine life and become accustomed to the sensation of being underwater in preparation for cage diving next day.

The ‘weekend’ costs £1,455 p/p (non divers £1,520) including international flights, pre-paid taxes, transfers, 3-nights B&B hotel accommodation, lunch on diving days, 2-days shark diving and a PADI Discover Scuba course for non-divers.

Click here to see more South African dive holidays.

NEW - SUN, SCUBA AND SAN SALVADOR

The latest episode of the BBC’s Oceans series investigated the depths of the Atlantic from a group of islands in its western reaches - the Bahamas. To experience a diver’s paradise of pristine reefs, historic wrecks, spectacular walls, blue holes, fantastic caves along with the opportunity to dive with diverse sea life, join Dive Worldwide on its NEW 10-day Riding Rock Resort & Marina dive holiday based on San Salvador – the Bahamas’ most south easterly island. Holidays depart London daily throughout the year.

Just twelve miles long and five miles wide, San Salvador is quiet, friendly and unspoilt, with endless deserted beaches and over 50 internationally renowned dive sites! With shallow reefs, stunning water clarity and more than 20 miles of dramatic vertical walls, beginning in as little as 40ft, the island offers a wealth of attractions. Divers are based at Riding Rock, a custom designed, oceanfront diving resort perched on a pinnacle washed by warm breezes and clear azure waters - ideal for watersport enthusiasts, complete with onsite dive centre. Also on offer is an impressive trio of custom dive boats with deep V-hulls, walk-through transoms, dive platforms with extended ladders, camera rinse stations and plenty of shaded deck. Back on land, enjoy freshly prepared Bahamian cuisine in the resort’s restaurant then relax in the Driftwood Lounge – taking in the magnificent ocean view. For time out of the water - visit San Salvador's other local attractions - 'Blackbeard's Castle' (he may once have held court here!), Dixon Hill Lighthouse - one of the last hand-operated, kerosine-lit lighthouses in the world, or Columbus Monument, commemorating the landfall of Christopher Columbus in 1492…

The holiday costs from £2,005 p/p including international flights, taxes, 7-nights full board hotel accommodation at Riding Rock Resort and 1-night (RO) on Nassau, plus 10 dives package with tanks and weights.

Click here to see more Bahamas dive holidays.

NEW DIVE WORLDWIDE 2009 BROCHURE

The team at Dive Worldwide has been busy researching and testing (yes they do get their feet wet) lots of new and imaginative watery destinations for 2009! The result of their endeavours to find the next diving hotspots, is a bulging new brochure packed with innovative new itineraries and ideas for Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Tonga. Particularly notable for 2009 is the introduction of both Sudan and the Cook Islands into Dive Worldwide’s portfolio.

After great success with more extreme underwater experiences, including ice diving in Russia, Dive Worldwide now offers cave diving courses and holidays, accompanied by world-renowned cave diver extraordinaire, Martyn Farr – ideal for divers who thrill to cold, dark sub aqua, subterranean spaces!

Other exciting developments include a new collection of whale and dolphin watching holidays, thanks to an invitation from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society for Dive Worldwide to operate their dedicated whale-watching programme Out of the Blue.

Looking ahead, with far fewer liveaboards being licensed to dive the more remote islands of Wolf and Darwin in the Galapagos archipelago, Dive Worldwide is delighted to announce it has secured four sailings on the M/V Sky Dancer, for prime weeks in 2010 and 2011 – early booking is essential!

Plunging into the pages of Dive Worldwide’s new brochure, readers will notice that there have been some big changes, including more in-depth information about the regions offered, together with relevant climate charts – always useful when planning where to go and when! All of this is backed up by a dedicated team of experts who know their product and are always happy to discuss ideas and concepts to make the perfect dive holiday a reality.

New holidays for 2009 include:

• SUDAN: Royal Evolution from £2,449 p/p. The price includes flights, taxes, transfers, 14-night liveaboard, full board and diving.

• COOK ISLANDS: Cook Islands Explorer from £3,535 p/p. The price includes flights, taxes, transfers, 9 nights on Rarotonga (room only) with 14 dives and 5 nights on Aitutaki (breakfast) with 6 dives.

• THAILAND: Koh Ngai Diving from £1,335 p/p. The price includes flights, taxes, transfers, 7-nights hotel accommodation plus a 10-dive package with tanks and weights.

Click here to see the full range of dive holidays.