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Creature Guide | Diving by Style | Meeting Mr Big

Choosing your diving holiday by style.

Trying to pick where to go for your next diving holiday? Getting swamped in the brochures? Maybe you have a particular diving interest or style you want to major on… Maybe you have a particular requirement of your diving holiday i.e. kid friendly or based in a resort lively enough not to provoke total rebellion in your non-diving companions…. Have a look at our selections of perfect places grouped by diving style.

Wreck Diving  |  Shore Diving  |  Coral Reefs |  Wall Diving  |  Family Diving  | Diving with Non-diving Companions |  Wilderness diving  | Technical diving  | Very cold water diving  |  Adventure travel  |  Winter sun  |  Budget choices  |  Luxury locations  |  Honeymoon

Wreck Diving
For many British divers, wreck diving is the best reason of all to go underwater. Born out every child’s dream of sunken treasure comes the motivation to explore the eery stillness of a sunken galleon in search of that elusive find. To explore our sunken history gives a whole new perspective on the world. Wrecks – plane, ship, automobile – are soon transformed into living reefs teeming with fish and a riot of coral growth.
Top spots for wreck divers are:
Gibraltar
France
Scotland
South west England
Bermuda
Florida
Sardinia
Norway
Truk
Bikini Atoll
Papua New Guinea
Palau
Solomon Islands
Vanuatu
Australia
Labuan in Malaysia

Shore diving
Sometimes all you want to do is roll off your beach lounger and fall into the water for the next dive… Boat diving? Who wants to bother with that when the reef is just feet from the beach. Good shore diving locations generally work out much cheaper than those where taking to a boat is the only option. They also give you a lot more flexibility in planning your day too because you control the schedule. Fantastic for photographers and those with non-diving partners.
Top spots for shore diving are:
Sipadan
Bonaire
Cayman Islands
Curaçao
Red Sea
Gozo
Florida
Maldives

Coral Reefs
Coral reefs are the gardens of the undersea world often surprising and thrilling us with the vibrancy of the colour and forms on display. Reefs are living structures formed by millions of tiny creatures built up over thousands of years. Coral reefs are irresistible magnets to many varieties of fish and support a huge amount of marine life. Most tropical dive sites will have coral reefs of some sort or another but the ones listed below are especially spectacular. Remember: coral is tremendously fragile. Leave the reef for the next diver to enjoy by ensuring that you are correctly weighted for neutral buoyancy and that you never touch or rest on the coral. Be especially careful with your finning.
Top sites for enjoying coral reefs:
Fiji
Australia
Malaysia
Indonesia
Micronesia
French Polynesia
The Red Sea

Wall Diving
For some divers, the sensation of drifting along a sheer undersea wall which plunges down beneath them to the unfathomable depths is the nearest they will ever come to flying. Few will ever forget the first time they swim out over the edge of such a cliff into the glassy clear blue water. Wall diving also gives the diver the benefit of double vision: look one way and you have a close up view of the life of the vertical reef. Look the other way and who knows what you might see cruising by out in the blue…
Some top sites for wall diving:
Fiji
The Red Sea
The Cayman Islands
Scotland

Macro Photography
Being in close proximity to billions of tiny sea creatures is a pleasure much enjoyed by many divers, especially keen photographers. The chance to get that elusive close up is always tantalisingly close. But, if you aren’t a photographer, don’t overlook the pleasures of exploring a coral head literally teeming with exquisite tiny creatures. Take as long as you like, relax, who needs to fin anyway…. And talk about the place for a night dive….
Top spots for macro photography:
Bonaire
Dominica
Manado
Sipidan
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands

Liveaboard diving
There are some places in the world where the best place to be for a keen diver is aboard a live aboard boat. Maybe that’s because the sites are inaccessible any other way, or the land is not terribly hospitable. Maybe there’s just so many of them that you need the ability to easily make multiple dives in the day…. There are lots of advantages – see our Liveaboard section.
Top areas for live aboard diving:
Galapagos
Maldives
Red Sea
Cocos and Malpelo Is.
Sea of Cortez
Fiji
Micronesia
Sardinia
Papua New Guinea
Indonesia
Cook Islands
Australia
Arctic, Antarctica

Wilderness Diving
Been to all the usual places? Feeling antisocial, perhaps, and want to go somewhere far away from the tourist herd? Not bothered if your hotel isn’t five stars as long as the diving is? Try one of these locations. They’re all far from the madding crowd. You might even find yourself and your buddy alone on the reef with Mr Big….
Top spots for wilderness divers are:
Antarctica
Arctic
Cocos and Malpelo Is.
Pohnpei
Kosrae
The Galapagos
Sudan
Mozambique
Madagascar
Tonga
PNG

Technical/Speciality Diving
You’re not the average sport diver? Maybe you already hold a technical diving qualification, maybe you want to get one whilst you’re on holiday…. These locations offer a challenge beyond that of normal sport diving to those who are suitably qualified. Find a location that interests you and then, please, research the operators carefully.
Top spots for technical divers are:
Scotland
South Coast of England
South of France
Bikini Atoll
Red Sea
Florida
Malaysia
Mexico - Yucatan

Very Cold Water Diving
You just have to be different don’t you! Most people want to have a diving holiday in warmer water than they usually experience in Blighty, but not you! OK – here’s some ideas for vcw or even ice diving. BRRRRRRRRRRRR……… We’re turning blue just thinking about it.
Very Cold Water Diving Top spots for getting into cold water are:
Arctic
Antarctica
Austria
Norway

Adventure Travel
Diving just isn’t enough for you! You want to go somewhere where you can do lots of other adventurous activities as well, like kayaking, mountain climbing, hiking. Maybe you want to visit the rainforest, climb Kilimanjaro, go on safari…. Here’s some ideas for your dream holiday.
Top spots for adventure are:
Adventure Travel South Africa
Kenya
Mozambique
Tonga
Papua New Guinea
Australia
New Zealand
Antarctica
Arctic
Costa Rica
Galapagos
Dominica
Borneo, Malaysia

Winter Sun
It’s winter in the UK. Sigh….. some would say that it always was…….. You’ve had it with the sleet and snow. You want to go diving and you want to go somewhere hot. Maybe you can only spare a week. Here’s some ideas that are within 10 hours flight from the UK and we’ve arranged them in order of likelihood of hot weather in February.
Top spots for winter sun are:
Winter Sun Canary Islands. Borderline. Warm rather than hot.
Red Sea. Chilly at night but not bad.
Kenya
Maldives
Florida
South Africa
Madagascar
Mozambique

Family diving
When you were twenty, you could go where you liked on holiday and dive from dawn to dusk. You were a diving god! Now, you’ve got other calls on your time, like making sandcastles, buying countless ice creams or riding the big banana boat. But despite the parental style beachwear, you’re still you: you still want to go diving. How to fit it in and still be the best mum or dad in the world?
And horror of horrors! What if the kids want to go diving too? Locations marked with are especially good for the latter. Try these locations, especially chosen for those of us who would benefit from cloning:
Scotland
SW England
Grand Cayman
California
Florida
Cozumel
Cancun
Hawaii
South of France Cyprus
Malta
Turkey
Canary Islands
Sharm el Sheikh, Red Sea
Thailand
Maldives, Bandos
Bonaire
St Lucia

Diving with Non Diving Partners.
All right. You haven’t got any ankle biters in tow, the dive god or goddess still looks back at you from the mirror, but no longer alone! And horror of horrors, your new found love doesn’t dive (yet). What to do? Your name will be mud if you drag them to some hell hole where the only land based activity is counting the ants climbing up the bedroom wall. You need help. You need to try one of top spots for divers with non diving partners.,
Top spots for divers with non diving partners:
Diving with Non Diving Partners Florida
Australia
Grand Cayman
Thailand
Fiji
Cyprus
Canary Islands
South of France
Turkey
California
Hawaii
French Polynesia
Maldives (choose your island carefully….)
Sharm el Sheikh, Red Sea (Gosh, even Tony and Cherie go there now….)
Kenya
South Africa
The Seychelles (main islands)
Mauritius

Luxury Acommodation
Won the lottery or just feeling like pushing the boat out? These locations provide allow you to base yourself at some of the most luxurious hotels in the world. Just imagine returning from your dive to find your personal masseuse awaiting you in your suite, glass of iced champagne at the ready…. It could be YOU!
Top spots for diving in luxury are:
Maldives – Soneva Fushi, Kuda Hura, Hilton
Mauritius – take your pick.
Caribbean – pick an island, they’ll all have a five star hotel somewhere.
Australia – Queensland
French Polynesia – Bora Bora, Moorea
Fiji
Thailand
The Seychelles
Hawaii

Honeymoon
Planning your honeymoon? It’s not going to stop you diving is it?!!!! Hopefully by now your partner will also have succumbed to the attractions of the underwater world – if not, move sharply back to the Diving with Non Diving Companions section or run the risk of experiencing one of the shortest marriages on record. These suggestions are for happy couples who want to continue their happiness underwater.
Honeymoon Top spots for divers on honeymoon are:
Maldives
Mauritius
Jamaica
St Lucia
Statia
Saba
St. Kitts
Sipadan
Tioman Island, Malaysia
Fiji
French Polynesia
Seychelles
Hawaii

Budget Choices
You want to go on a diving holiday but there’s a problem! Your wallet has become a protected refuge for moths! You want to go somewhere good, but you need to go somewhere cheap…. Here’s some ideas.
Budget Choices Top spots for budget diving holidays are:
Scotland
SW England
Ireland
South of France (camp)
Malta
Spain
Gibraltar
Canary Islands
Turkey
Red Sea
Florida (autumn or out of school holidays)

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