Dive Travel – Page 16 – Divers' Blogs

The Ugly Side of Underwater Photography

July 6, 2009July 5, 2009 by Burt Jones & Maurine Shimlock

For more than 30 minutes we witnessed one of the lousiest displays of buoyancy skills we have ever seen outside of an entry level class. You would have thought that the current was running at four knots, there was that much sand blowing through the water.

The Big Difference Between Day Boats and Liveaboards? The Customers

August 13, 2009June 15, 2009 by John Bantin

I do a lot of dive trips abroad, about a dozen each year. I recently enjoyed a two-week liveaboard trip in the Red Sea near southern Sudan, followed by a similar amount of time shore-based in Bali, Indonesia. In each case, my fellow divers were British, French, Belgian, German and Dutch but could have been … Read more

Insuring Against Swine Flu

May 17, 2009May 17, 2009 by Ben Davison

Dear Fellow Divers, This is the first of our blogs and every few days or so, a number of diving writers with important opinions will have something to say: John Bantin, who spends a dozen or more weeks a year testing equipment for DIVER magazine; Bob Halstead, the retired owner of the Telita in PNG, … Read more

Sinking in a Sea of Luxury?

July 19, 2009May 16, 2009 by Burt Jones & Maurine Shimlock

For the past year we’ve been based in Indonesia working as consultants for Conservation International’s Indonesia Marine Programs, specifically in diving’s newest hotspot, Raja Ampat. With all the liveaboards here or coming here, we’re seeing an explosion of luxury — but is this what you, the real diving-public want? …

The Weighty Matter of Flying with Dive Gear

May 19, 2009May 12, 2009 by John Bantin

A friend was a board director of British Airways. I asked him if he could give me a letter to show at the airport check-in, telling his staff to look after me and to waive excess-baggage charges. He said it was more than his job was worth to do that, and that I’d do better to make friends with someone who worked at the airline’s check-in desk.