Category Archives: Destinations & Sites

Destinations & Sites, Equipment, General

Air travel with scuba gear

February 9, 2014 UWH

Sometimes you would love to take your own scuba gear with you to a far away destination but you are afraid of the hassle and cost. Here are a few pointers that will help you along the way.

UPS Worldport Air Hub at Louisville Internatio... — UPS Worldport Air Hub at Louisville International Airport (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A good starting point is to figure out why you want to take your own scuba gear with you. That should help you also in deciding what to take with you. Here are some common reasons and items to pack:

Comfort and convenience: Your own regulator’s mouth piece has been molded to fit your teeth, your mask never leaks unlike most rental masks you’ve tried, you want to use your own dive computer because that way you can download the log to your PC, …. Whichever items give you the comfort or convenience you want, if what you should pack and, to keep cost and the hassle to minimum, nothing else.
You are not sure if the gear you need is available where you go: underwater camera, yoke or DIN adapter (which you may need if you are taking your own regulator set with you), gloves,…
Safety: You are concerned that rental gear might malfunction or that you would be at risk because you are not familiar with the gear. If this is your motivation, then your packing list should include at least your BCD, regulator set and weight belt.
Because you just want to: In this case, you probably would like to pack all you have and then the kitchen sink. In this case, you may want to consider the cost: On most airlines it is the weight that matters so you may want to leave the heavier items behind.

Now that you know what to pack, you have a few options on how to get your scuba gear to the destination:

Carry-on: Good for few small items and you can be relative certain that they do not get lost or delayed on the way.
Checked luggage: Check your airlines web pages for rules about extra weight and extra pieces of luggage. Some airlines have special pricing for scuba gear that will save you some money.
Air-cargo, couriers, shipping,…: There are a plenty of other options that come handy especially if you are traveling long distance with lots of gear.

If you want to check in scuba gear as luggage you may want to keep a few things in mind when preparing for the trip:

Early on, figure out the total weight of your luggage, the number of pieces and the size of each piece.
This lets you to compare the total price or, in other words, the price of the ticket plus extra fees between airlines.
Also, keep an eye on the absolute maximum limits for checked luggage set by the airline. These are limits that you cannot exceeded; not even by paying extra. If you have more luggage, consider using air-cargo or a similar option.

Destinations & Sites, People and Stories

Ohio diving

February 5, 2014 UWH

This story is about diving in Ohio and about one man determined to document what the Ohio quarries have to offer to scuba divers.

Map of Ohio highlighting Franklin County where Hilliard is located (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Source: www.discpatch.com

Hilliard man photographs quarries underwater

Hilliard scuba enthusiast documents beauty of Ohio quarries with photos shot underwater

Never mind that the droplets on his beard froze almost instantly as his face popped through a rectangular opening in the ice at Circleville Twin Quarries.

Mark Thomas, an avid scuba diver, didn’t seem to notice the ice chunks clinking against his oxygen tank — or the 30-degree temperature, for that matter.

He was too busy snapping photographs of the wintry scene around him and recalling a sight he had just witnessed underwater.

Read the full article at www.dispatch.com.

April 24th, 2014: Link to the original article, which should have been there, was missing so added it.

Destinations & Sites

Diving Holidays: Top-10 list of dream dive sites

February 1, 2014 UWH

Great Blue Hole, Coast of Belize - a phenomeno... — Great Blue Hole, Coast of Belize – a phenomenon of Karst topography. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So, your next diving holiday is still a few months a way and you have not yet chosen where to go. Here is list of the 10 most exotic scuba diving destinations in the world; places to dream about and, who knows, maybe one of them will be your next holiday destination.

Source: www.aluxurytravelblog.com

There’s nothing quite like the scuba dive – you glide downward into what just might as well be another world, and in many ways is. You see things that are impossible anywhere else. It’s a passion that has to be lived to be fully understood. Here’s a look at 10 of the top places in the world to dive, with a look at some specific dives and general locations

Read the full article at www.aluxurytravelblog.com

Destinations & Sites

Diving Holidays: Oman

January 19, 2014 UWH

Technorati: 2VB26RCATKF5

Few people in Western countries know much about Oman and even fewer have visited there. Yet, it is a country of great natural beauty, kind and hospitable people and fabulous dive sites.

As a diver, you will probably be spending a lot of time on coastal areas where the temperature climbs quite high in the summer; even so high that you may enjoy your stay in Oman more in the autumn or spring.

Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, as the official name of the country goes, is a good place to start your visit. There are several dive operators in the Muscat and a plenty of non-diving activities available as well.

Some of the most spectacular dive sites near Muscat are around the Ad Dimaniyat Islands. There is a plenty of marine life and dive sites, Three Sisters and Police Run sites in particular are abounded with turtles and honeycomb moray eels. Quite many species are unique to this part of the world. If you dive there during October or November you can expect water to be at cozy 30 degrees Celsius or about 86 degrees Fahrenheit and excellent visibility.

Land-side, you will find that most people speak English and that the country’s infrastructure and services are well-organized. This applies also to the dive industry even though there are some cautionary tales.

Many visitors to the country find the Omani conservative in their values and customs, yet very open-minded towards other people’s views and behaviours. Still, learning about local customs and respecting them pays off in Oman just like in any other country.

Underwater Herald