Lines and Shadows: Useful scuba destination / travel related links


UW Photography UW Hall of Shame Travel Equipment/Repair Reference Scuba Diving Non Sequitur

AfricanDivesSafaris.com. As South Africa's only dedicated dive travel agency, they have lot's of good information on sites and local diversions.
Aquamarinediving.com. A great overview of dive sites in Bali.
Apo Island, Philippines. A great dive conservation story. Healthy reefs, giant schools of jacks, a clownfish city, all possible by a Silliman University project that established a marine reserve around the island. A half-hour's boat ride from Dumaguete, Negros, The Philippines.
Asian Diver. Probably the best dive magazine in the world. Great stories and photography.
Atlantis Resort, Dumaguete. Never mind the communist insurgents that live in the hills. Never mind the Abu Sayyaf terrorists that live a 1/2 day's boat ride away on Mindao. Ah, The Philippines. Dumaguete, Negros makes it worth the trouble. Atlantis Dumaguete is an excellent, if not slightly expensive, resort smack dab in the middle of great diving. There's muck creatures galore, nice pier dives, marine reserve dives and access to Apo Island...all for about $125/day (diving, food, excellent lodging)
Belize Scuba. Seahorse Dive shop in Placencia, Belize "guarantees" whale sharks given the right month (April-June), conditions, etc....
BigAnimals.com. Amos Nachoum knows his stuff and knows how to photograph big animals underwater. He has some great shots on his site, but his specialty is running trips. Take a look at his "Big Seven" trip and see what I mean. Also worth a look is his photo tips section off the expedition link if you've ever wondered what to carry when going after big animals.
Central Pacific Dive Travel. Specializing in Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, these guys can also set up on Bikini Atoll--home of the USS Saratoga, only "divable" aircraft carrier in the world.
Dive.ru. How does a consistent 225 feet of visibility sound? Great? But when you consider it's -7° F outside and -20° F in the water, you have to start wondering. But then again, only about 25 civilians have ever dove the North Pole. For US$8,000, The Moscow State University Diving Club will organize a trip. Oh, be sure to check out Russian Dive Magazine's "Ms. Underwater Russia". Nice.
Dive Discovery. The best dive travel agency in the States? Hyperbole? No, not from me. Well, maybe. If you need ideas on places to go, especially in the Pacific or SE Asia, check this site out.
DiveGizo.com. The only place in the world to find an intact Hellcat fighter in 10 meters of water--you know, the one in the Rolex ad. And considering you're already in the Solomon Islands, there's always Guadacanal and Honiara's Iron Bottom Sound.
Dive New Zealand.com. Just about everything you ever wanted to know about diving in New Zealand.
DivePoll.com. A little light shining on the cockroaches of diving news.
DIVERNET. A British diving magazine online. Great resource. Check out the articles in the photography section.
DiveUnuts.com. Asia's gateway to SCUBA diving? Site looks better than it actually is--but I'm being hard because the navigation will drive you nuts (how many frames can you put on a page? find out here). Patience grasshopper, there is some nice photography and AsiaPac destination information.
Exmouth Diving Center. Want to see the largest fish in the world that won't eat you? If so, go to western Australia and check out the whale sharks that congregate there in the Fall. If nothing else, go to google.com and type in "exmouth whale shark".
Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary. From the great state of Texas, the best warm water diving in the states. Well, I'm partial and also a Texan. Mantas and Hammerheads are often sighted. Charters out of Freeport, Texas, by Rinn Boats.
Frenchie's Diving Service. Probably the best, cheapest diving in the Caribbean--Belize's Caye Caulker. And the best hotel there, The Tree Tops.
Homestead-UT.com. The only warm water diving destination in the continental United States. Eighteen miles outside Park City, UT, there's a strange hollowed-out crater with year around 90-95° water. With crystal clear water and depths up to 65 feet, it's hard to beat--at least when in the neighborhood.
Kangaroo Island Dive Safaris. Want to see weedy and leafy sea dragons among seals and dolphins? But of course you do. To top it off, Kangaroo Island topside is worth seeing in it's own right. KI Dive Safaris comes highly recommended by Larry/Denise Tackett.
Kungkungan Bay Resort. The best macro photography in the world? I think so and everybody who has been there would probably agree too. I spent three weeks there in March/April 2000, 10 days in March 2001. Oh, the stories. Can't say enough nice things about the management, staff, dive masters and especially the wait staff.
Kararu.com. If you're looking for a liveaboard for Bali or Komodo, you don't need to look farther. These guys come highly recommended.
kevinmodera.com. Based out of Placencia, Belize, Kevin Modera's site offers an excellent resource of diving sites based in Belize. There's some good info on whale sharks trips off the mysterious Gladden spit. During the new and full moon in April, the place explodes with schools of fish and whale sharks.
Lembeh Resort. Across the strait from Kungkungan Bay in the Lembeh Strait.
madforscuba.com. A very nice UK-based site that features a little bit of everything related to SCUBA diving. Photography section too!
Maplanga Dive. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, specializing in African diving destinations. A great resource for those planning to dive in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania.
Matahari Tulamben Resort. The best food in Tulamben and the resort is great for the budget minded. Tell Oka hello.
Mimpi Tulamben. Great resort at one of the best places in the world for underwater photography--Tulamben, Bali. A wall dive, muck dive, reef dive and wreck dive are all accessible from shore.
Scuba Diving in Korea. It's not particularly easy to find information in English about diving in S. Korea. Here's a couple sites I found. 1stopkorea.com offers up a review of diving off Cheju-do. Another site from the Korean tourism agency, offers up a bit of information. Even better, try Big Blue 33, one of the few dive operators that speak something other than Korean. Evidently, the place to go is Jeju-do ("do" meaning island in Korean), an island down south. My guess is that Cheju-do and Jeju-do are one and the same place.
Sharkfeeding.net. These guys are opposed to the (intentional, for profit) feeding or "molestation" of marine predators. Lord knows we can't have people making money feeding animals (zoos anyone?). For that matter, aren't humans one of the biggest marine predators? Perhaps a ban on killing marine predators would be a more noble cause. Notwithstanding the poor folks who have bites taken out of them at the beaches, I don't see big problem with feeding sharks.
Mike Ball Dive Expeditions. Itching to be left behind on a reef in the middle of nowhere. No, no, I'm sure you wouldn't be left behind. Just don't be the last on the boat.
Marine Dynamics. See what is arguably the best great white shark site in the world, Gansbaai, South Africa, with arguably the best guides. Amos Nachoum has couple nice great white photos in their gallery.
Mike Severns Diving. If you're going to dive in Hawaii, I'd suggest looking up Mike.
Rodale's Scuba Diving. Less ads than the magazine. Just why can't it be interesting?
Scuba Diving in Australia. Excellent information on diving down under. I ran across this site when I was doing research on diving with great whites.
Southeast Asia Liveaboards (SEAL). These guys specialize in small, personalized service aboard yachts to Indonesia, Burma, and Thailand. One of the only to offer a liveaboard to Irian Jaya and the Komodo Islands.
UnderwaterTimes.com. Simply the finest (and only) underwater news portal out there. Updated everyday, Jeff Dudas does a great job bringing together all the soggy news that's fit to print. There's a large scuba news section, shark news, weird news, whale news, and many other sections.
Xray-mag. Free dive magazine? Yes, and it's great and it's all electronic via a pdf. Everything a great dive magazine should be--plenty of photography, interesting locations, and a solid editorial hand.