CHOSING THE RIGHT DIVING HOLIDAY

Diving holidays aren’t exactly cheap; most people don’t become divers for a cheap bit of fun.

With limited vacation time from work and the associated cost, you want to be certain you’ll have the best time possible on your diving holiday.

Location is key! Once you’ve worked out your destination, we can do the rest for you.

Before you decide on a destination you need to decide, for yourself, what you want out of your diving holiday. A great deal of divers look for those postcard images with easy, laid back, and warm water diving; how does Palau, Uepi, or Mexico sound? Others of you might get a kick out of pelagics – have a chat to the Scuba World team about Tubbataha, Philippines. Wreck enthusiast? The Coolidge, Vanuatu or Chuuk lagoon in Micronesia might be enough to float your boat… but hey, remember, there are only about 50 wrecks and 200 plus planes in the lagoon

Your possibilities are endless, therefore you need to decide what kind of diving you want from your holiday and choose the destination accordingly.

You’re doing great, you’ve picked your destination; fantastic! You’re 4 dives out of your Open Water Course and heading to The Coolidge, Vanuatu to do some serious wreck penetration and decompression diving. Hold the boat! You’re going where? To do what! When picking the type of diving you want to do, along with your holiday destination you MUST take into consideration your certification level and experience. You’re an accident waiting to happen if you don’t. Have a chat to Scuba World about the destination and your previous experience, together we can decide whether a particular destination would be suitable for you or not. If not, we may be able to suggest somewhere that will provide a similar experience within your abilities.

OK, we’re off on our Holiday… to the Arctic; the last frontier of diving, underwater photographs of whales, diving in and around mountains of ice, crazy excited! Budget Check… $12,000 for the diving, $5,000 for equipment and $5,000 for training… How much were the flights again? Budget obviously plays a big role in where we WANT to go versus where we can AFFORD to go. As a general rule, domestic trips are more affordable than international trips. There’re no long flights to pay for, visas or exchange rates to deal with. Does the affordability outweigh the experience? Everyone who has travelled overseas for a diving holiday knows how many out-of-this-world experiences are to be found. Why not save up and see what you can find beyond our shores, Scuba World offers flexible payment plans for all of our international trips. In the meantime, gain experience diving different conditions and locations within Australia before you make the incredible leap to a mind-blowing international trip with Scuba World!

Once you’ve decided what interests you within your diving abilities and budget, the rest is easy. Leave it in the capable hands of Scuba World staff to organise everything else for you. We’ll always dive the destination at the best time of the year and you can be guaranteed we’ve well and truly done our research as passionate divers. You’ll find each international/domestic dive leader has a specific interest in the destination just like yourself, a great way to start an even better friendship. A few really important tips before heading on a diving holiday:

• ALWAYS make sure you have your appropriate level of DAN diving insurance; and
• Make sure your gear is functioning well, it’s not a bad idea to have your gear serviced before you leave!

I look forward to seeing you in the shop to talk about your next diving adventure.

Mike McKinnon

Scuba World Owner