PADI are delighted to announce that the PADI Dive Centre Family has grown in the last quarter in the Republic of Maldives. Please help us to welcome following new PADI Dive Centers: GuruVaa aaadiving on Dhoores Island in the Dhaalu … Continue reading →
The post New PADI Dive Centres in the Maldives appeared first on PADIProsEurope.
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Hussain Rasheed, better known as Sendi, became a PADI Divemaster in 1986, an instructor in 1993 and Course Director in 2000. 2016 is his 30th year as a PADI member and he continues to teach regularly concentrating primarily on teaching … Continue reading →
The post Interview with Sendi: Legendary Maldivian PADI Course Director appeared first on PADIProsEurope.
Interview with Sendi: Legendary Maldivian PADI Course Director Read More »
Hussain Rasheed, better known as Sendi, became a PADI Divemaster in 1986, an instructor in 1993 and Course Director in 2000. 2016 is his 30th year as a PADI member and he continues to teach regularly concentrating primarily on teaching … Continue reading →
The post Interview with Sendi: Legendary Maldivian PADI Course Director appeared first on PADIProsEurope.
Interview with Sendi: Legendary Maldivian PADI Course Director Read More »
Why do the Top 100 Readers Choice Awards, now in their 23rd year, still matter to divers? Because these are your picks, based on thousands of votes from the most experienced dive travelers on the planet. Why do they matter to us? Because every month you hear from our editors on what we think matters in the world of dive travel. For the January/February issue of Scuba Diving we get to listen to you, and we’re taking notes.
Here, we proudly present the No. 1 ranking destinations in the Best Macro Diving category of the awards. The full list of winning destinations is below.
Terrence Ross/Tom Stack & Associates
Best Macro Diving in the Caribbean and Atlantic
Think you have to book a flight to Indo to see exotic nudis, seahorses and frogfish by the handful? That ticket might be considerably less expensive than you think, for North American divers, if you aim for the island of Bonaire instead. Decades of institutionalized protection and loving management of its pristine reefs have helped to preserve an environment where nearly 400 species have been documented, most of it the small stuff beloved by underwater photographers. Looking to capture a particular subject in a specific situation? Bonaire also offers the ultimate freedom to plan your own dives 24/7, instead of waiting for the dive boat or competing with other photographers looking for the same stuff you are. Many of its resorts’ house reefs are literally alive with critters, so you don’t even have to crank up your rental truck — just fall off the dock and start shooting. — Mary Frances Emmons
Terrence Ross/Tom Stack and Associates
Macro finds include teardrop craps in this Caribbean Island.
Jennifer Penner
Tiny squat shrimp are often found by sharp-eyed divers in Bonaire.
Wayne MacWilliams
Macro photographers love Bonaire’s critters like this spotted eel.
Barry Brown
These crazy critters are not glow sticks, but bearded fireworms shot under blue light at night.
TimsImagesUnderwater/Alamy
Gobies find shelter in colorful tube sponges.
Eric Madeja
Best Macro Diving in the Indian and Pacific Oceans
Sure, Lembeh Strait is the world’s epicenter of macro div- ing, with enough crazy critters — hirsute frogfish, microscopic seahorses, kaleidoscopic nudibranchs and more — to fill a logbook, but don’t overlook the enchanted islands of Komodo, Bali and Wakatobi. With their eagle-eyed guides, you might not need a magnifying glass to find it all, but you will need more logbooks. — David Espinosa
Jeff Rotman/NPL/Minden Pictures
Best Macro Diving in North America
Decorated warbonnets, grunt sculpins and candystripe shrimp are just a few highlights to spotlight while shooting in Canada’s westernmost province. Browning Passage, a legendary site near Port Hardy, hides so many macro treasures the challenge is not finding cool subjects but deciding which ones to skip and save for the next tank. So many pictures to make, not enough bottom time. — Brandon Cole
David Hall
Nudibranchs are a favorite of macro photographers; this Hermissenda is praying on stinging hydroids.
How We Got the Numbers Thousands of Scuba Diving subscribers and online users rated their experiences at dive destinations in a variety of categories on a scale from one to five. Final scores are an average of the numerical scores awarded. A minimum number of responses was required for a destination to be included in these ratings.
World’s Best Destinations for Diving with Macro Critters Read More »
Jon Cornforth
Atlantic spotted dolphins are one of the many big animals beloved by divers in the Bahamas
Why do the Top 100 Readers Choice Awards, now in their 23rd year, still matter to divers? Because these are your picks, based on thousands of votes from the most experienced dive travelers on the planet. Why do they matter to us? Because every month you hear from our editors on what we think matters in the world of dive travel. For the January/February issue of Scuba Diving we get to listen to you, and we’re taking notes.
Here, we proudly present the No. 1 ranking destinations in the Best Big Animal Encounters category of the awards. The full list of winning destinations is below.
Bill Fisher
Best Big Animal Encounters in the Caribbean and Atlantic
Everyone likes a sure thing. Thus the Bahamas continues to rate so highly for big animals. Unlike ultra-remote locales requiring liveaboards and overnight motors before day one begins, here, hammerheads or Caribbean reef sharks mug for your lens just as soon as you unpack and assemble gear. Plus, the variety of species calling these islands home or waypoint is incredible. The hammerheads of Bimini. Oceanic whitetips of Cat Island. Tigers off Grand Bahama. And the place that helped the nation become synonymous for sharks: Nassau. Hopscotch between a few spots and you’ll quickly amass a portfolio of species — plus learn the behavior not only of the sharks but of the goliath grouper that serve as shark-feed second acts. One more perk: Although not as reliably seen, wild Atlantic spotted dolphins regularly cruise Bimini and the Little Bahama Bank, creating an ideal opportunity for those who’ve been wowed by the main attraction but want the show to continue. — Brooke Morton
Scott Johnson
Best Big Animal Encounters in North America
They’re big, and they’re slow. Sand tigers, the predominant shark species off North Carolina, lack a swim bladder but manage near-perfect neutral buoyancy thanks to an ability to gulp air at the surface. It explains why they’re among the least hurried big animals, good news for photographers or any diver who simply wants to prolong face time with these snaggletoothed scavengers. — Brooke Morton
Doug Perrine
Best Big Animal Encounters in the Pacific and Indian Oceans
You could go to Galapagos just to see table-size black-blotched rays, quizzical sea lions, tornadoes of barracuda and jacks, turtles and manta rays galore. But really, you’re deluding your- self if you go for any other reason than sharks — clouds of hammerheads and whitetips, solitary tigers and packs of burly Galapagos. — David Espinosa
How We Got the Numbers Thousands of Scuba Diving subscribers and online users rated their experiences at dive destinations in a variety of categories on a scale from one to five. Final scores are an average of the numerical scores awarded. A minimum number of responses was required for a destination to be included in these ratings.
World’s Best Destinations for Diving with Big Animals Read More »