You can now vote for Oonasdivers as the Best Tour Operator in the Sport Diver Awards!
If you have had a good experience with Oonasdivers, Click here http://forum.sportdiver.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=59 and go to Best Tour Operator, make your comment and vote! You may also need to register with Sport Diver.
Have you enjoyed a dive holiday aboard The Blue Planet Fleet? or M.Y. Juliet? Well You can also vote for your favourite liveaboard and Best overseas PADI dive centre too!
The winners will be announced in a future issue of Sport Diver around the time of the Dive Show in October.
The Oonasdivers team with special guest Umbi & family
Well it’s hard to believe it’s been a year already but The London Dive Show is not far away now and we are looking forward to seeing you all again! If you haven’t ventured to the show before, it would be great if you come along to see us.
2010 marks Oonasdivers’ 25th anniversary so there’s lots of celebrating to be done! We’ll be running our big competition to win 2 free holidays to the Red Sea – A week aboard the popular M.Y. Juliet. You may also be lucky enough to have received a ticket for our anniversary prize draw, so come along to see if you win one of our 25 fabulous prizes including:
A week aboard our Thailand liveaboard M.V Colona VI!
A week aboard The Blue Planet Fleet
2 Spaces on a dry dive at London or Midlands Diving Chamber
5 day dive package at Umbi Village, Sharks Bay
1 year subscription to DIVER Magazine + torch + bag
PADI Briefcase, Corduroy Binder and Digital Photo Lanyard
A weeks diving in El Hierro
Plus many more….
Oonasdivers will be on stand 306 on 27th & 28th March 2010 at The Excel Centre, London E16 1XL
Spring has certainly sprung in The Canaries and the islands are at their greenest and most colourful. The next months are the perfect time for exploring “The Hidden Canaries” – El Hierro, La Palma and La Gomera, all different little islands and all beautiful in their own distinctive way. Now is the time to book that week in the Sun and have something special to look forward to!
DEPARTURE DATES – SPRING & AUTUMN
Spring: 20 Mar, 10 Apr, 27 Apr (Tues / Tues to La Palma; big fiesta “The Dressing of the crosses” on the final day), 8 May (to La Gomera), 15 May (limited availability)
The London Diving Chamber is now offering more courses for both
divers and non-divers such as:
HSE FIRST AID AT WORK (3 day course)
HSE FIRST AID AT WORK REFRESHER (2 day course)
HSE FIRST AID CERTIFICATE (1 day course)
OXYGEN ADMINISTRATION COURSE (half a day)
AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATOR (AED) COURSE * (half a day)
We’ve just heard today that guests taking late breakfast at Nesima Resort, Dahab got more than they bargained for, as a beautiful 18ft Whale Shark cruised past close to shore. Guests within the area very quickly abandoned their tea and toast and rushed for their masks, fins and snorkels! A few photos have been taken and we are currently awaiting these so watch this space for more…
We believe the very same Whale Shark was also seen yesterday cruising in the same area by a boat on it’s way to Gabr El Bint, a usual excursion arranged by Nesima each Thursday.
Thanks to everyone who came to see us at The Irish Dive show on 27/28 February. We always enjoy meeting up with you all and this year the location at Slieve Russell Hotel, Ballyconnell was closer to the North giving us a chance to meet up with those who cannot make it to Dublin. It was great to see you all and enjoy the Guinness and rugby!! Our special thanks go to John & Cathy O’Connor who revived us with a full Irish breakfast on disembarkation from the Hollyhead early morning ferry and to Deirdre who welcomed us to County Galway where we saw the great diving opportunities that area has to offer! Here are some of the photos along the way – it made a great Oonasdivers adventure!
For those that couldn’t make it this time, come and see us at The London Dive Show on 27/28 March at The Excel Centre!
Extraordinary footage of a rarely seen giant deep sea fish has been captured by scientists.
Using a remotely operated vehicle, they caught a rare glimpse of the huge oarfish, perhaps the first sighting of the fish in its natural setting. The oarfish, which can reach 17m long, has previously only been seen on a few occasions dying at the sea surface, or dead washed ashore. The scientists also filmed for the first time the behaviour of a manefish.
Mark Benfield from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, US was undertaking a survey as part of the Serpent project, a collaboration between marine scientists and energy companies such as BP, Shell, Chevron and Petrobras working in the Gulf of Mexico.
Using remotely operated vehicles (ROV) provided by the oil and gas companies, the scientists are able to explore the deep like never before. During one of these surveys, the scientists glimpsed a giant oarfish.
Worldwide diving goes down a treat at The Adventure Show!
The Oonasdivers team enjoying The Adventure Show!
Bea & Chris gather the crowds for our Slovenia holiday competition!
Oonasdivers were really pleased with the weekend at the Adventure Travel Live Show in London. Thanks for everyone who came to see us and for all the entries into our competition for a holiday for two to Slovenia on a new adventure tour including kayaking, canoeing, white water rafting and hydro speeding! We will be announcing the winners at the end of Airbourne on 15 August 2010.
M Y Juliet was lucky to escape any serious damage as number of other Red Sea liveaboards went up in flames. Totally destroyed through fire at the Suez drydock on Saturday afternoon and evening were some well known boats and we understand Hyatt, Typhoon and Sweet Dreams were amongst the casualties, VIPI sustained serious damage . Yasser Gouda, M Y Juliet’s owner was extremely fearful at times during the height of the fire and he sent us these photos of the blaze and attempts by fire crew and air support to douse the flames. M Y Juliet will be out of dry dock shortly with her new 785hp MAN engines and resuming her classical Northern Red Sea charters.
After a very successful workshop held during November 2009 at Marsa Shagra, Oonasdivers & Jeff Goodman are pleased to announce future 2010 dates.
Jeff Goodman, director and award-winning cameraman is to lead a series of workshops aimed at improving the art of underwater video production at our fantastic Southern Village Marsa Shagra.
Marsa Shagra’s location lends itself perfectly to the surroundings needed and marine life desired to compliment such an exciting workshop. Unlimited diving enables unlimited opportunity to capture the diverse and wonderfully colorful marine life on Shagra’s extensive house reef
You don’t need expensive equipment to make exciting underwater wildlife films, this workshop is ideal for beginners through to the semi pro.
This workshop is a combination of understanding your camera, researching your subject, creating a story and taking good video while at the same time being aware of how everything will come together in the edit.
Great footage can easily be spoilt by bad editing.
The courses will be held at our Southern Village Marsa Shagra and M.Y. Blue Seas on selected dates during February & April 2010. Up to 10 guests will be able to learn from one of the best underwater cameramen in the industry. You will need your own video camera and housing for filming and a laptop with associated equipment for editing, why not share a camera with a friend and enjoy the experience together !
Jeff has over 30 years’ experience in wildlife and underwater filming. Credits include the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, Discovery, Animal Planet and many others. Twice nominated for BAFTA Award Cameraman and won Montana Festival Best Series Director/Cameraman.
Workshop date are as follows
19th – 26th February 2010 – M.Y. Blue Seas – North & Wrecks route
