Ultimate Travel Experience

There are many reasons why we go for holidays. Most of us are stressed from the monotonous office routine. We need a break from the same boribng routines and the stress the comes with the job. Some of us want to add sizzle to a stagnant relationship, while others enjoy going for holidays with their families.

Holidays are great because it gives us something to look forward to, and most of the time, we come back reenergized. and it times, with a different view of life.

Why not take off to beautiful Bali island in Indonesia? With its beautiful beaches, friendly people and culture that’s steeped in tradition, you’ll find a balance of fun, relaxation and shopping.

Great for recharging and soothing the harried soul, Bali’s beautiful beaches and skillful masseusses will transport you to a land of serene dreams. Rejuvenate your body with traditional Balinese treatements that will leave you silky smooth and a little amorous maybe.

If you are more sporty, try surfing or whizzing around the island on a motorbike. if not, renting a car with driver cost you about US$70 per day.

The pace here is great for holidaymakes. Despite intense exposure to modernization and foreign influences, the Balinese faithfully cling on to their culture and traditions. Bali a small, gorgeous island which offers visitors an infinite choice of things to see and do, and was the perfect destination for taking away your daily hassles.

Bali comes alive at night. You can choose to attend dance perrformances like Barung, Kecak and fire dance, visit a traditional night market to mingle with the locals, or simply head for the pubs and discos.

Spil your taste buds with the spicy succulent Balinese, Indonesian or western cuisine. Then after that, take a stroll and see what’s on offer. You’re bound to fall in love with something, whether it’s furniture, household accessories, fine jewelry, art pieces, designd apparels and casula wear that’s available there.

Start packing and head to Bali, the perfect getaway for your vacation.

Tags: Asia · Beach · Diving · Island · Regions · Theme Vacation

Declared as a World Heritage area in 1981, the Great Barrier Reef, one of the wonders of the world, is the only living organic collective visible from space. Beginning at the south coast of Papua New Guinea near latitude 9°S and running south and east generally parallel to the Australian coast until about latitude 24°S, off southern Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef covers a chain of coral reefs and islands more than 2000 kilometers long.

Like any other place on Earth, the Great Barrier Reef must have human contact in which there is no direct evidence. It is known that the aborigines possessed a bigger part of the Australian continent for a very long time. Due to limited technology, dates concerning the Great Barrier Reef have been obtained from the deposits at Mount Mulligan. Though no physical evidence has been found, one can conclude from the episodes of glaciations through the occupancy of the aboriginal people that much of today’s Great Barrier Reef has been occupied by humans 20,000 years ago.

Cultural and Historical background
Several names were listed and noted for the discovery of the Great Barrier Reef. In about 1522, it was noted that a Portuguese expedition led by Cristovao de Mendonca first sighted the east coast of Australia. It was followed in 1606 by William Jansz who chartered the west coast of Cape York Peninsula after which Luis de Torres sailed and sighted the islands of Torres Strait. Owing to the international interest, it was hard to determine who really had a sight of the Great Barrier Reef. The French, accordingly, were the first Europeans to give evidences of sightings of the Great Barrier Reef. On June 6, 1768, Louis de Bougainville, commander of La Boudeuse and L’Etoile approached the Australian continent from the east, encountering Bougainville Reef in about the latitude of Cooktown.

Though fleeting glimpses of the Reef were noted, none of these can be considered scientific. The first scientific discovery noted, however, was of James Cook less than 2 years after Bougainville. It was in 1770 when Cook aimed to have a scientific exploration of the Reef in tradition of the Enlightenment. Several explorers, scientist, discoverers were noted to have gone to the Reef in desire to study one of the Earth’s wonders. The exploration and discovery continued until the 19th century. Since that time, everyone who has encountered it has experienced a sense of fascination.

Why the Reef?
Who would not have a keen sense of interest to discover and see the Great Barrier Reef? Who would imagine that for a thousands of years, this reef is simply constructed of corals and living organisms alone? What forms the reef are nearly 3,000 individual reefs and around 300 coral islands making it rank as the world’s largest structure made by living organisms.

Indeed, Queensland, where the reef is, highly benefits from tourism on the reef attracting about 1.6 million tourists each year. Large centers on the central and northern towns of Cairns, Port Douglas, and Townsville as well as the Whitsunday Islands are built for the reef tourism.

Tourists can enjoy lots of activities upon visiting the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Aside from the nice resorts along the Reef, hundreds of licensed tourism operators offer a range of services and activities such as diving and boating excursions. A diving holiday and a fishing adventure are perfect to spend in the reef. Fishing is allowed depending on the degrees in the marine park. People may take advantage of commercial and recreational fishing that take place in the park, including line fishing directly on the reefs.

There is also a large prawn industry in the lagoon. Tourist may also fish for a popular sport fish called barramundi and mud crabs. Even a bit of fun filled sightseeing day is perfect in this wonderful place. Where else can you find a colorful and wonderful array of marine wildlife but only in the Great Barrier Reef? 

Best Time to Visit
Located in the Tropical North Queensland, the reef has warm weather and beautiful sunshine most of the time. However, it could be warmer and possibly rainy.

If you want to spend a cooler holiday, the best time to visit would be from July to November. It is certain that you would have a wonderful and relaxing vacation.

Want to know why The Great Barrier Reef is a perfect place to spend your holidays?  It is one of the places in the world that can offer you relaxation, enjoyment, life, laughter, nature, and a breathtaking diversity of nature and fresh environments.

Tags: Australasia · Diving

Many years ago, I visited 3 state capitals in Australia. Qantas was running a promotion that allowed you two additional stopovers in a single direction without any additional charge. Since my primary destination was Sydney and I have been to Melbourne before, I chose Perth and Adelaide as the other two cities to stopover for a short visit.

Visiting Sydney is simple and easy with ample facilities for tourists such as Sydney Pass to move around and most of the tourist attractions are centered on Circular Quay. Sydney accommodation is easily available and booking was done via the the internet.

From Sydney, I flew to Adelaide to visit this South Australia state capital. Adelaide is a small city compared to Sydney. However, Adelaide has many things to offer to tourists. One of the first stop was to visit King William Street for shopping, meals and great Australian wines. After this, it was to the nature. Australia has great nature for tourists. I went for a 4-wheeldrive tour of the Flinders Range and the outback. After the backbreaking tour, I went back to the Adelaide hotel for a good rest.

I left Adelaide for Perth on an early flight. Upon reaching Perth, I checked into the Perth hotel that I booked earlier via internet. In Perth, I hired a car and drove along the Australia Coral Coast to see the blue ocean and enjoy the natural sea wonders along the coast. I drove to Monkey Bay to play with the smiling dolphins and drove to more remote areas hoping to catch a glimpse of dugongs and manta rays but was unsuccessful. Since I did not manage to see manta rays, I decided to go diving with the whale sharks. The experience swimming with these humongous sea mammals were incredible. I continued my journey towards Pinnacles to see the spectacular rock formation. After this, it was all the way back to Perth.

The next day, I flew back home.

Tags: Accomodations · Australasia · Diving · Driving

One of the many island states that I have wanted to visit is Maldives. Maldives is so near to where I am and yet I have traveled to other further islands like Mauritius and Hawaii.

Maldives is famed for its underwater beauty with its sun, sand and sea. And nothing else. Underwater life around the islands of Maldives is abundant and beautiful. Water is crystal clear and visibility can reach up to 50m at certain location. Maldives is also a perfect get away place for couples to have a romantic vacation.

Maldives covers an area of 90,000 km but 99% of it is covered by sea. Maldives has 1190 islands which are spread among its 26 atolls. There are no more than 200 islands which are inhibited. Tourist resorts took up another 87 islands. These islands are exclusively for the resorts only.

Scuba diving, being one of my hobbies, is one of the main activities in Maldives that attract my attention. I want to spend many fun-filled hours in the sea during the day and evening watching sunset in the horizon. It’s going to be a place where I can spend time reading my favorite novels.

I plan to stay at the Fihalhohi Tourist resort, which is about 90 minutes away from Male by speed boat. Fihalhohi is one of the larger islands in Maldives. By size, it may look very small. It’s only 450 meters by 270 meters.

I just can’t wait to go diving in Maldives.

Tags: Asia · Diving · Honeymoon · Travel Tips

Spearfishing is a form of fishing which originates centuries ago. This form of fishing is practiced by early settlers by the rivers where fishes are caught by spearing them. These spears were made from bamboo or wood with sharpened end. In the early days, spearfishing was used to catch fish for food.

In the modern days, spearfishing has evolved into a sport for sea sports enthusiasts. In fact, it has become the ultimate underwater sports among divers. Modern days spearfishing equipments are more sophisticated with elastic or pneumatic-powered spearguns to strike at the hunted fish. These equipments can cost up to thousands of dollars.

Spearfishing is carried out in many different ways like walking along the coast or river banks, scuba diving, snorkeling or just free diving.

However, spearfishing is a controversial sport where there is a lot of discussion about its impact to the ecological environment i.e. fish. Today, spearfishing is highly regulated to protect certain species of fish from being over hunted.

As in every sport, there are many records being set by spearfishing enthusiasts like the largest of a particular fish, etc. To insure that these records are done in a ethical, sportmanlike and safe way, there are two organizations which provide rules and regulation to monitor any spearfishing game record. They are International Underwater Spearfishing Association (IUSA) and International Bluewater Spearfishing Records Committee (IBSRC).

Some countries have outlawed spearfishing to protect their underwater ecological environment and import of spearfishing equipments is totally prohibited.

Tags: Diving · Travel Tips

Bali, the Hindu island in Indonesia, has many dive sites. Bali is easily accessible with many international connecting flights to the island. The top dive sites are located at the Nusa Penida National Park. Nusa Penida is a cluster of three islands – Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan – about 20 km south east of Bali. It takes about 45 minutes by speedboat from Sanur to reach Nusa Penida. These islands are visible from Sanur.

Typically, divers will stay at villages at Nusa Lembongan. The accommodation ranges from simple motels to expensive hotels. There are many dive centers located along the beach at Nusa Lembongan. Prices are negotiable and it’s best to negotiate for package deal i.e. 10 dives for a fix price.

The ultimate diving experience is to see the mola mola (or Oceanic Sunfish), manta ray and do drift diving. Sightings of mola Mola and manta ray are seasonal.

Mola mola can be seen when they surface to have their mouth cleaned by bannerfish (Heniochus diphreutes). Typically, they can be seen at around 40m. A mola mola has a height of about 3 meters from fin-to-fin and length of 2 meters. It weighs up to 3 tons. Strangely this fish has no tail. It uses its giant fins to balance itself. They only feed on jellyfish, salps and planktons.

The first encounter of mola mola is really astonishing. Mola mola is huge yet so tame and harmless. Seeing a mola mola and swimming around it to take pictures is really a fantastic experience. A truly ultimate diving experience.

Mola mola can be sighted at north coast, Toya Pakeh, Crystal Bay, Batu Abah and Blue Corner. Crystal Bay is the safest and easiest dive site to see Mola Mola. Crystal Bay is sheltered from the drift current. Just outside the bay, there is a drop and the current picks up. This is the boundary of Crystal Bay and this where mola mola can be seen at about 40 meter depth.

Manta ray, in layman’s term, is a giant sting ray. It can grow as big as 4 meters across and the tail can be as long as 3 meters long. A manta ray can live up to 25 years.

Seeing how graceful a manta ray flips it’s ‘wings’ to move in the water is simply amazing. A mature manta ray can weigh up to 3 tons.

At Nusa Penida, manta rays can be seen at Manta Point, Toya Pakeh and Batu Abah. Manta rays are easily found at Manta Point. However, Manta Point is among the furthest of all dive sites. Manta Point is located at south of Nusa Penida and its exposed location makes is a difficult to access due to the possible very rough sea conditions.

Besides manta rays, other type of sting rays can be seen at Manta Point. Sometimes, Nurse Sharks are seen as well.

Editor’s note: The editor isthe diver in both images

Tags: Asia · Diving

Mauritius has lots to offer for scuba diving. They are many top diving spots in Mauritius that is comparable among the world’s best. Diving in Mauritius is one of the ultimate dive experience for divers around the world. They have various types of dive sites ranging from coral reefs with abundant sea creatures, underwater sceneries with caves, tunnels and arches. Perhaps, underwater treasure hunting among shipwrecks is a possibility.

There are many dive shops around the country offering scuba diving trips. The prices range from $80 to $300 depending on the distance and number of dives per day. The price is negotiable and it fluctuates according to influx of visitors. Personally, I chose to dive with dive centers attached to major hotels for safety reasons. I want to be sure that the equipments I am using are properly maintained.

Dive sites in Mauritius are groups under three regions – South-West, North-West and East coast. Southern coast is not suitable for diving due to the sea condition.

The South-West is famous for its dive sites like Tamarin Bay and Flin-en-Flac. At Tamarin Bay, divers can see school of dolphins roaming in this area. Sometimes, divers can even find the dolphins playfully swimming among them.

At Flin-en-Flac, there are two remarkable dive sites – Cathedral and Rempart Serpent. At the Cathedral, there are remarkable underwater sceneries of caves, tunnels and arches. At Rempart Serpent, there are plenty of sea creatures for divers to see like stone fishes, moral eyes, lion fishes, scorpion fishes and clown fishes among the shipwrecks in this area.

Other dive sites in South-West region are Bottle Reef, St Jacques Pass, Deep Heaven, Heaven Pass and Anemone Pass.

In the North-West region, many underwater attractions can be found in various sites. Peter Holt’s Rock offers giant moral eels, Stenopus Reef offers giant gorgonias and corals and Roches Baleines with it’s drop which has plenty of sea fauna.

This region is a heaven for shipwreck diving. There are many shipwrecks like “Stella Maru”, “Amar” and “Star Hope” at Trou aux Biches, “Silver Star” at Grand Baie and “Hassen Mian” at Balaclava.

Round Island offers the best of the ‘big ones’ for divers. Diving around this island offers the possibility of seeing sharks, barracudas and marlins.

In the East region, the best dive site is the Belle Mare pass. Belle Mare pass is a drift dive site filled with lots of sea fauna like sharks, dolphins, barracudas and sting rays. Further south to Mahebourg, there are Roche Zozo and Colorado dive sites with their magnificent underwater landscape of caves, tunnels, arches, canyons, etc.

Even for a non-diver, snorkeling is sufficient to enjoy the beauty of the underwater wonders in Mauritius as the water is very clear and visibility is superb.

Tags: Africa · Diving