Nigel told us:

I recently spent a week on Emperor Superior on their Simply the Best itinerary. And what a week it was!

Simply the Best focusses on three of the most famous Red Sea dive sites: The Brothers, Daedalus and Elphinstone. Famous for shark sightings, these sites are on the wish list for many divers.

Aside from the chance of spotting reef sharks, hammerhead sharks, thresher sharks and oceanic white tip sharks, there is so much more for divers to experience. One of the most famous wrecks can be found at The Brothers: the Numidia. This British vessel hit the reef in 1901 and now lies perpendicular to the reef with the bow lying at around 8m, with the rest of the ship descending at a steep angle to a depth of approximately 80m. She is covered in soft coral and home to a huge variety of marine life.

One of the highlights at Daedalus was a dive over a huge anemone garden descending from 3m to around 20m. This area is full of clownfish and is a photographer’s dream.

A trip to Daedalus is not complete without a visit to the lighthouse. The staff of this manned lighthouse are always keen to welcome divers and share some delicious Egyptian tea. The views of the reef from the top of the lighthouse are stunning and well worth the climb of over 150 steps.

Credit must go to the boat crew and Emperor staff. From the professional, knowledgeable and friendly dive guides to the ever-attentive boat crew (which included not one, but TWO pastry chefs: yummy!) everything is geared up towards ensuring that the guests have a memorable and enjoyable experience.

Will I go again? You bet!

To find out more about Red Sea liveaboards, call our friendly team on 01353 659999, or send us an email.

Located just three and half hours flight from the UK, the nine emerald islands that form the mid-Atlantic Azores archipelago are also an ideal getaway for those who don’t want to travel far.

The Azores are famous for their amazing underwater topography - labyrinthine tunnels, canyons and arches which have been etched out by lava streams over the centuries. Divers can hope to encounter at least 25 different pelagic species including blue and mako sharks, spotted, bottlenose and Risso’s dolphins, turtles, rays, and even whale sharks. Beaked whales, sperm whales, humpbacks and false killer whales can also be spotted from the surface.

Back on land, divers can immerse themselves in the rich cultural heritage of the islands. Each island has its own unique charm but share a common accent on adventure. Climb volcanoes, cycle or hike through picturesque landscapes, take to the water on a whale watching trip, or explore World Heritage sites. Relax your muscles in bubbling hot springs, and enjoy delicious local cuisine.

Regaldive offer holidays to the islands of Sao Miguel, Pico, and Santa Maria during the May – October season when the best diving conditions can be found. The Azores are particularly well suited to twin centre island combinations and with flexible scheduled and charter flights available, we can plan your trip to get the most out of this exciting destination.

Want to find out more? Contact the specialist Regaldive team on 01353 659999 or email us to plan your Azores adventure.

The Socorro Islands are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean, approximately 250 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, at the tip of the Baja peninsula. Socorro Islands Liveaboards are the latest addition to our programme and are ideal for big animal encounters.

The area is famous for close encounters with the Giant Pacific manta ray, which can grow to over six metres across. Divers will also see many species of shark and several hammerhead cleaning stations. Whale sharks can be found between November and December and late April to May. 

Pods of wild bottlenose dolphin are encountered on a regular basis, and from January to March the islands are home to a large population of humpback whales that visit the islands to breed and calve. Divers also frequently see extremely large tuna (the world record yellowfin is from these waters), wahoo, large schools of jacks and endemic tropicals found nowhere else in the world. 

Introducing Our New Socorro Islands Liveaboards

There are a few Socorro Islands Liveaboards in our programme:

• Nautlius Belle Amie Luxurious, stabilised, modern 44m vessel custom built for up to 32 divers split into 4 staggered dive groups. The most comfortable way to experience Socorro
• Nautilus Undersea Comfortable, steel hulled 40m vessel, custom designed for up to 18 dives, this vessel provides space and an experienced crew. 
• Nautilus Explorer Steel hull, high end 35m long range liveaboard, the Nautilus Explorer was custom designed for 24 divers. The vessel's construction provides for a remarkably easy ride. 
• Solmar V A 34m liveaboard departing from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. She travels with a crew of 10 and a maximum of 22 divers. 

 Contact the friendly, specialist Regaldive Team on 01353 659999, or email us for a Socorro Islands Liveaboard quote today.

We are pleased to introduce the newest addition to our programme; Cocos Island Liveaboards. A distinctive and remote diving location, Cocos Island is ideal for the serious diver. Regaldive’s latest addition will no doubt be at the top of the ‘must dive’ lists in 2016!

A distinctive and remote diving location, Cocos Island is surrounded by deep waters populated by Whale Sharks, Schooling Hammerhead Sharks, White-tip Sharks, Tuna, Manta Rays & three species of Turtle. Dolphins are often seen and the odd whale, if you are lucky.

This uninhabited island rests 340 miles off Costa Rica and the only way to visit Cocos Island for diving is by liveaboards, which operate year round. 

Three New Cocos Island Liveaboards 

Regaldive has recently added three Cocos Island Liveaboards to its programme:

• Sea Hunter: 115  ft. liveaboard offering comfort and convenience. Sea Hunter has 10 guest cabins with private bathrooms, providing live-aboard comfort for up to 20 passengers. The Sea Hunter is considered by many as the paramount, purpose-built liveaboard vessel operating in the area. Specialties are excellence in service, food and non-stop underwater excitement. 
• Okeanos Aggressor I: 110  ft. liveaboard providing comfortable accommodation for 22 guests in 9 Deluxe Staterooms and 1 Quad Cabin.
• Okeanos Aggressor II: (formerly Wind Dancer) 120 ft. liveaboard accommodating 22 guests in 8 double/twin stateroom cabins, 2 luxurious suites and 1 Master Stateroom.

Call us today on 01353 659999 or send us an email to receive a holiday quote for your Cocos liveaboard adventure

Dive into Cocos liveaboard trips here

If you fancy a longer Maldives liveaboard trip, Emperor Serenity is now offering a 14-night Best of Maldives holiday. The new itinerary is one of the best ways to experience the magic of the Maldives covering iconic dive sites such as Male Atolls, Lhaviyani Atoll, Noonu, Raa and Baa Atolls, Rasdhoo Atoll and Ari Atolls. Combining top quality diving with the promise of 'bucket list' marine sightings and the superb hotel-style of Emperor Serenity, this is destined to be a Maldives trip that will be on many divers’ wish lists.

Guests can enjoy this longer 14-night Best of Maldives holiday on selected dates throughout the year. Sailing from Male, the new Maldives' liveaboard, Emperor Serenity, brings a class of her own with contemporary styling and plenty of space where fine accommodation and service is standard. This 40 metre boat easily accommodates 26 guests in 13 well-appointed ensuite cabins all with air-conditioning, so even a two-week holiday will fly by.

7-night trips can also be arranged on the same itinerary, if the 14 night voyage is too long - guests have the choice of joining the outbound or return legs.

Included is full board, free Nitrox, around 37 dives (14-night trip), local transfers, a visit to a deserted island for a BBQ under the stars and the chance to dive with manta, whale sharks, sharks, turtles and myriad marine life, as well as a City tour with local guide.

All diving is done from Emperor Serenity's large dhoni tender, giving more living space on board and the flexibility to take guests to the perfect dive spot every time. Four dive guides provide a premium service.

For more details, please call us on 01353 659999, or send us an email 

Visit our Emperor Serenity web pages to find out more. 

A MERMAID II LIVEABOARD TRIP REPORT FROM REGALDIVE’S JOHN BUTLAND

After a few days enjoying the hospitality and diving of Bali, it was at last time to join the much anticipated liveaboard to the world famous Komodo.  It’s a trip that I had wanted to do for many years and it was great to eventually be on board the Mermaid II, meeting the crew and my companions for the week.  The Mermaid II is a comfortable boat, with a very enthusiastic crew who were determined to help us make the most of our week. 

The boat leaves Bali and makes the journey eastwards overnight, with a lovely sunset as we passed Lombok, arriving at the first dive site just after breakfast. Quite an easy check dive to start with of course, but still lots to see. We soon moved on to our first unusual dive, the semi-active Sangeang Volcano. It last erupted properly about a year ago and there is still the odd boom and plume of smoke from the visible crater. Of course the dive sites had volcano related names, such as Hot Rocks & Bubbles, the latter due to the bubbles of volcanic gas that emanate from the sea bed.  Both sites had a nice mixture of bigger fish like Sweetlips and our first look at the macro life, such as Pigmy Seahorse and Orangutan Crab, found only with the help of the expert guides. 

Then we moved on to dive around the island of Komodo itself. An afternoon and a night dive giving us a long list of species to be seen and photographed. The first dive of the next day was another, much anticipated highlight. The site is called Shotgun, the reason for this soon becoming obvious. All is very calm when you first drop in the water, descending to a sandy bottom covered in about a dozen big stingrays. We dropped into a shallow pit in the seabed and made sure we were all ready for what was to come.  As a group, we all ascended until the current caught us and we were riding the shotgun, the strongest current I have ever experienced, as the water is squeezed between two islands.  It lasts a few minutes and is a very exhilarating experience, hence why it’s a "must do" dive in the area. 

More day and night dives around Komodo followed, with everybody happy with the variety of underwater life encountered.  The next morning was a chance to go onto the island and get up close and almost personal with the famous Komodo Dragon. You can get very close, but luckily there are rangers on hand to prevent anyone becoming lunch for the world’s largest lizard. An hour long walk on the island also brought other wildlife such as Deer and Wild Boar into view.

We then moved on to the slightly colder waters to the south of Komodo and the island of Rinca. Although there was also plenty to keep the macro lover happy, such as Hairy Shrimp and Painted Frogfish, the highlight here has to be the big stuff. There was plenty of sharks (Blacktips & Whitetips) and best of all Manta Rays. Of course we have all been to sites called Manta Point and not seen a Manta all, but this time it delivered the goods with half a dozen spottings.  Another site nearby was the stand out part of the week for me though. On a drift dive over a relatively uninteresting reef I counted at least 25 Mantas coming in to the small coral areas to be cleaned.  Everyone came back from that dive with a big smile.

For this trip, the boat proceeded on to Maumere on Flores, as the next week it was making its way up to Raja Ampat for the winter. Probably good timing, as it was now the start of the rainy season around Bali and on our very last dive we returned to the boat in a downpour, with lightning in the distance.  The normal routing for this trip is back to Bali, nice and convenient for the trip home, not that anyone would want to leave such an amazing place. 

John's trip board the Mermaid II followed the Bali - Komodo - Maumere itinerary (8 days, 7 nights). The usual routing for this trip is Bali - Komodo - Bali  (8 days, 7 nights).

A trip report from Regaldive’s John Butland

Just before Christmas, I had a trip to the lovely island of Bali. It was a great experience for me, it’s so nice to visit areas that are regularly visited by Regaldive guests and I even met some of our guests there.

To get there, I decided to try the relatively new service from Gatwick by Garuda - this is to Jakarta and then a short internal flight to Bali. They looked after me very well and the advantage is that they are quite often a bit cheaper than some of the other airlines. 

Bali is a beautiful island and we feature two locations that are well known for the quality of the diving, the North East and the North West sides, both well away from the hustle and bustle of the capital Denpasar. I was very impressed the standard and variety of both the accommodation and diving, there is certainly something for everyone there.

I visited all of the properties we feature, starting with the Alam Anda Ocean Front Resort & Spa, a traditional Balinese style property with very friendly staff and good food. It's located right on the sea front and a gentle dive on the house reef was a great way to start a week’s diving. Immediately, I knew I was in for some good dives, with some small critters such as Ghost Pipefish, right up to big things, like a Turtle and 3 Bumphead Parrotfish. 

I then moved on to a hotel that is very popular with Regaldive guests, the luxurious Siddhartha Ocean Front Resort. There are also some lovely dive sites within 10 minutes of the Werner Lau dive centre, including the well-known Liberty Wreck and Werner Lau is one of the few dive centres that visit it by boat, rather than the shore. The Liberty really is a lovely wreck, with an interesting history and it is absolutely smothered in life, at times it's difficult to know which way to look! Again, both the lovers of macro and bigger stuff should all be kept happy. 

I then travelled to the North West side of the island, staying nearby to Naya Gawana Resort & Spa, a charming, Balinese style resort with the dive centre on the beach just next door. This gave me the chance to dive an area I was really looking forward to, Menjangan, a small island just off the coat of the Bali Barat National Park. The currents and sheer walls are the home to many lovely corals, full of life with plenty of Napoleon wrasse and groupers. There were even schools of Barracuda and a few Grey Reef Sharks out in the blue. Just on the other side of the headland is Secret Bay (Gilimanuk), a big draw for macro enthusiasts. The tide has to be right though, so bring your camera just-in-case for the Nudibranchs and Mantis Shrimp. 

Although none of us relish a 3 or 4 hour transfer, the drive back to Denpasar has got to be one of the world’s most interesting and scenic. We enjoyed views over the top of the island’s central mountains, with lovely views over the terraced paddy fields, thick forests and a couple of volcanic lakes. 

I'd recommend Bali as a great place to start the huge adventure of diving in Indonesia and also a perfect place to board a liveaboard to another amazing diving location. But more of that from me next time...

Malta – one of Regaldive’s most popular destinations - is only a three hour flight from the UK and boasts a huge number of wrecks to enjoy. Lying at 17m in part of Valetta harbour is HMS Maori: a British destroyer sunk in 1942. Another fascinating WWII wreck is the Bristol Blenheim Bomber, just a short boat ride off Zonqor Point. One of five known wrecks of its kind, the engine and wings are intact at 42m and make a memorable dive for experienced divers.  Another wreck for the more experienced diver is the Imperial Eagle; an ex ferry and the sister ship to Cousteau’s Calypso. 

An Egyptian liveaboard is the place to be if you want to visit the best wrecks the Red Sea can offer. Regaldive offer itineraries including the most famous Red Sea wrecks: the Dunraven at Ras Mohamed, the Rosalie Moller and, arguably the most famous wreck of them all; the mighty Thistlegorm. 

Known as the “wreck capital of the Caribbean” Grenada is recognised for its exceptional range of wrecks, and is renowned for one wreck in particular: The Bianca C - a 200m liner that sank in 1961.  With her deck sitting at 35m, the wreck supports a large amount of marine life and has numerous points of interest, including a swimming pool and the bridge. At the bow divers can see large pelagics including schools of barracuda and tuna, as well as passing eagle and manta rays.

The Veronica L, a highly photogenic wreck that makes a fantastic night dive, is festooned with colourful soft corals, sponges and marine life. The open hold, crane and surrounds of this 25m cargo ship are home to seahorses, moray eels, frogfish and octopus. 

Regaldive also offer trips to Coron in the Philippines where you can dive the Kyokuzan Maru. This huge Japanese freighter lies upright at 30m. She provides a beautiful dive with her vast holds containing military vehicles and providing shelter to batfishes, fusiliers and trevallies. From Palawan divers can also visit the Second World War wrecks of Coron Bay: some of the best preserved in the world. 

In the early 1960s, Jacques Cousteau placed Sudan firmly in the psyche of divers with his experiments in underwater living. The remains of the Conshelf II “village” provide a fascinating window into this unique chapter of diving history. Directly out of Port Sudan lies the Umbria. This Italian cargo ship was deliberately scuppered to avoid it falling into enemy hands.  The holds are easily penetrated and the cargo (ranging from ammunition and military vehicles, to wine) is still there to be explored. Fans of the Red Sea seeking a new challenge should ask Regaldive for details on a Sudan liveaboard.

There is nothing quite like the feeling of sitting on a boat knowing that you are about to dive one of the most famous wrecks sites in the world. Each site has its own unique beauty, is mostly intact, within reasonable diving depth and full of amazing artefacts. Happy diving, metalheads!

For help with planning your wreck diving adventure, call us on 01353 659 999 or send us an email

Visit the Regaldive Stand at LIDS!

We are looking forward to seeing everyone at the London International Dive Show (LIDS 2016). This exciting event takes place at the ExCel in London from Thursday, 11 February until Sunday, 14 February 2016.

Dip into the programme of presentations from the world's top diving experts, enjoy the in-hall features such as the Try Dive Pool, Rebreather Pool, PhotoZone and New Product Showcase, plus themed Travel and Dive-Training areas. Compare dive kit, plan your next diving adventures and meet up with old friends.

We are really looking forward to LIDS 2016, so do come and see the Regaldive team at Stand #310 to make sure that you get the best diving holiday deals! We look forward to catching up with you during the show and discussing your diving holiday plans.

LIDS Opening Times

• Thursday, 11 February - 1:00pm-8:00pm
• Friday, 12 February - 10:00am-5:00pm
• Saturday, 13 February - 9:00am-6:00pm
• Sunday, 14 February 2016 - 9:00am-5:00pm

 Find out more about LIDS 2016 here

With an award winning dive centre, located directly on Playa Chica beach, scuba divers are very well catered for with daily shore and boat dives, and twice weekly night dives. 

Great for Drop Offs, Reefs and Wrecks

If you are looking for a nearby diving destination with drop offs, reefs and wrecks, Lanzarote is bound to please and it is also renowned for its clear underwater visibility.

The volcanic landscape that is so impressive on the surface is equally as awe inspiring underwater with lava flows and cave formations providing divers with some fantastic areas to explore. Lanzarote has something to offer divers of all levels with sheltered areas suitable for beginners, as well as wrecks, caves and swim-throughs to suit more experienced divers.

The popular Canaries enjoy good weather practically all year round. Temperatures rarely drop below 16ºC and rise to around 30ºC in the summer, with an average of 6 to 11 hours of sunshine each day. 

Situated on the East Coast and 20 minutes from the airport, Puerto del Carmen is the principle and busiest resort on Lanzarote Island. The rocks are covered in anemones, sponges and soft corals and are home to a variety of marine life. The harbour wall wreck dive site is a designated Underwater Park containing a number of wrecks. Near the shore the sea bed is sandy and drops away to steep volcanic walls. 

Find out more about Diving in Lanzarote here >