Diving with whale sharks ranks near the top of any diver’s bucket list. These gentle giants of the underwater world may look intimidating due to their enormous size but in fact they are known to pose no threat to humans, and munch their way through algae, plankton and krill, filtered from seawater through their enormous mouths. The largest fish on the planet, whale sharks can be up to 40 feet long and live for 80 years!

These enigmatic and beautiful creatures are more often seen close to the surface, making that elusive encounter all the more possible for divers and snorkelers alike. Despite their dwindling numbers and endangered species status, we are delighted to report that whale shark awareness is on the increase and we have recent sightings from Regaldive divers holidaying in Egypt, Oman, Philippines, Galapagos, Azores, Djibouti and other destinations around the world.

To mark this week’s International Whale Shark Day, we’ve put together a couple of options for those looking to maximise their chances of an underwater encounter with these gentle giants. Just don’t forget your camera!

The Daymaniyat Islands, off the coast of Muscat in Oman, have been placed under the protection of UNESCO and can offer less experienced divers the rare chance to swim with whale sharks, encountered from June to September. The islands provide divers with pristine coral gardens, walls and abundant fish life to admire, as well as other shark species including leopard sharks. Seven nights’ at the Nabucco's Al Sawadi Beach Resort, which proves easy access to the Daymaniyat islands, cost from £970 per person to include flights, transfers and seven nights’ half board accommodation, based on two people sharing. A three day dive pack costs from £173 per person, to include two unguided boat dives per day, air tanks and weights.

For more experienced divers, the Galapagos Islands are recognised as one of the world’s best locations to encounter whale sharks in large numbers, specifically between May and November. Regaldive’s eight day Galapagos Sky liveaboard journeys around Wolf and Darwin Islands, allowing divers the chance to swim alongside whale sharks, hammerheads, Galapagos sharks, dolphins and rays. The liveaboard includes two dives at Darwin’s Arch, where seasonal sightings of whale sharks are common. Costing from £4,591 per person, the package includes flights, transfers, two nights’ B&B hotel accommodation, seven nights’ Half Board boat accommodation on board the Galapagos Sky, some drinks, three dives per day on Wolf and Darwin Island, air tanks and weights.

Galapagos Special Offer

Book by 16 October 2013 for an incredible saving of up to £660 per person on liveaboard sailings aboard the luxuriously-appointed Galapagos Sky. This boat offers really incredible levels of service - they will even bring you tea in bed! This limited special offer is valid for sailings on 6, 20 and 27 December 2013, and 17 January, 7 and 21 February, 14 and 28 March 2014.

For more information call 01353 659 999.

Thanks to Simon Rogerson for the incredible imagery of whale sharks in Djibouti.

"Very relaxed, enjoyable and just what we needed!" That's the verdict on Regaldive guest Don's recent trip to Hamata. Thanks to Don for taking the time to send us his feedback and also these great photos of his week's diving at Lahami Bay Beach Resort.

Read his trip report here

Take a look at his photos here

Hamata really is a wonderful place to dive Egypt as it used to be! Get away from the crowds and experience pristine reefs and plentiful marine life in an idyllic location. Find out more about Diving in Hamata.

The stunning Azores Islands are growing in popularity all the time as more and more divers discover the sensational diving, scenery and marine life just a short four hour flight from the UK. Here's another trip report from some happy Regal Divers - repeat guests who stayed at Hotel Marina Atlantico, Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel and dived with Nerus Dive Centre.

"Just a quick note to say that we had a fantastic time in the Azores. Sofiane and his team at Nerus made us extremely welcome and worked extremely hard to ensure that we enjoyed all the diving experience. The diving was excellent, probably better than our visit last year – the visibility was better, up to 30m. Lots of life to see, from tiny nudibranches to large stingrays. Good wrecks, and stunning underwater seascapes, all within a short boat ride from Ponta Delgada.

Above land, the hotel, Marina Atlantico,  was excellent, I am surprised that you do not put all the diving guests in this hotel, given it’s proximity to the marina and the dive centres. The local restaurants are good too, however, judging from the portion sizes, they are more used to catering for Americans than the British.

It was amazing that the Melo rep who met us at the airport remembered us from last year! Locally, most things are good value for money, especially food and drink (and cigarettes if you smoke – we don’t!). No problems with SATA, extra baggage checked in with no problems at both ends. All in all, a lovely holiday, and not only would we go again, we would recommend it!"

In honour of Shark Week, we've compiled the Regaldive Top Five Shark Spots!

Galapagos Islands - One of the three corners of the Hammerhead Triangle in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Here it is possible to dive with hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of Hammerhead sharks that are attracted by schools of fish feeding on nutrient rich up-wellings around the seamounts and isolated islands. The great thing about the Galapagos is that Hammerheads can be seen all year round, although June to November is much calmer weather.

Philippines - Malapascua Island is one of the few places in the world where you can reliably see the very rare Thresher shark.  Twin this with the small island of Cabilao, which offers some fabulous sites for seeing schools of Hammerheads in the winter months from December to April. Shark View Point (also known as Hammerhead Point) is the number one spot for Hammerheads, with sometimes up to 100 on one dive.

Layang Layang, Malaysia - This is a small oceanic atoll, 300km north west of Kota Kinabalu, off the coast of Malaysian Borneo in the South China Sea. Offering complete isolation, pristine reefs and steep walls plunging 2000m into the blue, Layang Layang has gained a well-deserved reputation for the quality and quantity of its pelagic life. Hammerheads are abundant during their mating season (April and May). Grey Reef sharks, Leopard sharks and even Threshers and Silvertips can also be seen here.

Egypt – The Egyptian Red Sea offers a huge variety of potential shark diving locations, however perhaps the most reliable areas for sightings are the offshore islands of the Brothers, Daedalus, Rocky and Zabargad. Here divers frequently encounter Oceanic Whitetip, Thresher and Grey Reef sharks. September and October are the best months for Oceanic Whitetips.

Azores – The new frontier of shark diving in Europe, the Azores is one of the best destinations in the world to dive up close and personal with Blue and Mako sharks. However, tracking down these majestic deep sea creatures is not for the faint hearted. The sharks are typically found around a seamount some 20 miles offshore. The adrenaline pumping dives are carried out in blue water and call for excellent buoyancy skills.

It's always great to get feedback on our holidays!! When a guest comes back from resort and the only negative comment they can think of is the lack of decent tea bags... well, it means they had a great time! Thanks to Richard for his fantastic account of his recent trip to dive Pico in the Azores - 25 rays on one dive anyone!?!?! Just be sure to pack your tea bags next time...

Read all about Richard's adventure at Pico

Thanks to CW Azores and photography Jan Reyniers for the imagery.

The stunning Meeru Island Resort & Spa is picture postcard Maldives. Lying on a protected beautiful blue lagoon, with a long white sandy beach, the stunning backdrop of lush vegetation creates a tranquil, relaxing atmosphere.

Meeru Island Resort & Spa is the eastern most resort of North Male atoll and provides access to over 50 fantastic dive sites. The island's protected lagoon also offers excellent conditions for learners and snorkellers. Meerufenfushi Island also offers a good range of other land and water sports, including windsurfing, pitch & putt and tennis - meaning that there is plenty on offer for non-diving family and friends!

This award-winning resort has recently won the coveted 2013 Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor. Packages including flights, transfers and 7 nights FB accommodation in a Beach Villa start from just £1629 per person. What are you waiting for?

The Azores emerge majestically from the Atlantic Ocean more or less between Lisbon and New York, and are characterised by lush, green volcanic cliffs and picturesque Mediterranean style buildings. The spectacular natural beauty of these emerald islands is matched underwater by endlessly fascinating labyrinthine tunnels, canyons and arches etched out from volcanic mountains by ancient lava streams.  Diving here is breathtaking, and the outstanding topography is almost surpassed by the extraordinary pelagic marine life that can be encountered here.

Beaked whales, sperm whales, fin whales, humpbacks, false killer whales, spotted, bottlenose and Risso’s dolphins, turtles and more are readily spotted from the surface May to October.  Whilst rare to see them when diving, it is not unknown to hear them. Meanwhile the underwater arches, tunnels, caves, cliffs and ship wrecks provide a haven for sub-tropical fish and stunning silhouette photography opportunities.

Journalist James Stewart recently visited the Azores with Regaldive and dived with our two partners on the ‘green island’ of Sao Miguel – Azores Sub and Nerus Dive Centre.

Read his fascinating article for The Independent here>

Discover more about diving the Azores archipelago here>

Regaldive team member, John Butland, enjoyed a trip aboard MY Superior in May.  Here he shares his experience...

"I’m really pleased to say I had a great trip on Emperor Superior recently. The itinerary was the ‘Famous Five’, taking in some of the best known dive areas in the Red Sea.

After our check dive the first of the main dives was the Rosalie Moller, a first for me. Not great visibility, but still a nice dive. Due to its depth it’s certainly a good idea to have your Nitrox qualification, just to make sure you have the maximum time down on the wreck. The following morning came the Thistlegorm. I know some people say ‘it’s not as good as it used to be’. But it is still amazing, definitely one of the world’s best wreck dives. We were the first boat there - one of the benefits of a liveaboard. So we were rewarded by being the first divers down on the wreck, with great visibility and absolutely no current. The second dive involved the classic penetration route and full exploration of the holds, it's just a shame we could only spend an hour down there!

Then off to Ras Mohammed, and another dive site that I have dived before but I’m sure I will never get tired of, Shark & Yolanda. Once again we were the only boat there and had a great dive - despite the huge current coming down between the reefs, I’ve never known it so strong. We were very pleased to see a large free swimming Moray and a friendly Hawksbill Turtle.

After another tasty meal on the boat we started the overnight trip down to the Brother Islands - certainly the part I was looking forward to most. First dive was on the wreck of the Numidia on Big Brother. It was an amazing site to view the large ship perched at such a precarious angle on the reef slope, encrusted in colourful soft corals.  A further two dives on Big Brother completed a satisfying day, the highlight being a few Grey Reef Sharks hanging about in the blue.

Although 6am is quite early to be woken up when on holiday, it’s certainly worth it when you’re in the water on Little Brother before breakfast! Another great couple of dives - made all that much better by some good shark sightings.  More Reef Sharks, and one in the blue that looked suspiciously like a large Silky. I was told that we were just entering the best time for sharks, with good sightings expected through until November.

Our final Famous Five destination was the Salem Express, a new dive site for me and one I’ve wanted to dive for a long time. It’s amazing how much coral growth there has been in a little over 20 years...

Our last day & a half’s diving took place around Safaga and Hurghada as we edged closer to our docking time. Supposedly easier diving at the end of our trip, but there was one surprise in store. A massive current at Shab Sheer gave us the ride of our lives, which was great fun. Luckily the boat crew were up to the job and made sure the Zodiac was there to meet us on surfacing, despite be half a mile from our intended surfacing point!

The final night at sea was a lovely still evening, with a beautiful sunset over the hills of Safaga - a great photo opportunity.

The Superior is a lovely boat, staffed by a friendly, attentive crew, which really helped make it such a great trip. Also, I met some nice people from around Europe and even South America -  a good mixture of 7 nationalities in total. All in all it was a very satisfying trip after over a year out of the water for me - I'd highly recommend it!"

Regaldive are thrilled to add Roots in El Quseir to the Red Sea programme.  Run by the well-respected British Pharaoh Dive Club team, Roots is a small friendly resort with an excellent house reef.

The natural building materials, magnificent mountain backdrop and unspoilt beaches make for a wonderfully relaxing destination. Roots return guests speak volumes, with exceptional comments from happy divers.

Pharaoh Dive Club is a RAID 5 Star centre as well as conducting BSAC courses, located on the beach at Roots in El Quseir.  The British owned and managed centre has direct access to a good house reef.  Zodiac and hard boat diving is available from El Quseir harbour, just 10 minutes away.  The house reef has a very shallow area for training, and a dedicated classroom.

Find out more about Roots in El Quseir >

The team at the Oasis Dive Resort in Marsa Alam are thrilled to have green turtles nesting on the beach!

One morning at sunrise at the end of January, a guest observed a green turtle depositing her eggs on the beach just in front of the resort.  From the tracks leading to and from the water, the team think that it was one female.

They have created a diversion to the house reef jetty so that the stretch of beach is not disturbed.  The team are extremely excited about what will happen in a couple of weeks!  They are hoping to see the hatchlings at around the end of February.

Adult Green Turtles grow to 1.5 m long and reach weights of up to 200 kgs. It is speculated that they take 10 to 15 years to reach sexual maturity.  Individuals live up to 50 years in the wild.  Mating tends to occur just offshore of the nesting beaches between October and February.

They typically lay between 100 and 150 eggs; the whole process takes around two hours. Incubation takes between 6 and 8 weeks, and temperature determine the sex of the hatchlings.  Eggs incubated below 29 degrees produce primarily male turtles, and eggs incubated above this temperature produce primarily females. 

The hatchlings instinctively head directly into the water. This is the most dangerous time in a turtle's life.  As they walk, predators, such as gulls and crabs, feed on them.  The baby turtles immediately seek refuge in sargasso rafts and have to swim up to 72 hours to far offshore areas, where they are believed to live for 5 to 10 years, feeding close to the surface.  Once the juveniles reach a certain age/size range, they leave the pelagic habitat and travel to nearshore into their permanent shallow-water lifestyle. 

A significant percentage never make it to the ocean. It is estimated that only 1 of 1000 hatchlings reach sexual maturity! 

The team at Oasis are looking forward to giving their hatchlings the very best chance! 

Find out more about Oasis Dive Resort in Marsa Alam >