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 >

When Nick Rawson finally had the opportunity to visit Indonesian Borneo and stay at Derawan Dive Lodge, he wasn't disappointed...

Nick Rawson’s Derawan Trip Report

“Finally, 8 years after flying over the Sangalaki archipelago I’ve arrived! I saw the islands on a return flight from Manado to Singapore & thought that I would like to visit, but after reading some very disappointing trip reports, I decided to wait.

Last year my friends, the two Dan's (D1 & D2) from Tasik Ria told me they were planning to open a dive lodge on Derawan, one of the islands of the archipelago, so knowing that the accommodation & dive operation would be first rate I knew my wait was over.

I travelled with my wife, Jill and our very good friend Jennifer. We spent 10 days at Tasik Ria, diving most days, the day off-gassing before the morning flight to Balikpapan was spent chilling in the resort.

We had an early start, leaving Tasik Ria at 4:50am, stopping along the way to pickup Dan Green (D2), who was joining us on the trip. We arrived at Manado Sam Ratalungi Airport at 5:45am, where we boarded Batavia airlines flight to Balikpapan. After the short and pleasant flight we arrived at Sepinggan Airport on the east coast of Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo).  We had a 3 hour wait before the next leg of our journey to Barau, so we decided to spend the time chilling out in the BlueSky Lounge, the service in the lounge was great, they rechecked our baggage and kept us informed about the flight status.

The second flight was also with Batavia, this time it only lasted 40min. On arriving in Barau, we quickly collected our luggage & were picked up by our driver, who would take us on the road trip section of our adventure.

The trip to Tanjung Batu was very interesting, for much of the journey we travelled beside the impressive Barau River, the road then passes through the jungle & eventually to the port where we boarded the speed boat that was to take us to Derawan Island.

We sped across the calm turquoise water and after about 30 minutes were greeted with the sight of the white sand beaches of Derawan. The resort is situated on the beach surrounded with palm trees, an idilic tropical retreat!

The day we arrived was a BBQ night so we got to feast on freshly caught crab, delicious! A note about the food, my wife doesn’t like most Indonesian food, so the staff made meals to her liking throughout our stay, thanks.

We put our dive gear outside the rooms, and went to bed filled with anticipation about the next days diving. Nadine, The manager had told us we were going to dive with Mantas!

Our first day’s diving was around Sangalaki island, on a site named Manta Run. We dropped down, in the low-ish vis water, to 12M and waited, after about 10 minutes the first Manta I’d ever seen underwater went cruising past, only to be followed by a second and a third! I’ve seen Mantas from the boat before but nothing had prepared me for being so close to these magnificent creatures. We did three dives that day, I spent most of my time watching and photographing the mantas but we also saw a large green turtle, a Spotted Eagle Ray & a very big Giant Clam.

Following that we spent time muck diving around Derawan & Palau Panjang, where we saw Lembeh Sea Dragons, Denise’s Pigmy Sea Horse and octopus. We were also fortunate enough to enjoy a fantastic night dive at the BMI Jetty, and visit Kakaban & the jellyfish lake."

Find out more about Derawan Dive Lodge >

Hamata is the most southerly diving resort in the Egyptian Red Sea. The remoteness of this area makes it the ultimate in ‘get away from it all’ diving. Emperor Divers has opened a new dive centre based at the Zabargad Berenice Resort in Hamata. The new dive centre is on the doorstep of Fury Shoals and Qulan Islands, which can be dived daily. Fabulous house reef and boat diving is offered from the small marina. 

Emperor’s diving boat is just three minutes away at the marina, whilst the house reef is within walking distance and a great choice for divers with non-diving partners and for underwater photographers.

This part of the southern Red Sea is pristine and delivers diving days that echo those early times of ‘pioneering’ diving, far away from the crowds. The dive sites around Hamata offer big fish, bigger corals, small critters, wrecks, shallow caverns and steep drop-offs with typically stunning visibility.

Guests can often have stunning sites like Sha’ab Hamham Said, Gota Bohar and Gota Sataya Soraya all to themselves, whilst, of course, being able to visit the famous liveaboard sites Sha’ab Claudio, Sha’ab Maksour and Malahi . There are also a few wrecks in the area such as the sailing yacht on Abu Galawa Sorayer and Tien Hsing on Abu Galawa Kebir.

Find out more about diving with Emperor in Hamata > 

Regaldive are now able to offer seats from East Midlands to Marsa Alam!  Starting in November 2013, fly direct to Marsa Alam.  It's perfect timing for a visit to the southern Red Sea, avoiding the hottest months of July and August.  Fly direct to Marsa Alam from Gatwick, Manchester or East Midlands airports.

Diving in Marsa Alam is world-class, the coastal reefs are stunning with impressive hard and soft corals, elaborate topography and an amazing abundance and variety of colourful fish.  The dramatic walls and drop-offs of Elphinstone Reef are a spectacular dive, with sightings of schooling hammerheads and oceanic white tip sharks.

Marsa Alam offers uncomplicated, uncrowded diving at its very best.

Regaldive now offer even more choice for your trip to the southern Red Sea!  Fly direct from Gatwick, Manchester or East Midlands airports. 

Call Regaldive to get a quote for a Marsa Alam diving holiday from your regional airport!

Join a special Maldives liveaboard departure for the over-50s from 26th May until 2nd June, 2013. The liveaboard promises ‘Beautiful relaxed dives without stress and pressure, especially for refreshers and safety conscious divers’ as well as ‘visits to the best diving spots in the Northern Maldives, with no other safari boat and no other divers.’

The one-off special trip takes place on-board the luxurious MY Amba - the only liveaboard to operate in Haa-Alifu, the most northerly of the Maldivian atolls. Open to couples and singles, guests can look forward to seeing manta rays, sharks, rays, fish swarms and coral gardens.

The boat caters for 20 guests in nine spacious twin cabins, as well as a double luxury cabin. A well-equipped saloon and bar also feature on-board and, once a week, a BBQ is organised on an uninhabited island.

Costing from £1,738 per person, the price includes flights with Emirates; internal flights; seven nights’ standard accommodation on a full board basis, based on two sharing, as well as two to three dives per day and one night dive.  A minimum of 40 logged dives is required for this liveaboad, along with the PADI Advanced qualification.

Find out more about MY Amba Maldives Liveaboard >