Itinery for worldwide tour

[annie]

Hi

I'm planning a world wide scuba diving trip for next year, starting in Europe and going east from there.
Any suggestions about what part of the world I should definitely go to and in particular, what time of the year I should be there are very welcome.

Thanks

Ann

 

[Natasha]

Annie,
Wow! Great Idea. I would say get a few travel books from the library or Borders.
They will help you a lot as far as the best time of year for travel in each place. If you go at the wrong time you could run into cold weather and hurricanes. I never take a trip without buying a book to go with it.
You wouldn't believe how many people don't even look at a map before they go somewhere. All these things are in a good travel book.
I have been to most of Europe, a lot of Mexico and a ton of the Caribbean. If I can be of any help let me know your direct questions and I'll see what I can do to help. I don't want to sound like a"know it all" but If I haven't been somewhere I always know someone that has. I've been in the travel business a long time and we're close and help each other more then we are 'cut throat'.
Dive the Planet!

 

[annie]

Natasha

Thanks for that - will buy books! I've already got a pretty good one on the top dive destinations in the world (gave me the idea in the first place).
However, I've decided now to head straight for Australia for a year or so and dive all the great locations around there - Great barrier R, Papua New Guinea, Micronesia, Melanesia, Solomons. Cairns looks like a good base but I'm still checking that out. Then I could go to New Zealand via Sydney. Wayy hay!
So now I have to check out Cairns as a base AND the cheapest way of doing all this. . . .

Annie

 

[LoCz]

I havnt been but iv done alot of research on Cairns and it looks superb. 2 of my friends including an instructor i know went over to oz and they said Cairns is awesome. They went out with Pro-Dive cairns and said it was v v professionally organised. However they had problems diving with pro dive sydney. My local instructor (master scuba diver trainer) said that his reg failed at 30 ft...and he examined the second stage only to find that it looked like it had never been serviced before. He also went on to say how poor the dive masters where.

Hope this helps a lil bit

:goofy:

 

[annie]

Thanks for the comments - I've been frothing at the mouth looking at http://www.cairnsinfo.com/

I looked at pro-dive's website - it's amazing how a dive shop's website influences my idea of how professional they are - though there may not be a connection between their web skills and diving quality!

Thanks for the info about Pro-dive in Sydney - it's good to know that sort of thing so that I can avoid it, as I will be renting gear.

Unless it's worth buying some gear there and selling it again when I leave Cairns (probably won't have room in the luggage for it). I intend to dive quite a lot while based in Cairns.

Annie

 

[Natasha]

Annie,
Hope you don't mind me being overly curious. How do you get a year off to live in 'oz' and travel around and just dive?
Man I need that job!
I'll be meeting with dive operators from Australia in New Orleans in 2 weeks. I should come back with tons of info.
If I think any might help you, I'll post it here.

 

[annie]

Natasha

Easy!
Get a 'working holiday' Visa, save up as much money as I can before I go, resign, go there, work while I'm there whenever I need to. I'm researching the cost of diving at the moment to see whether this is even feasible.

Come back and get a new job (that'll probably be the worst part)

Annie

 

[Mario S Caner]

Annie,
All you have to do is stop by my neck of the woods and pick me up. I've been diving in dozens of different countries, but I've missed at least that many more that I would love to visit soon.

Natasha, I look forward to seeing you at DEMA

Mario

 

[scubabunny]

Hey Annie,
You know...I really think you need someone to help you carry all those bags, and you know, I know just the person! I also do laundry AND windows *grins*
Hey, couldn't pass it up!
Have fun hon..and if you stop in Guam during your travels, stop in and say HI!

 

[MrMrEZG]

I'd spend the bulk of the time in the south pacific. but then I dig wreck diving.