This Big Squid dive camping expedition is for those with a sense of adventure. We will be staying in spacious tents right on the Red sea's edge surrounded by reef, sand and stars. The tents contain comfortable camping beds. Plenty of opportunity for relaxing, as well as diving, spend time in the Bedouin cafe smoking a shisha pipe and drinking Bedouin coffee, or just lay out and soak up the rays.

The Sultanate of Oman, is an ideal location for ocean creatures and shoals of pelagic's, situated as it is on the south-eastern tip of the Arabian Gulf, on the Arabian sea, and diving in Oman is the best in the Gulf, with intact coral and plenty of big fish. Dolphins can be seen in their hundreds following tuna, turtles, big morays, Devil Rays, Black Tip Reef Sharks, Groupers, Lion Fish, Frog Fish and seahorses, and, depending upon the season, whales and Whale Sharks. There are many wrecks and opportunities for drift and other specialized dives. Unlike Egypt's Red Sea, Oman has only just opened up to tourism and is un spoilt - the corals are intact and fresh, and the dive centers are small and very professionally run. Above water there are mountains and deserts to be explored, by foot or camel safari, or by 4x4 adventure tours, such as 'Wadi Bashing' (a wadi is a dried river bed), not for the faint hearted!

Oman Live aboard

9 days London to London
The Musandam Peninsula has un spoilt dive sites teaming with marine life. Almost all of its diving is well within 30 meters and is suitable for all divers of all levels. Now you can experience this sensational diving from a traditional dhow-style live aboard that takes a maximum of 12 divers. After the first night in a hotel in Dubai, you will board a seemingly traditional-style Arab dhow, which will be your home for the next seven days. However, this dhow has some very untraditional features as it is especially designed for the modern-day divers' needs. It has 4 twin-berth cabins and one 4 berth cabin, air-conditioning, a comfortable saloon, inside and outside galleys, a compressor, and a fully equipped diving equipment room, a diving platform, bar, video and sound system. Join the live aboard for a week, and then why not add some time shopping in Dubai or explore some of the beautiful desert landscape.
Day 1. Dubai
Fly overnight to Dubai where you will be met and transferred to your hotel.
Day 2. Dubai to Live aboard [D]
A relaxing day is followed by an early evening transfer across the desert to the port, to meet the boat. Alternatively, fly out and transfer to Oman without the overnight in Dubai. The boat departs late evening for a four hour sailing.
Days 3 to 7. Live aboard [FB]
Relax as you are transferred in the early evening across the border to Oman to meet the boat. The boat departs early morning for a 4 hour sailing.
Day 8. Live aboard to Dubai [B]

One final morning dive before returning to harbor and transferring to Dubai. Onward flight home, or overnight in Dubai.
Day 9. Dubai
Relax in Dubai, shopping or by the beach, before transferring to the airport for your return flight.
Day 10. Arrive home.
Dubai is a shoppers paradise with a multitude of shops and bazaars to choose from. The number of shops is nearly matched by the number of hotels. So if you would like to add on a few nights in Dubai please let us know and we can discuss with you the various options. Whether it be a value hotel in the city center or a super deluxe hotel on the beach, we have access to them all.

The Big Squid Malta expedition is for all those people from Beginners to experienced who love diving. We will be staying at a cozy 3 star hotel located in a quiet part of St Julian's, the going out capital of Malta. This hotel is an ideal location since it is close to all the pubs bars and restaurants however it is in a quiet place so you can get a good rest after a good days diving and a nice a Maltese dish. Furthermore, the hotel has only been open for a year or so and thus provides some stylish furnishing in a clean and friendly environment.

Malta provides a range of diving opportunities from the entry level to the very experienced with wrecks, caves and swim-through's spanning from a depth of 9m to over 60m for the technical divers out there.

In addition since Malta and its sister islands (Gozo, Comino and Filifa) are very close, dive trips can be organized to some of the great sites found off these islands, thus, providing us with over 40 different dive sites to visit some of which have been rated on most divers magazines as must do’s and amongst such there are the Inland Sea, Blue Hole, Lantern point, Comino Caves The UM EL FAROUD, The HMS MAORI, The P29 and the Tugboat Rozi.

The geography of the Maltese islands also provides us with the possibility of having accessible dive sites independent of the whether ensuring that we will be getting you in the water on a daily basis.

Over and above, the great history of Malta can provide a great distraction during the last day when most of the dive junkies will be getting their wet withdrawal symptoms, since, there are many world class historic and artistic sights to visit even for those of you who are not massively enthusiastic about art and history.

3 days diving with 2 dives daily

This Big Squid long European diving weekend comprises 4 days in Marettimo and 3 days diving 2 dives per day,

Sicily is 3 km off the Italian mainland and has a different feel to Italy. There is evidence of Arabic influence with archaeological remains and great unspoiled natural beauty. The food is spicy and fresh sea food and vegetables are abundance, the local wine is excellent.

Marettimo is known as the sacred island it is part of the Egrad Archipelago actually detached from Sicily. There are no cars , discos or campsites. The islands houses are built form the local Tufa rock.

Diving

The dive sites are graded easy, medium and challenging. The Cathedral is a 29 m dive and is a cave full of large formations of stalagmites and stalactites, the cave penetrates about 80 meters inside the reef. Another site San Simone has gullies and pinnacles full of life, Orlata Cala Martina is a plateau with a drop off on one side and has an abundance of Gorgonian fan corals.

Diving day

We will meet around 09.30 and take our boat ride out to the dive site, after the first dive we will take a break in a small cove to enjoy a swim the beautiful clear warm water. We will then take lunch on the boats sun deck or cool off in the shade and then transfer to the second dive site and return to Marettimo between 16.30-17.00 in time for a very good Sicilian ice cream and dinner with wine.

Caves yes
Octopus on certain spots only, but guaranteed
Barracuda yes
Grouper likely, if you invest 2-3 days for sure
Sea bream guaranteed
Archeological remains possible
Red Gorgonian coral guaranteed
Amberjacks yes
Torpedo rays possible
Red scorpion fish yes
Lobster yes
Tube worms yes

Air temperature 40 degrees c
h2o temperature 28 degrees c
Capital Palermo
Currency euros

Sudan Discovery

Join Big Squid on this amazing adventure to one of the worlds greatest and most remote diving destinations .On Friday the 28thwe will take our afternoon flight from London Heathrow to Cairo and take an overnight stay in Cairo on the Friday evening and arrange optional sightseeing excursions on Saturday to the various cultural sights including of course the pyramids. The short flight to Port Sudan is on Saturday evening returning one week later to Cairo on Saturday arriving late afternoon. Flights from Cairo back to London Heathrow are on Sunday mornings the 7th December.

Departing from Port Sudan we head north stopping at Sha’ab Suedi for the popular Blue Belt wreck before continuing beyond the weekly range of most of the other dive boats to dive Qita el Banna, Angarosh, Abington and Merlo in the northern reaches of the itinerary. As we turn back to the south we stop at Sha’ab Rumi for the breath taking southern plateau and Cousteau’s Conshelf experiment. The final leg of the safari puts us at Sanganeb Atoll and Wingate reef for the world famous Umbria wreck. A usual day onboard will be 3 day dives and a night or dusk dive.

As more of this wonderful country becomes accessible to tourism it becomes necessary to venture further off the beaten track to get that true frontier experience. This is what this itinerary is about. 60 miles to the south of Port Sudan lay the Suakin (Sawakin) Group of islands. Due to the difficulty in getting there (and back) this group of reefs and islands remains largely un dived. Like St John’s in the southern Red Sea of Egypt, most of the islands and reefs are deep-water pinnacles which mean they are perfect locations for possible sightings of large pelagic animals. Hindi Gidir, Jibna, Shaab Anbar, Leary, Pinnacola, Protector are just some of the reefs that promise some spectacular diving in this region of the Sudanese Red Sea. With Sanganeb and the Umbria so close to Port Sudan we usually drop in for a couple of dives either on the way out or back. Given the distances between dive sites and the night moorings it may not always be possible to do 3 day dives and a night/dusk dive. Some days will only be 2 day dives and a night/dusk dive.

Royal Emperor
The well designed saloon/dining room is fully air-conditioned. This is where you will find the fully stocked bar, entertainment system with TV, DVD & video and a selection of books, magazines and DVD/video films. The upper sundeck, with sun beds, chairs and a BBQ grill, has been enlarged providing plenty of space both in and out of the sun. Accommodation includes two twin cabins on the main deck and a further six on the lower deck. All are en suite with individually controlled air-conditioning and loads of storage. The dive deck has also been opened up to offer plenty more kiting up space. New membrane compressors have been fitted to provide unlimited Nitrox. O2 can be pumped to 200bar and 15Litre and pony’s cylinders are available for hire. There is a good sized dive platform but most diving is from the tenders.

Royal Emperor specifications

Length 29m
Beam 7m
Cabins 8 all en-suite
Guests 16
Crew 7 + 2 dive guides
RIBS 2 ( 4 x 25hp Yamaha Outboards )
Comms Satellite phone , VHF, SSB, EPIRB
Engine Room
Engines 2 x 510 Cummins
Generators 2 x 45kw Onan (silenced)
A/C Throughout
Compressors 2 x Bauer membrane
Desalination 2 x 200ltr/hr Desalination unit
Tech
Nitrox
Navigation
Radio, Echo sounder, VHF & GPS

SUDAN DIVE SITES INFORMATION we will explore the remains of Jacques Cousteau's legendary Con shelf II underwater living environment, follow the route of his maiden voyage aboard Calypso, visit reefs immortalized by Hans Hass in his groundbreaking 1951 film “Adventure in the Red Sea” and dive on World War II wrecks such as the Umbria. the distinct possibility of observing sharks for which the area is famed, and a massive variety of tropical Reef fish the red sea in Sudan is clear and warm, and we will have all this all this splendor to ourselves with none of the crowding of the Northern Egyptian Red Sea.

MARINE LIFE Angel fish, banner fish, moray eels, grouper, barracuda, gray reef shark, hammerhead shark, occasional tiger sharks,nurse sharks, leopard sharks ,devil rays, manta, turtles,

ANGAROSH REEF with sheer sided drop-offs on the three sides of a small cay and a sloping plateau on the fourth side. On the south Fish life is equally exciting, along with the full complement of reef species there are huge numbers of pelagic fishes here. Chief among these are the immense schools of barracuda that can commonly be seen off the reef in dense schools

SHA'AB RUMI EAST - THE CONSHELF SITE The site of Jacques Cousteau's legendary 1963 Con shelf II Experiment.More than any other Sudanese site,this spot captures the imagination . It is not hard to see why, as you dive through the Thirty-nine-years-old remains of Cousteau's underwater village.

SHA'AB RUMI SOUTH This is perhaps the most famous in Sudan. The site begins with a mini-wall, dropping to nearly 15m at the reef’s southern edge. To the east and west, sheer walls drop vertically for hundreds of meters, while a flat plateau slopes gently southward from around 20m to a depth of 30m, before dropping off into the depths.The entire reef is covered in coral. Soft varieties and gorgonian's dominate, but the reef encompasses virtually every Red Sea species. . Off the reef , we will observe amazing pelagic displays that can include big pick handle barracuda in their hundreds, jacks, tuna, and the virtual certainty of lots of sharks, including gray reefs, silvertips, black tips and above them the exotic hammerheads. A shark cage looms at 20m, left behind by the Con shelf expedition.

SANGANEB NORTH AND SOUTH This offshore site consists of a tower of pristine coral, rising from depths of 800 meters Sanganeb has an abundance of life, pelagic's, jacks and huge hammerheads,
circle the reef in a shimmering orbit. The dive site is on the reef’s southern tip, just offshore from a .manned lighthouse complete with keepers.The reef is shallow, only a few centimeters deep on top,and. is carpeted in soft corals interspersed with heads and pinnacles of mixed hard corals
Sheer vertical walls plunge down from the reef top to immense depths on almost all sides.
This side is regarded by many, with good reason, as possibly the finest coral site in the Red Sea.
But, rich as the reef life may be, it is the action offshore that really distinguishes Sanganeb:
A never ending procession of pelagic life to rival any site in this or any other sea. Sharks, including black tips, gray reef’s, silvertips and immense hammerheads, all appear in large numbers.

UMBRIA WRECK This historic wreck is one of the Sudanese Red Sea’s real treasures and ranks among the finest wreck dives in the world. With a maximum depth of less than 28m, she is shallow by most wreck diver’s standard, and at her shallowest point she actually breaks the surface. The Umbria lies on her port side. The hull is still completely intact, although heavily encrusted. It can be explored both internally and externally along its entire length.