Top Underwater Destinations To Explore

Featured on Travel Gumbo:The global ocean covers a staggering 70.8 per cent of Earth’s surface and yet its depths still remain largely a mystery. One thing we can be certain of though is the benefit of spending time in or around water on our wellbeing. It is known to improve our physical and mental health. With that in mind, here are my top underwater destinations to explore:http://www.travelgumbo.com/blog/top-5-underwater-destinationsThis is a great article for non-divers to learn a little bit more about the wonders of the ocean and why I fell in love with being underwater!

Top Ten Dive Destinations Supporting Marine Reserves

Featured on Scuba Diver Life:Marine reserves around the world face unprecedented political and environmental challenges. Here are 10 of the top dive destinations supporting marine reserves. https://scubadiverlife.com/top-ten-dive-destinations-supporting-marine-reserves/

WAOW liveaboard sinks

The MSY WAOW, a popular and beautiful Indonesian liveaboard vessel, will sadly no longer be operating as she sank during a storm in Biak Harbour on 31st January 2018. There was no loss of life or physical injury.The WAOW team have released a heartfelt statement following the incident, expressing their sadness and gratitude to the crew and customers who ‘shared the WAOW adventure’ with them. Their positive approach in the face of such a devastating event was clearly evident in the final paragraph of the statement.Read more: https://www.liveaboard.com/news/waow-sinks

How climate change threatens Indonesia's marine tourism

Featured in the Jakarta Post:While the Earth has only warmed around 0.74 degrees Celsius over the last 100 years, this small temperature increase is affecting ocean ecosystems and could impact upon the global marine tourism industry.Coral reef tourism has a global value of US$36 billion per year, according to a scientific study mapping the global value and distribution of coral reef tourism. This study, published in the Marine Policy journal in August 2017, concluded that 30 percent of the world’s reefs are valuable to tourism.Indonesia has a thriving coral reef tourism industry and also has the second largest manta ray tourism industry in the world, with an annual value of over $15 million.While coral bleaching events and ocean acidification are well-documented effects of climate change, there are other stressors upon coral reefs that could undermine these valuable tourism industries.Read more: http://www.thejakartapost.com/travel/2018/02/02/how-climate-change-threatens-indonesias-marine-tourism.html

Top 10 Muck Dives

Featured on Deeperblue.com:Muck diving was first described by dive pioneer Bob Halstead when diving off the black-sand beaches of Papua New Guinea. Little did he know how popular this type of diving would become.Muck diving involves exploring sites with sandy or silty bottoms, in search of the weird and wonderful critters found there. It’s a great type of diving for fans of macro photography, who also have the patience and keen eyesight to search small areas for critters. Muck diving is a great way to improve dive observation and buoyancy skills whilst searching for hidden critters.Some of the best muck diving sites are volcanic areas and seagrass beds, with top destinations including Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Malaysia.https://www.deeperblue.com/top-10-muck-dives/

Oman: An Untouched Diving Paradise

Featured on The Jakarta Post:Indonesia, which has great summer weather and spectacular dive sites, is a favorite destination for Omanis. Few Indonesians are, however, aware that Oman is also a scuba diving destination.Having only been opened to tourists in recent years, the waters around Oman are virtually untouched and offer spectacular scenery and pristine dive sites. It has remained a largely undiscovered diving paradise just waiting to be explored.http://www.thejakartapost.com/travel/2018/01/09/oman-an-untouched-diving-paradise.html

Indonesia Pledges to Reduce Plastic Waste

Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Luhat Binsar Pandjaitan, has announced a pledge of up to $1 billion USD to reduce Indonesia’s plastic waste by 70 percent over the next eight years. He made the announcement at the 2017 World Oceans Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali. Luhat confirmed that Indonesia will be focusing on plastic alternatives and education initiatives to achieve their goal. Their plan is part of the global U.N. Clean Seas campaign to reduce major marine waste sources by 2022.Read more here: http://seasia.thescubanews.com/2017/03/29/indonesia-pledges-1-billion-to-reduce-plastic-waste/

Top 5 Places for Holiday Season Diving

The festive season is fast-approaching and, for some of us, that means a chance to travel and explore new destinations with family and friends. I really enjoyed researching top dive destinations for The Scuba News Australia but now all I want to do is check out the awesome diving on offer in Mexico, The Bahamas, Indonesia....http://au.thescubanews.com/2016/11/24/top-5-places-for-holiday-season-diving/