| A Dive newsletter by Dive Fish Snow Travel |
April 2009 |
Extend your Summer Diving with Early Bird Specials
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Hi %%First%% %%lname%%,
What a glorious summer we've been having! We hope you've been enjoying some great dives around NZ over the past few months. We certainly have, and have loved the fresh crayfish, scallops and fish we've been catching.
But the end of Summer is approaching, daylight saving has come to an end and soon it'll be time to clean and cover the BBQ's. Then begins the slide into a gloomy winter. If the thought of cold, wet and windy weather depresses you, let us put some sunshine back into the picture. Try a Winter Escape to the hot & sunny Pacific or Asia, it has so much to offer.
Some popular diving resorts are small and fill up fast. Some destinations are at a premium at certain times, such as whale watching season in Tonga and Niue. Flights to remote or small destinations have limited space so it's often hard to get seats on the best flight connections. To get the dive holiday you want, get in first before everyone else does!
Consider the benefits of getting your reservations in place now:
- You’ll get the Earlybird Specials, for resorts and dive operator
- You’ll get the cheapest international flights
- You’ll get the best domestic flight connections
- In many cases you’ll get last year’s prices if booked early.
- you can organise dates around the best moon phase/currents
- You’ll have time to budget and save for your holiday
- You get to book in your annual leave before everyone else does.
- Best of all, you’ll get to dive in an exotic location this Winter, and have time to look forward to it, and save for it.
Plan your 2009 dive holiday now.
Don’t be left out in the cold this winter. Try one of these hot holidays:
- Swim with humpback whales in Tonga or Niue
- Dive with manta rays in PNG, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Fiji or Micronesia
- WWII wrecks in the Solomons, PNG, Philippines, Vanuatu or Truk Lagoon
- Soft corals and sharkfeeds in Fiji
- Big fish action on remote offshore reefs like Sipadan, Layang Layang, Solomon Islands.
- A liveaboard adventure that dives the best sites & locations.
 Enjoy the long weekend and we hope you get some great dives in. Also take the opportunity to talk to your dive buddies about your next overseas adventure. |
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| Top diving locations suiting your passion. |
It is time now to think of your winter dive escape.
Dive in the pristine warm waters of the South Pacific where the visibility and diving conditions are excellent and the marine life prolific.
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| A Chance to dive at one of the remotest dive sites in the world. |
Special Charter: MV Telita, PNG. 14 Night Special Charter. June 2009.
Opportunities like this are very few and far between:
Virgin reef diving, no crowds (apart from the abundant fish), just 9 divers and you.
Ron and Christine Blake who are keen adventurers, underwater video photographers and Directors of Dive Fish Snow Travel have experienced diving at PNG and throughout the world. Join them on their holiday and their slice of heaven this June.
It’s been their dream for many years to dive the remote northern most reefs and islands of PNG, which are a long long way from civilization. Here you will find virgin dive sites, impressive marine life, turtles, mantras, whale sharks, (if luck is on your side), gropers, a real predators' playground surrounded by a dazzling variety of reef critters and a kaleidoscope of magnificent corals, and a few WWII wrecks.
Special 14 night charter during the best weather window of the year
Kavieng, Tingwon, Manus, Hermit, Heina and Ninigo Reefs, Wewak : These areas are accessible for divers once or twice a year, if at all.
The logistics of diving such remote areas requires a liveaboard - but not just any live aboard dive boat: one that can run an extended 14-night charter. After researching the various boats' crews and the skippers, Ron and Christine have booked MV Telita: for this 14 night dive adventure this winter.
"MV Telita" has a proud history of diving throughout PNG under her previous owners Bob and Dinah Halstead, who are authors of many books on diving PNG, Paul Baker, the current owner skipper, has been operating "MV Telita" for many years, carrying on the quest for the best diving PNG has to offer.
More information on 14 Night Charter on Telita »
An outline on MV Telita
 With a crew of eight and a maximum of ten guests, “MV Telita” offers a high level of personalized service. The boat offers five luxurious cabins with ensuite bathrooms, indoor and outdoor dining facilities, a brand new Nitrox membrane system, free laundry service and a DVD and reading library. The stabilizers and state of the art navigation systems ensure safe and comfortable cruising.
"MV Telita" offers up to five dives per day. The dive deck offers a camera table, hot showers and a spacious diving platform. There are also two inflatable tenders. During your trip, staff handles your gear, from the initial set-up to washing it at the end of the week.
With no fixed itinerary, "Telita" take you where you want to go. The crew make every effort to show you what you would like to see – big stuff, little critters, land excursions etc. MV Telita is ready to make your trip to Papua New Guinea a memorable experience – both above and below the water.
More information on the Special Charter Telita » |
| Tonga: Snorkel with Whales |
 Imagine yourself snorkelling in the cobalt blue tropical Tongan waters this winter with lots of humpback whales and their newborn calves, while listening to their whale songs.
Every diver should do this in their lifetime. It’s one of life’s great adventures. Gazing into the eyeball of a humpback and the sound of the whales songs are memories that will remain embedded in your mind forever.
So fulfill your dreams and take a snorkel with whales while the opportunity is still there. But to make sure you get your spot on the boat in the best time, you need to act now as whale watch boats and best accommodation sell out fast, during Whale season mid July to early October.
Visit our Webpages on Tonga Diving »
Dive Fish Snow Travel highly recommend these dive operators while in Vavau
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| Vanuatu: WWII Wrecks, Espiritu, Santo |
Espiritu Santo, just a short flight from Port Vila, is home to the "SS President Coolidge" - one of the World's largest diveable shipwrecks. The luxury liner was converted to a troopship during WWII and sank just off the coast, making easy access available from the shore or a boat. To explore the "Coolidge" in its entirety would take more than 20 different dives to the ballrooms, cargo holds, decks and superstructure, with an amazing collection of jeeps, trucks, cases of rifles and other articles of war to be seen.
But Espiritu Santo has a lot more to offer than just the "Coolidge": colourful reef diving, sport fishing, kayaking, snorkelling, tours to local Kustom villages, the picturesque Blue Holes, magnificent beaches, conservation areas and caves to explore.
AQUAMARINE
 The most qualified dive shop in Vanuatu, Aquamarine is a registered PADI Resort, SSI Instructor Training Facility, SDI Instructor Development Facility and TDI Instructor Trainer Facility. Diving the Coolidge promises to be the most adventurous wreck diving you may ever do and to ensure your safety and fun, Aquamarine has the most highly trained guides on the Coolidge. They have logged over 30,000 combined dives on the wreck and are fully qualified to cater to novice, advanced and technical divers. Aquamarine services include boat and shore dives to all of Santo's wreck and reef sites including Million Dollar Point and the SS Tucker, as well as gear hire, Nitrox, and Trimix. Guides may also be hired for personal tours - ideal for photographers and qualified tech divers.
CORAL QUAYS RESORT
 Experience the traditional charm of a lovely estate villa, combined with the soothing effect of sparkling blue waters that lap the beachfront.
Coral Quays is an oceanfront resort featuring superior individual private ensuite bungalows blending into 6 acres of lush tropical gardens. The resort is located in San Michel Bay, just a breath away from the town, with easy access to all the activities, tours and dive locations of Espiritu Santo. Snorkel off the jetty, try your hand at sport-fishing, relax by the swimming pool or enjoy a traditional Melanesian massage before a romantic waterside dinner in one of Vanuatu's finest restaurants.
Visit our Webpages on Santo, Vanuatu »
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| Dive Holiday Tips on How to stretch your dollar further. |
 “Earlybird Specials” are called just that as they need to be booked EARLY. By Winter when you are thinking about needing a winter holiday soon, the specials are all gone.- Cheap seats on planes always sell out first, and fast. There is only a limited number of cheap seats on any flight, and once they’re gone, they’re gone.
- Domestic flights to remote dive locations are often on small planes and they can fill up quickly, especially if a dive group is heading there when you want to.
- Dive operators in the best dive locations are often small operations who can only accommodate a small number of guests. They are often booked out months in advance, especially with dive groups.
 Accommodation and Resort specials are only valid while the Resorts have plenty of availability. Once rooms start filling up for those prime winter diving months, the specials are no longer available.- The best diving times often result from predictable phenomena such as moon phases, tides and wind patterns, coral spawning and plankton blooming that attracts the manta’s and whale sharks, and big fish action and that’s when all those “on to it “divers book themselves in early.
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| July School Holiday 4th - 19 July 2009 |
Cheap flights, going, going, gooone
Well, they’re not quite gone yet, but soon will be.
Weekend departure flights, and returning flights at the cheapest price are just about all gone already, and the best value accommodations are starting to fill up fast.
Don’t pay a premium price for flights to the warm blue Pacific during school holidays.
If you are considering travelling during July, we highly recommend you contact us sooner, rather than later.
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| Has the NZ$ really gone for a dive ? |
With so much talk recently about the NZD, everyone is focused on the NZD versus USD, JPY and Euro.
But when it comes to a dive holiday, most dive operators prices are in AUD, NZD or their local currency, unless you’re going to Asia or on a liveaboard, which is usually priced in USD.
Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific countries are all in the same financial boat and go up and down together.
Comparing the current exchange rate to the same time last year, exchange rate in the Solomons, PNG and Australia which are priced in AUD have increased by a mere 3%, Fiji rates by 5% and Vanuatu by 4%. Tonga and Niue are priced in NZD so no changes there, unlike some places in Asia and liveaboards which are priced in USD.
40% of the Dive holiday is Airfares
Taking into account that approximately 40% of the cost of a dive holiday is airfares, paid in NZD, the exchange rate has little or no effect on the cost of a dive holiday.
The cost of a dive holiday is improving
Despite the recent exchange rate drop, the cost of a dive holiday is starting to improve now. Right now the NZD is at a 2-3 month high, so take advantage of this recovery by booking your Dive Fish Snow Travel dive holiday now and lock in the good exchange rate.
Dive Fish Snow Travel has also negotiated some excellent specials this year with dive operators and resorts. Advance bookings have declined from some parts of the world so the resorts are offering great incentives to encourage you to book now.
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| You are automatically in to win the ultimate Dive Holiday |
WIN THE ULTIMATE DIVE HOLIDAY
Aboard the liveaboard dive vessel
“M.V. BILIKIKI’, SOLOMON ISLANDS
 Many thanks to our sponsors for again offering this awesome prize for our valued clients.
The Solomons offer a fantastic array of diving and the ultimate way to see it all is on-board the liveaboard dive vessels “M.V Bilikiki” and “Spirit of Solomons”, operating 1 week and 10-14 days cruises from Honiara. Bilikiki Cruises is the Solomons most prestigious dive operation and her vessels are the most comfortable and luxurious way to do your diving.
What’s better than booking on one of these fantastic dive cruises?
WINNING IT!
Because you are already receiving and reading our “Divetimes” newsletter, you are already in the draw to win this fantastic holiday.
But you can
DOUBLE YOUR CHANCES:
By getting your dive buddies to subscribe to “Divetimes”, they then go into the draw, and you get 2 entries in the draw. And who knows – if your buddy wins the prize, perhaps he’ll take you!
It’s that simple. Just click here to sign them up »
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You are receiving this newsletter because either you or someone
on your behalf has signed up at divefishsnow.co.nz. To Unsubscribe just 'Reply' to
this email and type 'unsubscribe' in the Subject.
To be in the Draw and win a trip to Solomon Island you need to be in our subscribers
list at the time of the draw.
 Regards
- "THE DIVE TEAM" - Dive Fish Snow Travel
Auckland
PHONE: (09) 479 2210 -
TOLL FREE: 0508 348 334
EMAIL: divetravel@divefishsnow.co.nz
©Dive Fish Snow Travel 2009 www.divefishsnow.co.nz - all rights reserved
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