Humpback Whales, Awesome Cavern Dives, Huge Drop offs, All in Stunning 40-60m visibility

• Up close and personal with Humpback whales
• World famous cathedral and coliseum caves
• Tonga best wreck dive 85 meter long upright tanker
• Pristine Coral Reefs in 40 meter + visibility

	Humpback Whales Trip 6 days ex-Auckland 9 -14 Oct 2006 $2495pp Includes: Airfares ex-Auckland, All meals, 14-16 dives. Tank Fills, Transfers, Snorkelling with whales and as much fun as you can handle. Plus wreck dives and spectacular cave dives of the Coliseum and Cathedral.
	Wreck Reef and Cave Spectacular 6 days ex-Auckland 23-29 Nov 2006 $2495pp Includes: Airfares ex-Auckland, All meals, 14-16 dives. Tank Fills, Transfers.
New Years Exotic Escape
	Extended cruise to Ha'api Group Dive the Best Tonga has to offer. All in one New Years Dive Cruise Caves, Wrecks, Drop Off, Volcanoes. 8 Days Diving, 24-28 Dives 28 Dec 06 - 6 Jan 07 $3650pp Includes: Airfares ex Auckland, All meals, 24-28 dives. Tank Fills, Transfers, Special New Year Eve, Beach BBQ Party.

The very best dive holidays don’t just happen by themselves. They are planned well in advance, often 10 – 12 months in advance, to secure the best charters, the best time to dive and the best locations.

Here are a few helpful hints we use to turn a good dive holiday into an totally awesome dive holiday:

THE MOON: Often the moon can dictate the best diving conditions. Generally, as the moon becomes fuller it creates stronger currents. Strong currents mean more food and nutrients in the water, which mean more big fish action. Strong currents also create bigger and more colourful corals as they expand and increase their size to make more water flow over them, bringing them more food and nutrients.

Plan your trip 7-10 days on either side of a full moon if you’re going to a big fish or soft coral location.

FLIGHTS:  We live in a time of cheap, no frills flights. This is, of course, great if you want a cheap airfare, and who doesn’t! But be aware that most of those cheap seats are only available on certain flights on certain days and in small numbers. The cheapest seats always sell first so if you leave it too late, you’ll miss out on them. By planning and committing yourself to a holiday early, we can usually book those cheap seats and save yourself big $$.

AIRPOINTS, AIR DOLLARS AND FLY BUYS: We all have ‘em, but how often can you actually use them for travel? Unless you plan and book early, the seats allocated on flights for rewards points are often full. If you want to use them, book early.

LAST MINUTE BOOKINGS: If you book a holiday at the last minute, chances are you’ll pay more for international flights and accommodation. There may well be limited or no space on the smaller domestic flights to remote dive locations, and as these flights often run only 1-3 times per week, it may mean unwanted stopovers at gateway airport hotels – more cost, less diving time.

EARLY BIRD SPECIALS: resorts give Dive Fish Snow Travel specials for clients who book early. For example, stay 6 nights and get the next 2 nights free, buy 10 dives and get 2 more free.

Also, a lot of Resorts increase their rates at the beginning of the new financial year, before their busy dive season begins from May onwards. If you book early enough we may be able to secure the booking at current rates and save you more $$.

SMALL RESORTS: often dive resorts are small and many take only 10-12 divers at a time. It only takes 1 group booking to fill up the resort for a week, and everyone else misses out. So book before the groups do and you have a better chance of getting the room you want at the resort you want.

OUR CLIENTS GET PREFERENTIAL ROOMS AND TREATMENT:  As a valuable and reliable supplier of divers to Resorts, not only do we get the best deals, but our clients receive the best rooms, the best dive sites and the best views. Room upgrades are subject to availability and are at the Resort’s discretion, so they can never be guaranteed. But the earlier you book, the better the chances of getting the best the Resort has to offer.

HOLIDAYS ARE ABOUT HAVING FUN: You work hard during the year and by planning ahead, not only do you get what you want when you want it, but it will be at the best price. You have peace of mind knowing you’ve got the best holiday we can get you, and you can then look forward to the holiday you deserve.

DEPOSITS: At Dive Fish Snow Travel we want to make it easy to plan and book ahead. Our normal deposit policy is a $500 per person non refundable deposit. However, for the early birds, for any booking where the travel date is more than 5 months away, the deposit required will be $150 per person and will be refundable up to 5 months prior to departure date. At this time we would require a further $350 per person deposit, non refundable, (some conditions do apply).

BUDGET: Planning ahead lets you know how much you need to budget for your holiday and how long you have before you need to pay for it. It may help you to open a special travel account at your bank, into which you can make regular payments, so by the time you need to pay for your trip, you’ve already got all  it saved.

So act sooner rather than later and save. Make an Enquiry now »

As the saying goes “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”!

The Solomon Islands don’t get a lot of good press these days. Good news doesn’t sell newspapers or advertising spots on the 6 o’clock News.

Yes, the Solomons have had their share of local issues to deal with, and they will deal with these issues in their own way and in their own island time.

But the bottom line is that the Solomons offers some of the best diving in the World – certainly in our neck of the woods. Dive Fish Snow Travel has had a long, well established relationship with the Solomons, sending divers and anglers there for 20 years. In the mid – late nineties, the Solomons was our largest dive holiday destination, with the highest ratio of repeat clientele traveling to different locations in the Solomons – often they’d do 3-4 different trips there: such is the quality and variety of dive locations and mystique of these beautiful islands.

I hear you saying “but what about my safety?” Dive Fish Snow Travel would like to make one thing very clear: safety is always a top priority for us. But let's look at the Solomons’ track record. At one stage when ethnic strife was at its worse, and travel warnings were in place, we did stop sending clients there. But that did not last long and it became obvious that any unrest was localized and not in areas where our divers visit. In the past 6 years, we have sent close to 1000 divers to the Solomon Islands, and not 1 has even come close to a situation where they felt unsafe. You are more likely to be hit by a bus in NZ going to the airport than come to any harm in the Solomons.

Winter 2007:
We highly recommend the quality and variety that the Solomon Islands have to offer.
If you’re thinking of next Winter’s dive holiday, think Solomon Islands. Don’t let a good media story get in the way of a good dive holiday!

Check out our website for details: Wreck Diving Guadalcanal (Honiara) » Tulagi » Gizo » Reef Diving Uepi Island Resort » Gizo » Munda » Liveaboards Diving Bilikiki » Spirit of Solomons »

A personal note from the Director of Dive Fish Snow Travel, Ron Blake:
“I first dived the Solomons Islands in 1987 and have returned  many times to enjoy the culture, stunning scenery of the islands and beaches, and, of course, the incredible diving.

The Solomon’s have one of the best dive resorts in the Pacific – Uepi Island, listed for World Heritage status. The liveaboards “Bilikiki” and “Spirit of Solomons” are equally great and  I’ve personally holidayed on them 4 times.  Their crew are a great bunch, the scenery is stunning as you cruise by, the boats are very comfortable and the diving surpasses all expectations.

For those who like to put their hard earned cash into the diving rather than creature  comforts, it’s hard to go past the wreck and reef diving that Gizo, Munda and Tulaghi have to offer. These are excellent dive locations and certainly dive your dollar further.

I would also like to say a special thanks to Bilikiki Cruises and Solomon Airlines for sponsoring this year’s Dive Fish Snow travel prize of a week’s liveaboard diving on either “Bilikiki” or “Spirit of Solomons”. If you’re reading this newsletter then you are already on our database and automatically entered into the draw to win this fantastic prize.

Increase your chances. Forward invitation to your dive buddy and if they sign up, you get an extra entry into the draw. Click here to forward »

We often tell you about fantastic dive liveaboards and group trips we run, with stories of the “ultimate dive trip” to the “ultimate dive location”, which makes us all totally envious of these exciting experiences.

All of our exotic dive trips are planned by Dive Fish Snow Travel 18 – 24 months in advance, and coincide with the best diving conditions and moon phases for the year.

Here is an open letter sent to many of our clients who join us on these exotic trips. It covers many options on "Exotic Dive Locations" for the next 12 – 36 months.  We’d love your feedback and we’d love you to join Christine and I on an exotic dive trip.

From 01 April 2007, the minimum annual leave entitlement increases from 15 to 20 working days each year.  This is great news, and gives you even more reason to plan what you are going to do with that extra week of leisure:
GO DIVING!

Take a look at these useful information pages on our website.

• Can't decide where to go ? - A very helpful guide showing different diving activities in different locations.
• Compare our prices - A page describing the various marketing tactics other travel agents play.
• Helpful Price Guide - This page is a guide that will help you with your holiday planning, and to buy at the best prices.

Why is it that once our clients have dived from a liveaboard dive boat they seldom go back to land based options ?

The avid diver knows the advantages of live-aboard diving - you cruise to remote unpoiled reefs to find superior marine life, big pelagic fish and undamaged reefs. Since the big live-aboards anchor at the dive sites you can do up to four dives per day, including a night dive.

With air-conditioned cabins, sumptuous chef-prepared meals, hostess in attendance and unparalleled crew service (generally up to one crew member for every three passengers), the live-aboards offer some of the best diving in South Pacific.

Experience exciting drift and wall dives, superb fish life with BIG schools of pelagic fish, night dives, soft corals, a shark feeding station. On a liveaboard trip you will see more spectacular marine life in the course of one day than you would see on a whole trip elsewhere.

Liveaboard vessels will spoil you for future diving. Huge undercover dive decks, unique entry/exit platforms and large inflatable dive tenders make diving a breeze.

Set departures

All liveaboards have set schedules, mostly 7 or 14 days, although some do offer 3 or 4 days (Queensland).

Don't be fooled into thinking you can phone up and say "I want to go on the trip next month", as most of the best liveaboard sailings are sold out well in advance.

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 2006 www.divefishsnow.co.nz - all rights reserved