Looking for a nice Safari Dec '04

Next December i will celebrate my 30th Birthday.

For this my girlfriend and I are planning a two weeks trip on a live aboard and looking for Ideas.

This are the outlines:

Time: 14-16 Days Total Duration, the 15 Dec has to be included and has to be a full day on the boat. (Eric do you want to join ;-) ) We have to be back on the 23rd latest or the family of my girlfriend will freak out ;-)

Destination: Warm, Great Diving, Good conditions at this time of year. Maximum 24 h total traveling from Central Europe (Frankfurt/Germany) time one way (I think that rules out targets like Wakatobi). Ship should be "Photo-Friendly" and should be comfy (don't has to be super-luxus)

Price: Max 2500-3000 € per Person including Flights, Diving and Food.

Any Ideas and Suggestions?

Simon

Maldives is good that time of the year, and within your budget.

I ca give you more should you require it??

Yes more info on operators you would recommend would be very welcome. I'm especially looking for an operator, that does 2 Week Trips and not 2 One week trips.

Simon

Hi!

What about the Sudan? 2 weeks liveaboard between Port Sudan and Angarosh Reef (Angarosh = "mother of sharks") is a great time out. It is best between December and April. Chances for schools of hammerhead sharks, some nice wrecks (Umbria, Blue Belt, Precontinent II) and loads of drop-offs.

It is a bit remote and basic but extraordinary dives. I've been there in October (hot water, less visibility then) but it was great. I saw videos and met people later on who were there during winter and early spring so I saw the difference.

Pictures on my page: http://members.a1.net/helge.suess and more infos by mail.

Helge ;-)=)

Sudan is definitive on my "ToDo" list. (Nice Pics BTW) Did you go with Divers Heavenb or with Emperor divers?

But we dive in the Red Sea most of the time (Egypt) and for this holiday we planned to go somewhere else.

Normaly I planned a 2 Weeks tour with Divers Heaven this October, but I had to Cancel it because of job reasons.

Simon

I doubt you'd get a full 2 week cruise in Sudan anyway.

I'll sort you out a contact e'ddress for my friends company in Maldives and post it soon

Thank You Bob!

BTW: Divers Heaven offers two week tours in Sudan.

Hi!

I booked at Spiro Sub. The trips on board of the Aurora take 2 weeks. All boats in the Sudan are a bit basic. The whole region isn't very touristic and most things we're used to (like spare parts) are a bit tricky to get.

There are just a few boats and some offer 1 week, most only 2 weeks.

Helge ;-)=)

P.S. thanks for the roses ;-)

You can try the Eclipse in Palau :

http://www.samstours.com/index2.html

If you are 4 people you can book the boat for 2 weeks

I don't know about prices and it is not a recomandation because I havn't tried it myself.

Thats Sounds great, but I fear it is going to be to expensive.

How much is a two-way Flight from Europe (Frankfurt) to Palau?

Simon

Manila Koror Mnila is 550$

FrankFort- Manila - Frankfurt Should be around 950$

But check with your travel agent they know better.

Where did you get those rates?

Cheapest Rate I found was 1054,20 € for MNL-ROR-MNL

I can get A Flight to FRA - MNL - FRA for around 900 €

Thats approx per Person (With 4 Persons):

2000 € For the Ship and Diving (12 Days)

450 € For the Divemaster (12 Days)

2000 € For the Flight

Addidtional you need a Hotel on the First - Last Night

Thats over 4500 € p.P. Great trip but definitive over my Budget for this time, but I keep this on my ToDo List ;-)

Also the flight is defenitive longer than 24 h ;-)

Simon

I have to correct myself!

I found a flight to Palau for 519 €

Combined with the chapest flight to Manila (Gulf Air 719 €) it sound reasonable and the Flight time is only 23 h.

I found it by searching the "Legs" seperatly and not the whole distance.

But i have only 40 Minutes time to change plane in Manila. This seems to be a little Short. Has anyone some experience?

All in All thge trip would come to 3300 € Still (too) Expensive but much more reasonable.

But i have only 40 Minutes time to change plane in Manila. This seems to be a little Short. Has anyone some experience?

If the flight to Koror is by Continental its quit short time, since it's an American company the security checks are loooong (they even wanted to check my sandals)

I'm recommend Palau, I just returned from there one week ago, great dives!

Arnon

I came back from a trip to Truk (Chuuk) last month and found fares going WEST from Europe considerably cheaper than east.

Travelled all the way by Continental, which allows TWO checked bags of up to 70lbs each, plus one carry-on. I had no trouble bringing another small bag as an additional carry-on.

My route was Shannon - Newark, 3hr wait, on to LA. I booked this as a separate return trip, and had two nights in LA. On to Hawaii, where I took the option of a 3-night stopover and did some diving, of course

On to Guam, then back to Truk. Altogether 33.5 hours in the air. BUT! I now have over 30,000 airmiles for any upgrades etc. on future trips by flying the one airline.

Went to Palau via Manila with KLM in '96 and got caught for excess baggage on the return leg - thanks to a very DELIGHTFUL Ms. Jiminez at Manila airport.

The difference in price was almost 1,000 euro west/east. A lot of that was down to the Euro/Dollar rate.

Hope this "itinerary" may help you use two weeks, maybe one onboard, another at other locations along the way.

FWIW I used the Ocean Hunter in Palau and the Odyssey in Chuuk.

Cheers,

Seadeuce

Hi Simon,

I can highly recommend the HAMMERHEAD II, maledives.

I did a one week trip december 2002 and it was beyond everything I did before. Sorry, no photos in those ancient times...

The crew is great, they do two week trips and usually there is (in addition to the maldivian one) a german diving guide on board.

You can book two weeks for appr. 2500 Euro incl. flight. Drinks come extra.

http://www.aquanaut-tauchreisen.de/de/safa...safaris_set.htm

The don´t have dates for devember 04 yet on their site, but give em a call to see what is planned.

I really consider the Hammerhead for my 30th birthday also :-) This would be february....

Best regards

Christian

Hi Mexwell,

I'm also looking into the Hammerhead,

Aquanaut (the company that is running the ship) is a local Diveshop here in Frankfurt (I did my rescue diver course there). I allready talked with them but they can't tell me wether there will be a two weeks trip down to Gan (Equator) or just two one week trips until july. I would be not to happy with the latter and waiting till july with the planning seems to long for me.

Simon