Brief from the Reef Blog

x-enial:

Jellyfish by Oceana in Europe

(via chucoloco)

Diving with a special buddy can be a bonding experience and in this traditional month for romance Reef & Rainforest would like to help you get that experience with someone exceptional. Whether you are planning a wedding or looking to meet people with similar interests (like diving!), we have some great destinations to explore. Book a trip as a Valentine’s present, plan to pop the question or create an enchanting honeymoon with our new registry.

Fall for French Polynesia

Luxury accommodations + spectacular diving = True Love Always. Fall for French Polynesia at Kia Ora Resort & Spa where the white sandy beach and the turquoise lagoon make a perfect pairing for divers who want a stylish villa after drift diving all day. See the Kia Ora Valentine’s special on our website.

Honeymoon Registry for Scuba Diving Travel

Just like a traditional wedding registry, Reef & Rainforest offers a way to register for your honeymoon trip. Instead of another blender, get something you really want, like a dolphin encounter or a whale watching trip. Tell your wedding guests you don’t need more things. What you really want are experiences. We will create a handmade itinerary just for you full of romance and adventure. Please call for more information. We’d love to start helping you plan your honeymoon.

Romance for Couples

St Lucia - Anse Chastanet

Plan a destination wedding in a tropical paradise. Take your vows overlooking the Caribbean sea, at the base of a sparkling waterfall, on a historic plantation or onboard a yacht or even underwater!
Wedding packages start at $995.00 for ceremony, decoration and flowers
Diving packages start at $2119.00 per person with accommodation, meals, welcome drink, fruit basket, transfers and 12 boat or beach dives.

Most Romantic Resort in Fiji

In an idyllic South Pacific setting, that is as refreshing as it is charming, Matangi Island Resort offers the real essence of Fiji. A island paradise setting, exotic island cuisine, a relaxing spa and exceptional scuba diving are all found here at Matangi Island Resort. With this special you can stay 7 nights and pay for 5 AND get a free room upgrade.

From our hearts to yours, Happy Valentines Day!

montereybayaquarium:

Did you know that giant Pacific octopuses get “attached” to their aquarists—in a good way? These intelligent animals recognize our staff and may even embrace them after a long absence.

We have several volunteer abroad trips for travelers who want to “do something good” while they experience new destinations. Check out these unique opportunities.

Lord Howe Island Volunteer Trip. Underwater survey data collection helps the marine park.

Reef Protection Volunteer Trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Join community volunteers with local conservation efforts.

Reef Protection Volunteer Trip to Orpheus Island, Australia. Become a coral reef surveyor with Reef Check to help their sustainability efforts.

There is a cool new trend in scuba diving. Some call it Glow Diving, some call it Fluro Diving, we call it really trippy glow-in-the-dark coral reefs. Even critters like shrimp and lizard fish glow too.

“Black lights” aren’t just for dance clubs and Halloween parties; several innovative scuba diving operators are taking them on night dives. Using a blue flashlight underwater on a night dive, the corals and anemones glow bright green. Lizardfish and Spearer Mantis Shrimp have fluorescent patches. Hermit Crabs and Seagrass take on a different color.

Fluorescence underwater is a fairly new discovery and much is still unknown about what creatures fluoresce and why they do it. Some scientist theorize that the fluorescent proteins are acting as a sunscreen, some think it’s part of the photosynthesis process. Another theory is that it’s some sort of beacon the corals use to signal each other. Whatever the reason, we’d like to invite you to “become one with the universe” and see how the reef can blow your mind with mesmerizing patterns and psychedelic colors at these dive locations.

Grand Cayman, Caribbean: Compass Point
Every Thursday night Ocean Frontiers takes divers out  for their very special Glow Dive. You’ll dig it, man. They include Ultra Violet LED flashlights, muffins and hot chocolate and unlimited bottom time.

Grenada, Caribbean: True Blue Bay Resort
The FLUORESCENCE dives with Aquanauts Grenada can be done either from shore or a boat. Normally $95 (boat) and $75 (shore), Reef & Rainforest customers can take a Fluro dives for only $30. Act fast, this deal expires February 29, 2012. (katie, I made that date up. Is that ok?)

Bonaire, Caribbean: Buddy Dive Resort
Buddy Dive is now offering this amazing experience on Tuesday and Thursdays evenings. Creatures that you were never aware of before will captivate, amaze and delight you.

Dumaguete/Puerto Galera, Philippines: Atlantis Dive Resorts and Liveaboards
See the Corals and anemones stand out in neon colors when you’re visit the Philippines on a Fluro Night Dive. If you book your stay at either Atlantis resort by February 15, 2012  you’ll get your Fluorescence dive for FREE!

Reef & Rainforest is a travel agency for active travelling divers. With a longstanding reputation as a top dive travel wholesaler, Reef & Rainforest has been specializing in planning exotic diving vacations for more than fifteen years. For more information on how they send you on a “trippy” night dive or any other diving vacation, visit www.reefrainforest.com, email scubatravel@reefrainforest.com or call 800-794-9767.

Botswana Africa: Leopard in a tree photo from Cliff Comfort. See the Reef & Rainforest December newsletter to learn more about African Safaris.

Ask any serious traveling animal enthusiast to name his/her top 5 destinations in the world and the Okavango Delta in Botswana must be on the list. Although Botswana is much more than the Okavango Delta, it is the Delta that inevitably attracts the traveler and I was no different. Botswana is a country almost the size of Texas with over 40 percent of its land protected in some form or another. The country has a strong tradition of a representative democracy and is one of the safest, most stable countries in all of Africa. For me, Botswana was high up on my personal checklist of places to see at least once and I am happy to say there is one more box checked on my infinite list.

Upon arriving in Maun, the Delta’s gateway city, I was met by a representative from Wilderness Safaris and assisted every step of the way from the international terminal through the domestic terminal and onto my light aircraft flight to the Okavango. There are a number of operators that work in Botswana but I chose Wilderness Safaris because they have a wonderful reputation as being a leader in sustainable eco-tourism and conservation. They truly strive to deliver the once-in-a-lifetime experience for each individual but not at the expense of the environment or the local people. Building mutually beneficial relationships with many of the local tribes is critical to the success of Wilderness Safaris not only in Botswana but also throughout southern Africa.

The first camp I visited, Kwetsani, was in the Jao Concession. As we drove into the camp a herd of elephants were grazing and a troop of baboons greeted us. What struck me most was neither of the groups appeared at all interested in us. They just went about their business. When I got to my stilted tent, I heard the loud noises of what seemed to be large tree branches being broken. The camp director casually pointed to an elephant that was directly below where I was going to be laying my head for the next 2 nights. Looking out from my tent I had 180-degree views of the grasslands that at the moment were partially submerged in water but scattered with lechwe, waterbuck and zebra. It was at this moment that I felt the rush that one gets when they are about to embark on an epic journey because I felt at any moment I might witness and photograph a “kill.”

The next seven days were filled with experiences that could have been documented in nature program like Planet Earth. On my first game drive I watched an adolescent leopard unsuccessfully stalk a herd of zebra even attempting to get his paws on one! We continued to watch the leopard as he feigned interest walking away into the brush only to appear a short time later to try his luck again. On another drive I was lucky to come across a pack of wild dogs, one of the world’s most endangered species. By some estimates there are less than 5000 left in the world. They were relaxing after the previous night’s successful hunt. The pièce de résistance was an eagle suffocating a crane to death by standing with one claw on the crane’s neck as it gasped for air. Then after the crane had taken its last breath, the eagle took flight barely able to fly with the weight of the crane. Sure it might not have been the kill of a lion of a zebra but it was my first kill and an occurrence that is rarely seen. It felt like an initiation.

These were just a handful of the interactions I witnessed on my African Safari in Botswana. While I was able to cross this destination off my list, I now see why my clients return to Africa again and again.

Cliff Comfort is a Travel Consultant for Reef & Rainforest. Cliff takes full advantage of being able to work remotely by splitting up his year between New York, Florida and Brazil. Thanks to technology, he can be reached by phone or email just like all our other agents. Please reach out to him to learn more about his African travels.

P.S. Cliff is also an expert on scuba diving travel to destinations such as the Maldives, Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, Solomon Islands, Indonesia, Palau and Yap.

Dive the Reefs and Explore the Rainforest: Malaysian Borneo

Why not pamper yourself in an over-water bungalow with an uninterrupted view of the sea, amazing muck and macro diving right off your deck? Fleets of turtles, schools of barracuda and leopard sharks are just a short boat ride away. How about a blue ring octopus or a pygmy seahorse you ask? They’re all here in this trip, just waiting for you.

Very few of the top diving destinations offer exciting wildlife experiences topside, but this is one of them. One of the last strongholds of the wild orangutan, Malaysian Borneo has some excellent jungle lodges and experienced guides who can show you the red-haired ape, proboscis monkeys, hornbills and if you are lucky, pygmy elephants.

Reef & Rainforest has put together a special 10-night itinerary where you can experience this spectacular destination for a very reasonable rate, but hurry, this offer expires 15 September.

Reef & Rainforest Dive & Adventure Travel, an agency specializing in exotic dive travel, announces plan to offer more trips to the Caribbean.

In preparation for expanding to the Caribbean, the company’s staff has revamped the Caribbean section of their website, negotiated rates with resorts and added staff who are experts in the area.

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Backlit Barrel by liquidmocean on Flickr.