The Traveller's Magazine
If you love to dive you know the feeling of always searching for some place new, some place different. Adventure-seekers listen up! Here are some of the most fascinating places to dive in the world, where some of the strangest experiences are served up on silver platters.
With belugas in the Russian White Sea
We’ve written before about where to swim with the ocean’s most fascinating creatures but this takes that to a whole other level. Does the name Natalia Avseenko ring any bells? Unless you’re a diving afficionado, it shouldn’t but this 36 year old Russian scientist made her mark by diving with two belugas last year off the Russian coast in the White Sea. No big deal, right? Wrong. She did it naked, so as not to encroach on the whale’s territory in chilly -1.5°C water!
The brave are always rewarded. If you’re into cold dips, check out the diving tours offered in Onega Bay, just northeast of St. Petersburg in the Slovak archipelago, a World Heritage Site. Divers stay warm in wooden chalets between dives to remote spots only reachable by snowmobile.
With hammerhead sharks in Colombia
Just a stone’s throw from Colombia’s Pacific Coast is a marine sanctuary, protected by UNESCO thanks to a long battle fought by Franco-Colombian biologist Sandra Bessudo. The site is known for attracting unusually large groups of hammerheads as well as others like the mythical “Odontaspis”, silky sharks, silvertip, Manta Rays, barracudas, moray eels…
Discovering a submarine wreck off the coast of Beirut
On June 25, 1941 the “Souffleur” was hit by a torpedo and sunk in the Mediterranean just off the coast of Beirut by the British submarine “HMS Parthian.” 53 sailors sunk with their vessel. Today the sub is one of the top wreck sites in Europe for experienced divers as it just happened to sink is an especially rich seabed. Catch a flight to Lebanon and join one of the many dive trips departing from Beirut all summer long.
Under the Tignes ice
Believe it or not, the most renowned ice diving spot isn’t found in the arctic or even the far reaches of Russia but in Europe, the French Alps to be more specific. Retrace the steps of Jacques Mayol and get your toes wet! It’s true that the water is freezing cold, but with the right equipment (full-body wet suits, face masks, waterproof gloves, etc.) everyone can enjoy it.
That’s not all! Touch the icebergs in Terre de Feu or dive with whale sharks in the Maldives! Know any more dive places that are just as unusual as these? Tell us about them!
One response to “Dives to the strangest deeps”