CYBER DIVER ADVISOR :: Dive TravelDive travel gives you the opportunity to enjoy diving adventures throughout the world. Tour packages are offered by travel companies, liveaboard operators, dive resorts and dive centers, and range from day trips to extended tours to the world's most renowned dive destinations as well as more remote and often more pristine areas.  WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Day trips and weekend tours to local dive sites offer excellent value and the opportunity to enjoy diving adventures without using up your precious vacation time. Depending on the quality of dive sites that are within driving distance, you may be able to enjoy world-class diving for a fraction of what you would have to pay for tours that involve air travel to distant destinations. Many dive centers specialize in this type of tour and offer a variety of day trip and weekend tour packages. The best packages include boat diving on boats designed specifically for diving as well as accommodation for weekend tours. If you have your own transportation and prefer to design your own trip, you can contact boat operators directly. Some offer discount packages that include accommodation. Dive travel to remote destinations around the world is booming and most travel companies now offer dive tour packages. The best of these are smaller companies that specialize in dive travel because they know more about diving and better understand needs that are specific to divers. These smaller companies are usually owned and operated by active divers who design and refine tour packages based on their own diving and travel experience. You can also arrange your own dive trip by contacting dive operators directly, and often, that's exactly what savvy dive travelers do. HOW TO SAVE MONEY When you plan a dive trip, be sure to give yourself enough time to get your money's worth on a cost per dive basis. Avoid four, five and six day tours which do not provide enough diving opportunities. It usually takes two full days just to get there and back, and often you will not be able to dive on the day before your departure, so look for trips that give you a minimum of 6-7 full days of diving. Whenever possible, schedule your trip so you can depart on Friday evening after work and return 10 days later on Sunday. With this plan, you'll need just five vacation days. If you plan ahead and wrap the trip around a national holiday, you'll only need to take four days vacation for a 10-day dive trip. Unless you're comfortable with a couple of dives a day, avoid dive tours that restrict you to a certain number of dives per day or per trip. Dive tours that offer unlimited diving will give you much better value on a cost per dive basis. Finally, always check directly with the dive operator whether it be a resort facility, dive center or liveaboard. Most now offer direct booking, which can save you agent fees of up to 20 percent. HOW TO BOOK A DIVE TOUR There are three ways to book a dive tour. You can book a local or international trip through your local dive center. You can book directly with a dive resort or liveaboard and purchase your own air tickets from a discount travel agent. Or you can book a complete all-inclusive dive tour package through a local travel agent. Your subscription to IN-DEPTH will give you the latest updates on the best available dive travel deals. Go to ScubaLinx Dive Travel for complete listings and independent diver ratings of dive travel agents. | 
