Scuba Diving Article
Affordable Scuba Diving Trips
You've gotten your Scuba Certification. Maybe you've made a few dives in your local area, but you have heard about these wonderful and exotic dive locations all over the world and would just love to take a Scuba Diving Vacation. But you may be wondering while it sounds wonderful to dive with sharks, swim with dolphin or manatee, or spend days exploring a great reef or underwater network of caves - can I afford it? Yes you can. Truth is when planned correctly a dive trip or vacation doesn't have to be any more expensive that any other kind of tour.
Like with any kind of discount travel the key to affordable scuba trips or scuba vacations is to find the package deal. There are a number of travel agents who specialize in Scuba Travel, and have done a lot of the work for you. One of the tops in the business is ScubaDiveTravel.com. They claim to offer the largest resource for tropical island vacations on the Web representing more than 200 dive resorts & 34 live-aboards in 30 countries around the world. Dive vacations at top resorts in the best dive locations in the world are available here including Belize, Fiji, Hawaii and Australia. Another site that specializes in Dive travel is www.worlddive.com. On their "Dive Deals" page you can find incredible packages on dive travel worldwide, like 5 to 7 night all inclusive packages to some of the most popular dive destinations like Bonaire or Belize for less than 500.00
If you have an idea of where you want to take your dive vacation such as the Cayman Islands, Phuket, Costa Rica or any of the 100's of other popular places for dive trips - you can go directly to the official websites of that areas travel and tourism board. There you will find many recommended Dive Operations that offer special packages that include dive excursions, equipment rentals and accommodations. Even the popular travel sites like Travelocity.com, Orbitz, and Expedia now offer Vacation Packages, Special Getaways, All Inclusives, and "Build your Own Package" Areas on their sites that can help you find and book an affordable Scuba vacation.
Even with the packages and discounts available if some of the more exotic scuba travel destinations like Thailand and Australia are still out of your price range, remember that an area that continually ranks among the top 10 Scuba destinations in the world is right here in the United States - The Florida Keys. The Keys are home to the third largest Barrier Reef on the planet. The keys abound with reputable dive operations offering dives and trips to some of the best the keys have to offer -some starting under 100.00 (http://www.discountkeywest.com/html/scuba_diving.html)
Like many other extreme or adventure sport Scuba Diving is not exactly cheap. However by being a smart consumer and doing a little homework there are many ways to enjoy this hobby without breaking your budget. And every little bit you save on your dive trip is that much more you can spend on that new piece of gear you just have to have before you leave.
