Diving in the Galapagos: a first-timer guide
The Galapagos Islands are a dream, a promise, an overwhelming expectation. The Galapagos Islands deliver. But don’t believe it …
Scuba diving in France: things to know before you go
Like many things, the French like to do it differently. Scuba diving is, unfortunately, one of those things that don’t work in the same way the rest of the world does. This article is not meant to judge whether it is a good thing. It is a practical guide if you intend to visit France with scuba diving in mind or if you live …
How I almost gave up writing about Ocean Conservation
Do you know the legend of the hummingbird? One day a terrible fire broke out in a forest. Frightened, all the animals fled their homes and ran out of the forest. As they came to the edge of a stream, they stopped to watch the fire and they were feeling very discouraged and powerless. They were all bemoaning the destruction of their homes. Every …
The perfect scuba diving bag doesn’t exist?
#NeverWithoutMyGear. It took me only a year after my open water certification to understand how much I hated renting scuba diving gear in dive centres: never the right size, questionable maintenance, bad habits of other scuba divers (you know what I’m talking about), you name it. Before I went on my first big scuba diving adventure of 5 weeks around Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, I …
Scuba diving in Hawaii: my ultimate 2-week itinerary
“Are you getting married, Florine?”, “Did you go on honeymoon?”- “Whaaaat? Nooo…“ This is pretty much the type of conversation I had on and on, before and after my 2 week trip to Hawaii. The reason? The Hawaiian Archipelago seems such a fantasy destination beyond reach that most people believed it had to be for my big day. For sure, seen from Europe, going …
My top 10 dives of 2017
The New Year is the perfect moment to look back at another year that passed. Last year, I was surprised of what I achieved in a year, but when I look back at 2017, 22 scuba diving locations in 8 different countries in 10 months, it makes me eager to know what will happen in 2018! From ice diving in the French Alps to …
Shore diving in Maui: Hawaii’s best-kept secret
The Hawaiian Archipelago is full of bucket list dives with exciting adventures such as diving in the crater of a volcano or night diving with manta rays, but all of these scuba diving trips come at a high price tag. To be clear, I have rarely paid so much for a dive. At the same time, I was not expecting I could go shore diving …
Shore diving in Honaunau, Big Island
It was my last dive in Hawaii after my manta ray night dive in Kona but I didn’t know it yet when I entered the water. I was supposed to dive next at Old Airport in Kona, but as the weather deteriorated during the day, it was my final one as I had plans to go to a higher altitude to visit the Volcano …
Manta ray night dive in Kona, Hawaii
I heard and read many stories on how Kona became such a famous place about diving with manta rays at night, becoming a bucket-list dive for adventurous scuba divers worldwide. While I think diving in Maui is a better choice for avid scuba divers visiting, Big Island is getting all the spotlight with the manta ray night dive in Kona. I had to check …