Alison Boler
15-09-2010, 10:03
Hi
Welcome to the BSAC Travel Forums. These forums are for you to use to discuss, question, reveal, and announce everything to do with dive travel.
Firstly, what is dive travel? Well, it could be a holiday style trip to somewhere exotic, it could be a weekend away from your local area, or it could be a single dive trip to the coast. Don't think that just because your favourite dive location happens to be West Wittering, it's less interesting to people than Bikini Atoll... Well....
So, use the forums to ask questions or raise issues - it's up to you. Tell us what the conditions are like RIGHT NOW where you are. Ask advice about the location you are planning to visit next. We have a team of Travel Correspondents who specialise in diving in different areas of the UK and internationally - hopefully you can catch one of them online. In any case, you will reach a very knowledgeable group of forum members who can generally help with their collective experience. Who better to get dive travel advice from, than another travelling diver?
There is lots more to BSAC Travel than the forums and I would really encourage you to take a minute or two to visit the main site to see for yourself. We get many visitors from all over the world who come to pick up on the dive travel information we have there.
Our home page is http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk
Perhaps I can draw your attention to some of the things I think are highlights:
1. Where to Dive: http://www.bsac.com/findit.asp?cat=divelocations&view=map§ion=1510&itemTitle=BSAC+Travel+Helps+You+Plan+Your+Next+Div e+Trip+%2D+Surf+Before+You+Dive%21
This section will lead you directly to dedicated pages for diving locations around the world and in the UK. Each location page aims to be a portal of information for that location. So you will find not only our informative text and pictures but also links to the Tourist Board, BSAC Schools and Resorts, Candid Trip Reports, recommended guide books and dive books.
We are building our UK pages to a much more detailed level, it's a lot of work - would love some help to fill in the gaps. We would also appreciate UK and overseas forum members checking out their area pages and sending us any updates or corrections that come to light.
2. Trip Reports. http://www.bsac.com/findit.asp?cat=tripreports&view=list§ion=1511&itemTitle=Use+this+tool+to+access+hundreds+of+inde pendantly+written+diver+trip+and+holiday+reports%2 E
Our most popular section - gets more visitors than almost anywhere else in BSAC. Trip reports written by divers for divers - warts and all, completely uncensored. Covering the UK and overseas. They vary in length, some are extremely detailed, others more summary style but they are all fascinating reading. Some are honestly better than many guide books I have read. For some locations we have multiple reports - it doesn't matter. Maybe the opinions differ - find one from someone you feel is most like you. Maybe they are about different dive centres. Maybe they agree - doesn't that give you more confidence? People have become very addicted to these reports and writing them.... Read the truth before you shell out loads and fly for hours....
And PLEASE, let us have your trip reports, whether they tell us about a day out of Penzance or a week out of Palau - they are so much valued by other Club Members.
3. Travel Planner http://www.bsac.com/page.asp?section=910§ionTitle=Trip+Planner
We have a couple of tools here that you should find interesting. Do you want to dive with a particular large creature? No... not Beryl from the Club.... I mean hammerheads, whale sharks, and great whites? Use our Meeting Mr Big Planner to find out where in any particular month you have the best chance of having that encounter.
Or are you looking for a particular style of holiday and want some suggestions? Where to go with a non diving partner? Where to go to find the best wreck diving? Where to go for a technical diving holiday? Where to go for photography, with the kids, on a budget, on honeymoon? Use our Diving by Style tool to help pick the best locations.
4. Our Special Offers
We have arrangements with various preferred travel partners specialising in different spheres of dive travel who can offer BSAC members regular discounts off the brochure price and also monthly special offers. Follow the links from the home page. We don't say they are always the cheapest - it's a cutthroat market, but they do offer fantastic value.
There's more - but you can find that out for yourselves. We are constantly working on the TC website to enhance the information there and make it more useful - let us know what you would like. Maybe you'd like to get involved and become one of the team - let us know that too.
We're generally around the forums so give us a shout if we can be of any help - over to you!
Welcome to the BSAC Travel Forums. These forums are for you to use to discuss, question, reveal, and announce everything to do with dive travel.
Firstly, what is dive travel? Well, it could be a holiday style trip to somewhere exotic, it could be a weekend away from your local area, or it could be a single dive trip to the coast. Don't think that just because your favourite dive location happens to be West Wittering, it's less interesting to people than Bikini Atoll... Well....
So, use the forums to ask questions or raise issues - it's up to you. Tell us what the conditions are like RIGHT NOW where you are. Ask advice about the location you are planning to visit next. We have a team of Travel Correspondents who specialise in diving in different areas of the UK and internationally - hopefully you can catch one of them online. In any case, you will reach a very knowledgeable group of forum members who can generally help with their collective experience. Who better to get dive travel advice from, than another travelling diver?
There is lots more to BSAC Travel than the forums and I would really encourage you to take a minute or two to visit the main site to see for yourself. We get many visitors from all over the world who come to pick up on the dive travel information we have there.
Our home page is http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk
Perhaps I can draw your attention to some of the things I think are highlights:
1. Where to Dive: http://www.bsac.com/findit.asp?cat=divelocations&view=map§ion=1510&itemTitle=BSAC+Travel+Helps+You+Plan+Your+Next+Div e+Trip+%2D+Surf+Before+You+Dive%21
This section will lead you directly to dedicated pages for diving locations around the world and in the UK. Each location page aims to be a portal of information for that location. So you will find not only our informative text and pictures but also links to the Tourist Board, BSAC Schools and Resorts, Candid Trip Reports, recommended guide books and dive books.
We are building our UK pages to a much more detailed level, it's a lot of work - would love some help to fill in the gaps. We would also appreciate UK and overseas forum members checking out their area pages and sending us any updates or corrections that come to light.
2. Trip Reports. http://www.bsac.com/findit.asp?cat=tripreports&view=list§ion=1511&itemTitle=Use+this+tool+to+access+hundreds+of+inde pendantly+written+diver+trip+and+holiday+reports%2 E
Our most popular section - gets more visitors than almost anywhere else in BSAC. Trip reports written by divers for divers - warts and all, completely uncensored. Covering the UK and overseas. They vary in length, some are extremely detailed, others more summary style but they are all fascinating reading. Some are honestly better than many guide books I have read. For some locations we have multiple reports - it doesn't matter. Maybe the opinions differ - find one from someone you feel is most like you. Maybe they are about different dive centres. Maybe they agree - doesn't that give you more confidence? People have become very addicted to these reports and writing them.... Read the truth before you shell out loads and fly for hours....
And PLEASE, let us have your trip reports, whether they tell us about a day out of Penzance or a week out of Palau - they are so much valued by other Club Members.
3. Travel Planner http://www.bsac.com/page.asp?section=910§ionTitle=Trip+Planner
We have a couple of tools here that you should find interesting. Do you want to dive with a particular large creature? No... not Beryl from the Club.... I mean hammerheads, whale sharks, and great whites? Use our Meeting Mr Big Planner to find out where in any particular month you have the best chance of having that encounter.
Or are you looking for a particular style of holiday and want some suggestions? Where to go with a non diving partner? Where to go to find the best wreck diving? Where to go for a technical diving holiday? Where to go for photography, with the kids, on a budget, on honeymoon? Use our Diving by Style tool to help pick the best locations.
4. Our Special Offers
We have arrangements with various preferred travel partners specialising in different spheres of dive travel who can offer BSAC members regular discounts off the brochure price and also monthly special offers. Follow the links from the home page. We don't say they are always the cheapest - it's a cutthroat market, but they do offer fantastic value.
There's more - but you can find that out for yourselves. We are constantly working on the TC website to enhance the information there and make it more useful - let us know what you would like. Maybe you'd like to get involved and become one of the team - let us know that too.
We're generally around the forums so give us a shout if we can be of any help - over to you!