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November 07, 2005

New! Red Sea Underwater Photo Workshops

Emperor Divers is organising a series of photo workshops in the Red Sea for 2006, the first of their kind in catering for complete beginners in underwater photography with consumer cameras, as well as experienced photographers with either film or digital SLR kit.

Join photo professional, Maria Munn, for an unforgettable week that will improve your picture taking in a fun, friendly and relaxed environment on an Emperor Fleet Gold Liveaboard!

The boat will be fully kitted with an onboard digital lab, allowing photographers to download, review and enhance their images with the benefit of immediate feedback.

Maria Munn, who will advise on the ‘entry-level’ digital workshop, is experienced in photography and video and has worked on conservation projects concerning blue, humpback and killer whales as well as manta rays. In the last 12 months, she has clocked up over 200 photographic dives and is currently initiating a Manta Ray Photo ID study in Mexico's Pacific Ocean.

Maria will also conduct short evening seminars covering a variety of subjects.

Divers will have the chance to photograph some of the Red Sea’s famous sites, learn how to develop photography skills and shoot beautiful underwater images.

The first Workshop takes place on 24 February - 3 March 2006 with further dates in June 2006. The cost of the Photo Workshop is just 175 Euros per person (approx £119 depending on exchange rates)

STOP PRESS: The first workshop is now FULL. Bookings are now being taken for June dates.

For further information, email safaris@emperordivers.com or click here to go straight to the full details on this website

Tracy Goldsmith wins Liveaboard Adventure

Thanks to the everyone who entered the Emperor Divers/Sportif competition at the NEC DIVE 2005 show recently.

Tracy Goldsmith of Northampton was the fortunate winner. Here's a little background on Tracy and her diving adventures so far. Tracey and her husband will be guests of Emperor Divers and Sportif aboard Emperor Infinity, sailing from Hurghada!

"I’ve been diving since 1993 and managed about 700 dives so far. Some of these have been in the UK and a lot have been in warmer waters, including quite a few in the Red Sea on day boats from both Sharm and Hurghada. I dive with my husband and we’ve been talking about doing a liveaboard for a while but never seemed to get around to it.

Best Dive – probably a shark feed in the Bahamas with Stuart Coves out of New Providence. Being surrounded by 25+ Caribbean Reef sharks and having them actually bump you as they go for the fish was fantastic. It really made me appreciate how perfectly adapted, and how misunderstood, these beautiful fish really are.

Strangest Dive – probably diving in a lake in Austria in January. We had gone to do an Ice Diving course unfortunately there had been too much warm weather and so…no ice! We still did some dives in water temperatures of 3 to 4 degrees, clambering down snow covered banks to get into the water. There was some good vis but unfortunately nothing to see as all of the fish had gone to the deep water for the winter.

Having said that we’ve had hundreds of fantastic, interesting and sometimes strange dives, and of course one or two where you wish you’d stayed away from the water that day.

I’m really looking forward to the liveaboard trip and I’m sure we’ll have a great time.

Thanks to Emperor Divers for the prize and Sportif for organising the trip for us."

Hurghada's youngest liveaboard guests!

Emperor’s Liveaboards in Hurghada recently enjoyed the company of its youngest guests to date.

Proud parents Love and Johanna Stromgren brought their 4 month old daughter Vilma along with their friends Anna Jakobsson and Thomas Frykberg and their 9 month old daughter Clara.

They all joined Golden One in Hurghada from where they enjoyed a week visiting sites including Tiran, Ras Mohammed and Thistlegorm.

Young Clara also enjoyed her very first ‘taste’ of the Red Sea when she joined her mother for a swim off the back of the boat.

Both children captivated the crew who spent most of the week making cooing and gurgling sounds, the likes of which have never been heard before!