We at elite diving and Mercato Hotel and Spa have had for many years a close working relationship where Mercato has always been keen to welcome our diving guests and their family.

Now under new Management at Mercato Hotel and Spa, we have secured a preferential rate for our divers, their family and friends.

Please contact info@elite-diving.com to get a quote on a dive and stay package staying at Five Star Mercato Hotel and Spa.

When people start SCUBA Diving, many people catch that bug and dream of being a Dive Instructor themselves. Well, here are a group of divers who have enrolled on 'elite diving's first ever PADI Instructor development course.

We have four budding Instructors who are eager to learn how to teach SCUBA to others and our own G & V who are already Instructors but are taking the Staff Instructors course, so they will be able to assist on future Instructor Development courses themselves.

Conducting the course is Kerrie Eade, who is a Platinum Course Director and Bethan Comley who is a Master Instructor (soon to be Course Director), both from Pro Dive UK, and there is our own Mr Alun who's a Staff Instructor and will be following the progress closely and giving a helping hand when needed. 

The budding Instructors practicing how to give in water instruction with a keen onlooker parading the shore line. You can't beat Sharm El sheikh for an IDC Course.

There are a few spaces left on two of our Summer Shark Safari's.

Due to two extra double cabins fitted to Bella our Safari boat, we now have a few spaces available on week commencing 29th June 2019 and week commencing 6 July 2019.

Anyone who's interested better let us know very soon as Travel Agents are also advertising the new spare places.

​Contact info@elite-diving.com for more detail.

Petition
Lift the UK Travel Advisory on Direct Flights to Sharm-El-Sheikh
The UK is one of the only European nations refusing to lift its advisory against 'all but essential air travel to and from Sharm-El-Sheikh'. DIVE Magazine is calling for the restrictions placed on one of the UK's best-loved destinations, especially by divers, to be immediately rescinded.

There are far more dangerous places around the world than Sharm and the UK still fly to them, but they are not allegedly in a stand off over the price of a barrel of oil that is written into a contract with UK and Egypt.

Please share this link with as many people as you can.
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Click on the Green below to sign the petition.

For the last few years, we have been asked are we going to run a trip to Truck Lagoon, to dive the World War two wrecks and the warm clear water of Micronesia in The Pacific Ocean.

We already have six names down for this epic trip. This is on most Divers Bucket list.

Going back a few years, Alun went there on a recce but not long after, elite got too busy in Sharm to even look at getting out there again.

By popular demand, we are finally looking at putting a trip together to dive there in April 2020

​For two days in 1944, Allied bombers rained destruction on the beaches of the Caroline Islands in the South Pacific.
During World War II, the lagoon was host to Japan’s Imperial Fleet, which was left destroyed in the wake of Operation Hailstone, often referred to as Japan’s Pearl Harbor.

 Today, hundreds of Japanese aircraft and other military machines remain at the bottom of the lagoon, making it one of the world’s best World War II wreck dive sites.
The islands were once part of the Spanish West Indies, explored by Magellan and later visited by Spanish merchants and missionaries. The low coral islands are surrounded by a remarkable, sheltered reef — ideal for housing a navy.

​On February 17, 1944, five fleet carriers and four light carriers, along with support ships and some 500 aircraft, descended on the islands in a surprise attack. Just a week before the attack, the Japanese military had moved additional ships to the area, and, as a result, approximately 250 Japanese aircraft were destroyed and more than 50 ships sunk. An estimated 400 Japanese soldiers were killed in one ship alone, trapped in the cargo hold. Most of the fleet remains in exactly the same spot it was left, largely forgotten by the world until the late 1960s.
Jacques Cousteau’s 1969 film Lagoon of Lost Ships explored the wreck-littered lagoon, and many of the sunken ships were then still full of bodies. As wreck divers brought attention to the site, Japan began recovery efforts, and many bodies have been removed and returned to Japan for burial. A few, however, remain.
Many of the wrecks are visible through the shallow, clear water, making it an accessible dive. The wrecks themselves can be very dangerous, not only because of ragged edges and tangles of cables but because of half-century old oil and fuel leaking into the water, creating a potentially dangerous situation.
Up until the 1990s, the lagoon was known at Truk, but it is now called Chuuk. Many maps still show both names.

Some of you may have met G & V (AKA Gwyn and Valeria) while diving with 'elite' in Sharm El Sheikh.

G & V met in Sharm in February 2015 while attending a party to celebrate their success in passing their PADI Instructor exam. They both did their Instructor course the same time but with different companies. For the PADI Exam, official examiners from PADI descend on Sharm to conduct the Instructor exams over two full days here in resort.

As they both shared the same passion for the Deep blue and passing on that passion to new and experienced divers alike, they already had something in common.

Love blossomed and in January 2018 while on a mountain top in Bali Indonesia on Valeria's Birthday, G popped the question. You can see the answer from the photo above a year later.

G for those of you who hasn't visited Sharm in the last four years is now the Manager of elite dive center in Sharm and has a hands on approach where he still gets out on the boat almost every day and leads by example. He is also the son of Alun ad Moyra. 

Valeria had been working for another dive center in Sharm since early 2015 and it wasn't long before she established herself as one of the leading Instructors with that company. 

As V was going to be a member of the Evans family, it was only right that she joined the family business (especially as she was such a top Instructor). So now G & V work together, following in the footsteps of both sets of parents who also worked together in their respective family businesses.

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It was only fitting that they got married on a beach, but where? 

The only time they can both afford the time to get away together is in the low season which is January and February, just like they have done for the last few years.

Valeria hails from Genoa in Northern Italy and G from Maesteg in the Valleys of South Wales. Neither of them wanted to get married in their homeland, especially this time of year, so they chose a beach wedding in somewhere where it was comfortably warm. 

Mexico was the preferred location after researching other destinations.

It was an idyllic setting, and attended by close family who also took this opportunity to take a holiday in the Mayan Riviera on The Caribbean Coast of Mexico. 

After the family left for home, G & V stayed on to enjoy a Honeymoon touring the area and staying near more idyllic beaches.

They are now back in Sharm and looking forward to take you diving in the awesome Red Sea around Sharm.

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In November 2018, The UN Biodiversity conference was held in Sharm El Sheikh.

​The 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 14), as well as the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (COPMOP9) and the 3rd meeting of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Nagoya protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (COPMOP3) will be held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from 17 to 29 November 2018.

During their time in Sharm, many of the delegates of the conference, booked to come diving or snorkeling with us at elite diving. Some were very high profile scientists in their field. Also many were very important lobbyists to help persuade governments to alter their countries policy for the benefit of the environment.

We met some very interesting people, many of which, were very impressed with the condition of the reefs here in Sharm.

After talking to many of the delegates to find out what the conference was about, we at elite offered our services to help in any surveys or information gathering that would benefit their research. We also offered YOUR services knowing you would be only to pleased to help.

To our great pleasure, we have been taken up on our offer, and we have been asked to supply information for the CITES Conference in Colombo Sri Lanka in May of this year.

This is where you our divers come in.
We've been asked to document sightings of Teatfish sea cucumbers in the Red Sea. Now I know I've seen them here but they need proof that they are still here in The Red Sea. So we are asking for any photos you may have taken of some while diving in The Red Sea. It don't have to be in Sharm. If you have the date, dive site and approx depth, that would be great but not essential.

Our Current divers and guides are being asked to keep an eye out for them and take photos documenting where and depth.

There are two types. A black Teatfish sea cucumber which is usually seen in the shallow sandy areas and the white version which is more likely to be around the 20 meter mark on a sandy bottom.

​Please send any photos you have and as much detail as possible such as approx date, location, depth to info@elite-diving.com

A Black Teatfish Sea Cucumber

We look forward to your help and your photos. 

Can't think of a gift for that special person?
Why not get them a gift voucher from elite diving. You can buy one for a loved one, friends, family or Dive Buddy.

Buy a Gift voucher with elite diving. Choose from the follwing.

• 5 Day dive pack (or any number of days from one onward)
• Specific Course. (choose from any of our listed courses on our website).
• Optional diving (i.e. Third dive, night dive etc etc)
• Voucher for monetary values i.e. £10, £20, £50, £100 or any value to be exchanged for diving services.

Just contact info@elite-diving.com for more details.

We all at elite diving Sharm el Sheikh wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2019.  We hope to see you here in Sharm sometime soon.