Diving and sleeping at Jules' Undersea Lodge

Unusual Places to Stay in South East, United States

The Jules Undersea Lodge is an ex-underwater research facility that has been converted into a hotel with two bedrooms, a common room and a kitchenette. In each room there is a large window from which you can observe the anemones, sponges, oysters and feather duster worms go about their everyday business, completely oblivious of your presence. The only thing is that to get to the hotel, you have to dive almost six and a half metres under the surface of the lagoon. For experienced scuba divers this is a real treat as once down in the hotel, the owners offer as much oxygen as you need for diving from the hotel and exploring the surrounding marine life. Beginners, however, will have to take a course at the accompanying diving centre before they can even check in.

Yediburunlar Lighthouse

Unusual Places to Stay in Fethiye, Turkey

Up until 2008, guests have visited the Yediburunlar lighthouse to relax in the spectacular surroundings, to enjoy the specially designed day trips that the hotel runs to help you experience as much of the region as possible, and finally to gorge themselves on the delectable cuisine produced by Semra, the hotel chef. As if all this isn’t motive enough to spend a week at the hotel enjoying the Turkish sun and lounging around by the pool, at the hotel you can now do a week cooking course to learn how to whip up a 6 course meze feast of dishes like smoked aubergine with cheese sauce, sautéed mushrooms, walnuts, onion, garlic and cumin or fried Haloumi cheese with red peppers. Most of the food will be vegetarian, but you’ll also be barbecuing aromatic fish in the Turkish sunshine and using the best organic produce the region has to offer. You can work off all the eating by going on organised walks to local secluded beaches and swimming in the crystal clear water to cool off during one of the hotel’s weekly gulet cruises.

Learning to Dive in the Red Sea

Learn to Dive in Hurghada, Egypt

Egypt is famed for its amazing historical artefacts, its rich culture and above all the vast Egyptian desert full of tons and tons of sand. However, one of the most abundant and rich aspects of Egypt lies beneath the red sea; which is home to some of the world’s most glorious species of sea-life.

Forget the aquarium; the best way to get up close and personal with the thousands of species of fish and other water creatures is scuba diving. There are loads of centres in the various resorts along the red-sea that will take you and your family through the PADI Junior Open Water Diver qualification which will teach you all the ins and outs of pressure and buoyancy regulation and then, through a series of smaller dives, ease you into a full blown dive out at sea where you might even get to paddle after a sea turtle or paddle away from a shark (although just a little one).

Open water dives usually also involved lunch on a lovely cruiser on the crystal blue sea and you can go along even if you’re not diving, and enjoy a little sunbathing.

Elephant in the Kwando and Selinda Reserves

Safari in North West, Botswana

You don’t get much more adventurous than speeding out into the wilderness in an open 4x4 in the hope of catching a glimpse of one of thousands of species of animal and bird that you’d probably only see in a zoo in Europe.

At the Kwando Lagoon Camp family safari holidays come with your own personal bush guide who will take you out both for day and night-time game drives in search of monkeys, antelope, giraffes, elephants, zebra and hundreds of other animals in their natural habitats. The camp sits on the edge of the Kwando River in the Kwando Wildlife Reserve, so expect to be lodging next to groups of hippos basking in the cool waters of the river as well as wildebeest, buffalos and thousands of different insects and birds.

The family safari packages will keep you all busy with activities like spoor casting, fishing and animal and bush identification plus for older children, junior ranger classes are available where you will learn bush safety, animal sighting behaviour and communication, tree, bird and eco-system identification, basic photography and videography and many other skills. It’s rough and ready, but who needs a television when there are elephants to be spotted right outside your window.

Sailing the British Virgin Islands

Sailing in British Virgin Islands

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands is no day out on the Broads. Apart from the warm weather and shining sun, as opposed to the more frequent British freezing rain and sleet, the cluster of islands protects you from the Caribbean Sea swells making it a great sheltered place to learn and the wind blows almost constantly east down the Virgin Islands which is a great tool for learning to sail.

The Rob Swain sailing school has courses for all standards, starting with basic keelboat where beginners will learn how to command a larger vessel, terminology, parts of the boat, knots, theory and the simple dynamics of sailing. You’ll then spend up to four hours a day out on the water practicing all the skills you’ve learned as well as enjoying isolated anchorages for quick secluded dips in the sea, amazing seascapes and exciting coastal passages. For the more advanced, the school offers live aboard cruising courses, coastal navigation and even racing. It’s no luxury cruise, but with the wind in your hair and the sun shining above you, even the most difficult of tasks shouldn’t seem like too much hard work.