#best tourist places in australia

[austarliahotelbooking]

Sydney undoubtedly holds a place of honor among the Top Tourist Destinations in Australia. With its iconic landmarks, natural wonders, and rich cultural offerings, the city leaves an indelible impression on all who visit.

[robryebeach]

SURFING VIDEO. #surfing #beachlife #relaxing

[zeevistaadvisors]

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[plaguedocboi]

We all love the beach, right? I sure do. Where the sea meets the land is a magical place. It is the overlap of two very different worlds; our sunny, sandy, beautiful home and the alien waves that beckon you into the inhospitable wilderness of the ocean. When crossing that foam-fringed boundary, one must remember that you are no longer in your world. You are entering the sea, and the sea is vast and dark and dangerous. It is more untamed than the wildest jungle and full of creatures that can kill you in a hundred different gruesome ways. Every wave whispers to you that you do not belong here, you may only visit for a brief time if you want to leave with your life. Hold tight to the warm sunlit sand that fringes the barrier of this place, or you may never see it again. Welcome to the beach. Enter at your own risk.

1. Tamarama beach, Australia

This is know as both the smallest and the most dangerous beach in NSW. There is a permanent rip current that runs along the rocky northern shore, but at any given time there could be more hidden in the surf. Large waves break just a little ways offshore, posing a hazard to swimmers but an attraction for surfers. Although there are rarely deaths here, lifeguards have to rescue multiple people a day. Interestingly, this beach is only around sometimes! Occasionally all the sand will wash away and all that’s left is a rocky outcrop. There’s no way to be certain when the beach will come back or how big it will be or what it might look like. I guess it never gets boring to visit.

2. Isle of Ré, France

This island is not the only place you can go to see square waves, but it is one of the places most famous for this strange phenomenon. This is called a cross sea, and occurs when two opposing wave patterns intersect. Although this is certainly a tourist attraction, it is best to observe from a distance, as cross seas can be very dangerous to both ships and swimmers. Cross seas can cause powerful rip currents and walls of water up to 10 feet high, rolling ships and dragging people underwater. (As a side note, my mother thought I had made up cross seas as a freaky supernatural event in my book. Unfortunately, I did not.)

3. Dumas Beach, India

This is supposedly one of the most haunted places in India. Although this beach is full of tourists during the daytime, no one remains after dark, for fear that they will become the next ghost to wander the sand. Apparently, this beach was once used as a burial ground, and said to be black due to the human ashes mixed in. At night, people report hearing voices and seeing apparitions, and even dogs behave strangely once the sun goes down. There have also been multiple unexplained disappearances and at least one recorded death. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, there definitely seems to be something eerie happening on this beach.

4. Morecambe Bay, UK

This is an interesting one, as it’s not technically the water that’s dangerous. The ground is. This estuary features extreme tides, with the water level dropping and rising up to 32 feet twice a day. This exposes an expanse of mud flats and channels which are composed of loose, wet material that can absolutely suck you in and trap you. If this happens when the tide is coming in, it can quickly turn deadly. This has happened many times going back through history, including one incident in 2004 where 23 people died. Yes, all at the same time. No, I don’t want to delve into that incident too deeply in this list as it’s extremely horrifying and tragic. Feel free to research it yourself.

5. Monastery Beach, Oregon

This has earned its nickname “mortuary beach” by being extremely dangerous. Over 30 people have died here, including people who weren’t even in the water. In 2015, a woman walking along the beach was dragged in by a wave and drowned. The beach has multiple factors that make it so deadly, including a steep drop off, unpredictable waves, and strong undertows. This beach isn’t even safe to walk on. I um. Don’t like that.

6. Hanakapiai Beach, Hawaii

Despite its beauty, this Hawaiian beach is not recommended for swimming except for expert surfers. During the summer, this beach is a popular place for hiking, sunbathing and sightseeing, but during the winter the sand is washed away and the waves crash against the cliffs directly. Even in the relatively safe summer months, this beach has no barrier reef to break up the strong waves and powerful currents, which leads to a dangerous situation where swimmers can quickly be swept out into the open ocean and drown. At least 30 people have died here, and 15 of the bodies have never been recovered.

7. Lake Michigan. Just, all of it.

Despite all the Great Lakes being somewhat terrifying, Michigan takes the title of the most dangerous lake in the country. Yearly, Lake Michigan has more drownings than all four other Great Lakes combined. The reason that Michigan is especially hazardous is that, well, it’s kind of weirdly shaped. Thanks to its 300+ miles of uninterrupted parallel shorelines running north-south, it forms huge waves and strong riptides and long shore currents. It is also a question of numbers; Lake Michigan has more public beaches and large population centers than the other Great Lakes. All in all, a recipe for disaster.

8. Playa Zipolite, Mexico

This is also called the “beach of the dead”, so it’s inclusion on this list seems pretty self-explanatory. These waters have strong undercurrents that rotate in a circular pattern, either pushing you into shore or pulling you out to sea. There is a pervasive rumor that 50 people drown at this beach a year, although this is… somewhat exaggerated. In fact, very few people drown at this beach these days, as it has actually gotten less dangerous over the years. There used to be a steep drop-off that would catch people by surprise, but due to several severe storms in the early 2000s, the beach has eroded back and now gently slopes down instead. Although very few people die at this beach nowadays, multiple rescues are performed every day due to the dangerous currents.

9. Cyclops, Australia

This is a particular type of wave that forms off the coast of Esperance, Australia, as the sea floor rapidly goes from deep, open water to a very very shallow reef. It is… unsettling. The longer I look at it, the weirder it gets. It’s like an ai generated image. I couldn’t even pick one picture of it so I made you a collage.

It is considered one of the most dangerous surf spots in the world, and can only be accessed by boat. To quote pacific surf dot com, “the reason the wave is dangerous is because it does not act like any other wave in the world. It engulfs itself due to the massive change in the ocean floor when the wave rolls up.”

10. Nazare, Portugal

This area of Portugal is home to some of the biggest waves in the world. Just offshore is an underwater canyon, plunging down to 16,000 ft deep. This allows large, fast deep-water waves to move into shore unimpeded, and when they hit the shallows close to shore all the water gets suddenly pushed up, resulting in waves up to 80 ft tall. I think the picture speaks for itself in this case. Probably best to not get in the water if you see that shit.

That was fun, wasn’t it? Before I go, let me end this on a different note than the rest of my lists; some actual advice for if you should you ever decide to visit these beaches (or any beach, really). Rip currents are incredibly strong (believe me, I know) but very narrow currents that run perpendicular to shore. To get out of a rip current, swim parallel to shore. Trying to fight the current will just tire you out and eventually leave you exhausted and way the fuck out in the ocean, which is typically when you die. Swimming parallel to shore will get you out of the current, and once you’re free you can swim back in at your leisure. And, just in general, never fight the sea. The sea will win.

[haru-dipthong]

I’ve been having trouble putting this idea into words so you’ll have to bear with me, but I was struck when I saw a Japanese news program interviewing foreign tourists in Japan, and some australian women were dubbed over with a stereotypically feminine speech register (lots of のs and わs), and my first thought was “they weren’t speaking that femininely in english”.

A friend of mine from the UK recently mentioned that he noticed that australia has a generally more masculine culture than england - he felt that everyone is a bit more masculine here, including women. This kind of confirmed to me that my impressions of the dubbing were right - the tourists were speaking in a relatively (internationally) more masculine way. Yet their dub made them sound so much more feminine.

It made me wonder. When translating something, do you translate the manner of speaking “directly”, or “relatively” in terms of cultural norms? Maybe this graph will help me explain the question.

A direct appoach in this case might appear to a Japanese person to result in an unexpectedly masculine register, but preserves how the speaker's cultural upbringing has influenced their speech.

The news program translators chose the relative approach - I think I would prefer the direct approach. I think I prefer it because I believe translation should be a rewriting of the original utterance as if the speaker was originally speaking the target language, and the direct approach compliments that way of thinking the best.

Actually now that I type that, I’m second guessing myself. Does it? It does, if for the purposes of the “rewrite it as if they spoke japanese” thought experiment, we suppose the speaker magically learned japanese seconds before making the utterance, but what if we suppose the speaker magically grew up learning japanese - then maybe they would conform to the relative cultural values. But also, maybe they would never have said such a thing in the first place - their original utterance was informed by their upbringing and cultural values, so how could you possibly know what they would have said if they had known japanese from birth? Maybe my initial instinct was right after all?

If you work in translation, I’m very interested to hear if you have come across this problem and how you deal with it 🙏

Further reading: I think this question also ties into this problem I’ve been struggling to answer for a while.

[melanieph321]

Ruben Dias x Reader - Summer Fling Part 2/10

Part 1 Part 3

Summary - Reader has landed a research job at a marine biology lab in Portugal. She is, therefore, staying with her sister and her sister's Portuguese boyfriend for the summer holidays. There, she meets Ruben Dias, who is on vacation with his friends after the 2024 Euros. However, the two meet under the circumstances in which Ruben believes that Reader is a prostitute.

Enjoy! ☀️

Who would have thought that after a night out and several rounds of drinks, you still weren't able to turn your sleep schedule around. Apparently, you left Australia, but Australia refused to leave you, resulting in another night of laying on your back and admiring the sealing.

"Fuck, Diogo!"

"Right there!"

"Yes, right there!"

"Ohhhh God!"

However, even if you did turn your sleep schedule around, falling asleep to the sounds of your sister getting her back blown by her boyfriend would've simply been impossible.

"Yes, Diogo. Yeeees!"

You covered your ears with your hands and prayed for better times. But when that didn't work, you got out of bed, hopped in the shower, and left the house.

Diogo didn't live too far from the city of Albufeira. You and your sister were too drunk to make it back to Faro last night. Staying with him was the most convenient thing to do. You made it back downtown by hopping on a train. However, there wasn't much to see in the morning since it was still early hours. Street sweepers were seen cleaning up the aftermath of last night's partying, and soon tourists and their family's would make their way down the white sandcastle hills, exploring another day in paradise.

"One ticket to the Zoomarine, please."

You got pretty bored of lounging around the streets like a hungover hobo. The next best thing to do was to buy a ticket to the Algarve Zoomarine, a water park with live dolphin shows and displays of marine life. As a kid, you used to love visiting these types of places in Australia. However, after years of education, you saw these places for what they really were. Animal crime scenes.

You sat in on one of the dolphin shows but couldn't last ten minutes before abandoning your seat. It was simply a disgrace to see those poor animals forced to do tricks and interact with humans. All for the sake of being given fish as a treat.

"They're pretty amazing, no? Those blue puffer fish."

You came to mourn the Portuguese marine life while admiring a giant aquarium. When suddenly, a man, blonde and blue eyes, startled you. Even more so when he spoke to you with an Australian accent.

"Yes, amazing indeed." You said. "But these puffer fish should be set free in the wild, not swim around in some aquarium pool in the middle of a tourist trap."

"I don't know...." The man scratched the cap he wore on top of his head. If you hadn't been so full of yourself, you might have noticed that the text on his cap read: Algarve marine life rescue and research. "Setting these bad boys free in the wild might be more dangerous than it is for us to keep them here," the man said.

"That doesn't make any sense. All animals should be set free to live in their natural habitat."

"Well, that I agree." He smiled. "However, these particular puffer fishes are used to help produce antidotes for tetrodotoxin. It's actually ongoing research."

"You're a marine biologist?" You frowned.

The man's smile widened. "Most of us working at the park are. If not in the ocean, the best place to house our underwater friends is surprisingly in this water park."

"Oh." Heat rose to your face.

"I'm glad to see a fellow animal activist, though. Whereabouts are you from? I know an Aussie accent when I hear one."

"Sydney." You blushed. "I'm from Sydney Australia."

"Brisbane." The man offered you his hand. You shook it vigorously.

"Are you just here for the summer holidays or...?" The man's accent was suddenly flourishing.

"Yes and no. I'm actually a marine biologist myself."

"Are you now?" He regarded you curiously, his smile even wider now, which you didn't think possible.

"Well, I'm still doing my masters in marine ecology. That's actually why I'm here in Portugal this summer, to finish my research in a lab not too far from here."

"In Faro?"

"How did you know?"

"Well, I believe it's the only known marine biology lab in the Algarve region."

"Really?"

"Yes, at least the only known lab that would take on a young woman like yourself. The other labs consist of snobby middle-aged men who wouldn't care to advocate for the innocent life of puffer fishes."

"Interesting. I must have gotten lucky then."

"I doubt it. I pick my students carefully. Your research portfolio must have been stellar."

"Wait—"

The man removed the cap from his head, revealing his bleach blonde hair and surprisingly young face. "I'm Gavin Philips, and I believe to be your lab partner for this summer."

"Lab....partner?" You hesitated to shake the man's hand again, however, he insisted.

"Labpartner, examinator, professor....most students just call me Gavin."

"Gavin."

"Yes, and what might your name be?"

"Erm...it's Y/N."

"Pleasure meeting you Y/N. I look forward to working with you this summer."

"Erm...thank you."

What a coincidence, you thought, during your train ride home. To meet the man with the power to decide your future as a marine biologist was definitely not on your summer bingo card. He seemed like a nice guy, though. And you had the Australia connection, which was perhaps a good thing, knowing how things could get when working in a male dominated setting. You were in need of an ally, and Gavin Phillips might just be the right guy for the job.

"There she is! Y/N, where the hell have you been all day?"

You were welcomed back by your sister and Diogo, both looking dressed for a day at the beach. Diogo, with his mountains for muscles, carried several bags from the house to his car, a luxurious Range Rover.

"What do you mean? It's barely noon." You said.

"Yes, but Diogo is taking us to Lagos today. Didn't I tell you that?"

"No, no you didn't."

"Well, I'm telling you now. Go pack your bags and don't forget to pack an extra pair of G-strings."

"Great."

You were set for another day in party paradise. However, five days had passed since your flight from Sydney, and you still hadn't gotten an ounce of a proper night's sleep.

Part 1 Part 3

[copperbadge]

I was catching my train home today in the land down under and there was an ad, apparently paid for by the City of Chicago, saying that Chicago was voted the best city in the U.S.A and telling people to come visit

And all I could think was, I must tell Sam, I'm sure he will have thoughts(tm)

LOL, I will admit my first reaction was "By whom?" and "For what?"

I mean, I love Chicago and think it's a great city, but I don't know if there's any metric by which it is actually the best city in America, unless you confine your sample size to "people who live in Chicago" and even then, like, we don't tend to have many illusions about this place. It's a great city to be a tourist in but there are better ones, depending on what you're touristing for, and there's not much going on in winter outside of shopping. We have some world-class museums, but New York has bigger, and while we do have some of the nicest parks around, nobody visits Chicago for the parks. We have a lot of summer festivals but not as many or as large as say, Austin.

I'd love to see a photo of the ad if you happen to see it again, or know who placed it -- it must be a tourism board of some kind. But Australia? Advertising for Chicago in March, when it's freezing here and probably very pleasant there, is a real choice someone made.

I wonder if an airline subsidized it. We have a hub, so it could be some airline that just opened up flights between Chicago and Australia wants to encourage people to travel.

[weirdowithaquill]

Traintober 2024: Day 18 - Water

Duke Was Never the Same:

The lake was blue. It was very blue, as if someone had plucked the purest sapphire from the deepest mine in Australia and carefully placed it into the place where the Skarloey lake was meant to be. It shimmered in the sun, barely a single ripple in the surface to betray the mirror that the lake seemed to pretend to be. It was gorgeous, and yet Duke couldn’t help but avert his eyes.

Rheneas liked gazing out towards the lake. He claimed it healed something within himself, that it made him feel at harmony with the world. It was one of his favourite topics, when he got the chance to get a word in edgeways in between Duncan’s complaining and Peter Sam’s chirpiness. Rheneas seemed to think it was the water, as if it had bubbled up from the earth’s core purely to soothe his soul and bring peace and serenity to the world around it. And sure, it had done just that – Skarloey Lake was surrounded by the lushest greenery on Sodor, thick oaks and vibrant flowers blanketed the banks of the lake where humans hadn’t cut them away to dot their resorts and villages along its coastline. The lake was their lifeblood, it’s waters a siren luring tourists and locals alike up to gaze upon it.

And yet, Duke could barely look upon the lake without feeling like spitting out all his coals. He knew there was something wrong with that – something truly wrong with a steam engine disliking water. It singled him out in a way that just… wasn’t normal. At least the lake was crystal blue or aqua green, depending on the season. Such colours were bold, natural.

It was the inky blackness of the lake at night that made Duke feel truly ill. The darkness of the water, the way that it rippled just enough to remind him of that day. Duke would do whatever job was asked of him, of course, but he tried his absolute best to avoid being out past dusk. This worked out well for him – he got the morning train, when the rising sun would blind him and made it impossible to see the lake for the glare reflecting off it – and in return he was back before the sun had dipped beyond the horizon.

It wasn’t the lake itself that was the problem, no. It was the water. Duke was fine with winding rivers and rushing rapids – the Rheneas Waterfall was really quite beautiful when Duke saw it – but when water was still, it was wrong. It was uncomfortable, it drew memories up from deep under the surface, ripping them out from where they’d been shoved deep down between his boiler tubes and taking everything with them. Duke knew he needed water to run – he was not like Henry, with such an intense phobia that it blinded him from his duties like the rain blinded engines when they were forced to run in it. He was merely… uncomfortable with it.

A new boat was unveiled on the lake. It was a bright, eye-catching red. Duke instantly hated it – red and water did not mix well within his mind. Nothing good came of the two mixing. Red-painted metal was not meant to touch water, not meant to come into contact with the very substance that would corrode it into nothingness. Water was a powerful force, after all. It rusted and it eroded. It pulled entire embankments down when it so desired; it flooded the valleys and left people with nothing left but broken dreams and sodden houses.

It left Duke with nothing.

The boat was shiny – it was not quite the same colour as James, or even any of the other Skarloey Railway engines. It’s red was entirely different, in a way none of the others recognised. Of course Duke was the only one to make the connection, he was the only one who could have ever known. No one else was alive who could say the same thing, they’d all been buried deep under the earth or torn to pieces by scrappers long, long ago. Duke was the only one left, the only one cursed to bear the burden of knowing, of caring.

Peter Sam and Sir Handel liked the boat way too much. Said it was oddly familiar, in a way they just couldn’t quite place their buffers on. Duke hoped they would never remember – not that they would be able to, he had only really been a story and a small hole in a brick wall to them. They’d not been witness to any of the truth, not been around for what really happened. At one point, Peter Sam almost found out, but Duke had been able to redirect him, protect his young puffling from the ugliness of reality. Sure, Peter Sam had suffered in his life – but at least the images that haunted Duke’s nightmares were confined to him alone. Peter Sam could be free, could live his life without ever knowing.

They all could.

Only Duke remembered.

Only Duke knew.

The red boat was not as waterproof as its owners had intended. When the autumn storms rolled through the mountains, thunderclouds beating their chests and hurling rain and lightning down upon the railway and all it served, the rain got into the red boat. It hadn’t been roped to its jetty properly, and one evening it got loose, floating out into the lake as rain pounded it from all sides, tearing at it and trying to find a weak point.

Duke had been the one to find it, on his early morning train. It had capsized, revealing its hull as it smashed against the craggy rocks and sunk until only a small chunk remained visible. Duke had gone as white as a sheet, his eyes far away from the scene of destruction.

They’d had to hoist the red boat out with a crane. By then, the water had begun its natural process, ripping into the boat and rusting anything not waterproofed properly. It happened so fast, aided by the unnatural number of contaminants in the water from the harsh rains. Or maybe they were only seen by Duke, who wasn’t really seeing the red boat at all, but rather something else far, far away and a good fifty years ago. It was placed in the back of the yards, awaiting some unknown order to repair or dispose of it. Duke could only spare sympathy for the poor pleasure craft – the water had done it in.

Water was all too cruel.

The rains left great muddy puddles everywhere; Duke begged off mine duty, desperate to avoid the murky, dirty waters of the mine.

Desperate to avoid the memories.

Duke managed to get his way, taking trains anywhere but the mine. He did the army-camp trains, leaving loaded vans at the entrance to the formerly abandoned slate quarry and picking up empty ones in their place. One time, he was even directed into the slate quarry when the little WD ‘Beetle’ broke down, steaming into a military camp and being oh so thankful for the huge tarps that were strategically hung to keep as much of the camp as possible dry, directing the rain to distant, out of sight drains.

Duke had never been allowed back inside that camp though, not that he wanted to after he spotted an old steam boiler in the corner of his eye and been punched out of his own mind and into memories he was trying to avoid.

Still, the rains continued. The red boat was taken away, and never returned. Scrapped, or so Skarloey said. Peter Sam held out hope for its return, the optimist he was. Duke couldn’t find it in himself to do the same. Not when the red boat had been in such a sorry state, great gashes torn in it by the rocks and creeping rust beginning to form on its interior, now open to the world due to the way it had been tossed around and ripped apart.

Not when it was too similar to before.

The trains ground to a halt, tourists not wanting to venture far from their hotels and the mine not wanting to attempt any major work in the dangerously wet conditions. The entire railway slowed to only its most essential services, and only the fewest engines possible were called upon to handle the work. Duke was one of them, a fact he privately was thankful for – he couldn’t stand being inside the shed for too long, not when it would only ever remind him of those years spent underground, unable to see the outside world, confined to the darkness without even a hope or a prayer of rescue.

Instead, Duke handled the bulk of traffic along the Skarloey Railway’s ‘main line’ while Rusty handled trackwork and Ivo Hugh the few trains needed at the mine – mostly made of equipment runs and hauling away what amount of the rock had been dug out. It was not much, and Ivo Hugh got enough time in between his runs to help Duke out. Sandbags were supplied to the villages in danger of flooding – not that Duke thought they would. Duke knew flooding, and these were not the right conditions.

And Duke was right. The weather cleared up right before the river could burst its banks, leaving the valley to breathe a collective sigh of relief even as Duke kept his eyes determinedly on the way forwards.

The intervention of the rain had distracted Duke from the time of year, and by the time he remembered, it was already too late.

Duke started seeing him everywhere, in flashes of red that ensnared Duke’s attention and drew him in like a moth to the flame. Duke hated it. Duke hated the rain. Duke hated water. Duke hated knowing the truth and never being able to repeat it. Duke felt his boiler tighten with stress, the steel contracting even as his fire tried vainly to warm him through.

It was a losing battle.

And then finally, Duke simmered over. It was that day, after all. It was fifty years exactly. Duke said nothing as the day progressed, leaving the other engines worried for his health. And then he volunteered to pull the last freight of the day; a line of empty trucks for the mine. The others all were stunned. They couldn’t even find a way to voice their shock – or perhaps that was Duke being unable to hear them. He couldn’t hear anything over the scream that had rattled in his smokebox for fifty years, anything over the words that had haunted him since they’d been uttered.

The trip up was quiet. The afternoon was cooling into night, and the trees had only just finished having all their leaves turn brown and red. Within the week, they’d be barren – but for now it was a festival of colour that broke up the traditionally green landscape. The river babbled along by the line on one side while a few cars rumbled by on the other, racing to get home for the end of the day. Only Duke seemed to know what day it was. Only Duke seemed to care what day it was.

Then again, only Duke knew what happened. Only Duke every truly saw it.

Duke slowed to a stop at the mine, shunting away the trucks. Dirty pools of water littered the lineside, him reflected in each. Of course he was – dirty water was what took him in the end. Duke waited until his driver had gone inside to log their arrival before creeping forwards to the beginning of the mine itself.

There were two entrances to this mine: one was a large vertical shaft with elevator that hurtled down deep into the earth, while the other was a long, twisting tunnel dating back centuries. The tunnel was just slightly too small to fit Duke, but the perfect size to push long lines of trucks in. Once upon a time, horses would have hauled the trucks from deep in the mines, but now a conveyer belt ferried everything up to the surface elsewhere.

Duke gazed down the tunnel, and sighed. Fifty years truly did go by fast, and it was everything he could do not to cry.

“I’m… sorry. Stanley.”

***

Once upon a time, there was a little engine named after His Grace, the Duke of Sodor. The little engine worked hard, and kept his little railway in order – but it was clear to all he needed help.

The engine they brought was named Stanley, not that many used his name. To the manager and his crew, he was simply “Number Two”, a rough-riding scoundrel of an engine who never really did anything but derail. Stanley and Duke knew better – they knew something had gone wrong when Stanley had been regauged to work on the little line.

Despite their worries and pleas, nothing was done and Stanley’s condition deteriorated. Crashes and derailments became more common, and Stanley lashed out at Duke in frustration. He hadn’t meant to – goodness, even Duke knew that! But the manager didn’t, and he didn’t care. To him, Stanley had simply been a nuisance who needed to be dealt with. And when Duke tried to keep them from selling Stanley off, they got creative.

Stanley was locked away behind the shed as a pumping engine, Duke spent a year without a new coat of paint – and then the old engine had a pair of new younglings dumped on him. They were so young, and so eager, and so good, but Duke feared for them. He feared what would happen if they too acted like Stanley or even showed a hint of being incapable.

So he went to Stanley, and the pair made up their story.

It worked – Stuart and Falcon behaved impeccably, and all was peaceful on the little railway. Duke and Stanley breathed a sigh of relief, and life settled into place. Sometimes, when the young engines slept, Duke would creep around the back to spend time chatting with his less fortunate friend. He did his best to hide these visits, both Duke and Stanley afraid of what wrath the manager would bring on them if he discovered that they were fraternising.

And for a time, all seemed well. But fate is not that kind.

The pair were discovered one evening during the war, when the manager came out late one evening to warn them of the increasing workload. His punishment was swift and harsh – he made Duke unearth Stanley in the middle of the night and cart him down the line to the biggest mine on the little railway, where they needed a new pumping engine to look after the water in the deepest parts of the mine.

Duke was forced to watch as Stanley was lowered down, down, deep into the mine where he would be run forever more.

Time continued on. The new pumping engine helped the mine reach a new vein deep underground – however to do so they had to constantly pump away a ruptured spring which gushed water constantly. The river the railway ran alongside grew weaker above where the mine’s outflow pipe dumped gallons of water into its rapids; Duke feared that the spring the miners had hit was really the source of the river, though he was unable to voice his concerns.

Duke would never forget his friend, buried alive in the deepest depths of the mine and unable to call for help. The manager made sure of it too – he put Duke on all the trains heading up to the mine, no matter how busy his schedule was. Duke took it all on without complaint – he could see the direction the wind was blowing. When His Grace returned from the war, Duke would plead his case, try and rescue Stanley and the two young engines he’d come to see as his own and make a run for it – maybe get His Grace to transfer them as far from the little railway and its sadistic manager as possible.

Life was not fair though.

It was a cold morning when Duke arrived to chaos.

“There’s something wrong with the pumping engine!” bellowed a miner, sprinting across the yard. “It’s gonna blow!” Then came the scream. It was guttural, full of agony and completely unlike anything Duke had ever been forced to hear before. It echoed through the mine, stunning the men into silence. A thick cloud of smoke belched out of the tunnels all at once, followed by miners running for their lives while hacking and coughing.

The smoke was blown away by the wind, and Duke peered into the mine. He wanted to venture in, to try and find his friend and save him from what he knew to be coming next.

The water that Stanley had been dutifully pumping flooded the mine in a great gushing wave. It’s force caused the entire yard to tremble, and Duke was forced away from the entrance to the mine in fear of it all collapsing. Duke watched on in horror as the mine flooded right the way to the top, the second pumping machine breaking under the strain. Dirty, sludge-filled water began to trickle out of the mine’s entrances, revealing tools, equipment… and one dirty, grime-ridden nameplate.

Stanley’s nameplate.

Duke felt a sob break free. He couldn’t let his youngsters see this. He couldn’t let them see the damage, see what had become of Stanley.

But worse was to come.

Two weeks later, the water level dropped, the spring flushing back out into the river and draining out of the mine. Duke brought a flatbed up, confused.

“Sir? What’s this for?” he asked the manager carefully. The manager didn’t answer. Instead, he simply nodded to several miners. A large crane winch was lowered into the mine, and attached to something.

The crane heaved with all its might, and the something was lifted up into the dusk light. It was what remained of Stanley. His dusty red paint had been washed clean by the surging water – but that same water had also rusted poor Stanley right through. And then Duke saw it. Stanley’s firebox had been blown clean off when he’d broken down, pipes mangled and sticking up at jarring angles. Poor Stanley’s boiler had exploded from the pressure, the dome flying off and his firebox blowing out. He’d been in agony, and then the water had come rushing in.

The water had drowned him slowly, then rusted away at what had been left.

Duke was forced to drag Stanley’s remains to a scrap merchant’s barge at the harbour; thankfully neither Stuart nor Falcon saw him. He wouldn’t have been able to survive them seeing his face twisted in pure sorrow, sobbing as he brought Stanley’s remains to the harbour and watched as they were taken away.

Duke was never quite the same since. He’d been even more protective of those he had left, running himself into the ground for Stuart and Falcon. He’d watched them get sold off, then watched as the world was reduced to a small shed and nothing more.

Stanley never got the recognition he deserved, the manager saw to that. He embellished the story Duke had told Stuart and Falcon and ensured the Reverend heard it. Stanley’s name was forever tarnished, and Duke was left with the guilt.

Duke wasn’t sure if he would ever stop seeing Stanley’s twisted remains and haunted expression gazing up at him from in the water.

Back to the Master Post

[panelshowsource]

lil update :)

i added a few things to the drive:

tourist trap (complete series) — mockumentary series starring sally phillips, elis james, and more about a fictional tourist board in wales

channel hopping with jon richardson (series 1 + series 2 episodes 1–3; it's rerunning on comedy central this week so hope to have the last three episodes shortly!) — weekly digest of whacky tv, co-hosted by judi love

new qi and wilty + first two "lost" catsdown episodes (if you have no idea what i'm talking about read dis)

re: requests i've gotten recently:

i don't have the "lost" episode of catsdown that aired in australia on 2/14 — yet. there are two australian peeps online who say they're going to share it stat, so i hope to have it asap! sorry to the anons who asked me about (but u know it's my favourite show so i also want it!! promise!). the first two "lost" catsdown episodes are up on drive

big boys — i hosted s1 for a while and mentioned a few weeks ago i was going to take it off my drive because i'm low on storage and don't plan to host too many sitcoms/scripted series that aren't from one of our panel show faves... and despite how super easy it is to get this show by requesting it here, i did decide to update the link on the non-panel show masterpost and share it from my personal drive because queer cinema and all that. so pls enjoy and pls make copies of the files in case i have to remove them in a bit!

the last leg — i do not have a last leg collection and the best place to request it is on discord, so pls send me a dm if you need deets on this

new joe lycett series — here

—

PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS / NON-PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS FAQ / TAGS / ASK

[wsdanon]

I wanted to do a little descriptive writing exercise, so with a lot of googling for references here’s a little scene of felps in australia before they steal the cargo ship \o/

reblogs appreciated \o/!!

Regardless of Australia’s reputation, it’s a cold morning at the harbour. The wind carries seasalt, along with the particular smell of ocean water that’s frequented by ships of all sizes—not entirely unpleasant, but definitely not pleasant either. Easy enough to ignore, as long as you don’t get your face too close to it.

Sitting up on the docks with his legs dangling over the side, Felps thinks he’s avoiding the worst of it. The wood he sits on isn’t exactly wet, but it is damp. Maybe even perpetually so. Or at least just in winter, where the sun lacks its usual power even on a good day.

It’s a good day now. A few clouds litter the sky, but nothing to suggest rain is on its way. On the occasions the wind drops off, the cold can even be beaten back by the rays of sunlight. 

This isn’t where he needs to be. Nearby lies the iconic features of Australia that Felps never really imagined he’d see outside of tv and pictures—the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Habour Bridge. Being on the run with fugitives can take you to places beyond even your most distant plans, apparently. He always figured if he went out of country that he’d like to visit Japan.

But this isn’t where he needs to be; not that he’s particularly needed any time soon. He’s a good hour—at the very least—walk away, or about thirty minutes by car depending on the traffic. This is Sydney during peak morning hours. The traffic will be bad. May as well wait a bit.

He watches idly as a ferry carts people from one side of the harbour to the other. It’s an exciting ride for a tourist due to the view it gives of the Opera House and the bridge, but as boring as a bus after the first few times. Three of them don’t legally know how to drive, Cellbit doesn’t know how to drive at all, and they’d all figured keeping a low profile and only stealing what’s necessary would be best. Felps has ridden the ferry often.

The faded yellow and dark green of it makes it maybe not the most exciting vessel in the water, but it is recognisable. It trails further away from the stop closest to Felps and towards a flashy, small theme park. Luna Park, if Felps remembers correctly. 

It was a fun, indulgent day. He won Cellbit a koala plushie, and then kept playing until he won one for Pac as well, and he only almost threw up after that green thrill ride he can’t remember the name of.

The ferry docks, and Felps’ phone buzzes in his pocket. A message from Cellbit telling him to start heading to their meeting spot.

It would probably be easier to steal a boat from the harbour here. It’s also much too public for their comfort. Between the tourists and the locals, Sydney Harbour is a bustling, unpredictable place. So, instead, they’re heading to Port Botany.

More planning needed to go into it, but it’s the overall safer option. Some forged documents, a month or so of working there, the acquisition of sums of money and information for bribes, and finally everything is ready to be put into action.

Australia has been nice, but Felps misses Brazil. And it’s probably been long enough that the last scare of the police finding them is over—their trail having gone cold.

He picks himself up off of the wood and stretches out. Enjoys the warmth of the sun for a brief moment more, before heading back towards the shadows of the city’s tall buildings.

——

hope you enjoyed \o/!! sorry to anyone who knows Sydney if I got anything wrong—Google only takes me so far… and I only found out about port botany halfway through this pfft

[dreamyeuphoricll]

One piece characters Nationalities

Brazil🇧🇷: known for its iconic Carnival Festival and the statue of Christ the redeemer 🎺 🎊🪇🥁🪘

Sweden🇸🇪: known as the Pop music Capital of the world 🎵🎤🎙️🎛️🎧🎚️

Japan 🇯🇵: One of the most developed countries,that produce Manga and Anime 🍜🎎👘⛩️🏯㊗️

France 🇫🇷: has the iconic Eiffel Tower,and luxurious fashion brands 🗼👗🍬📸🎨

Canada🇨🇦: famous for its maple syrup, Niagara falls, northern lights and more attractions 🍁🥌 🥞🍯

India🇮🇳: has an iconic building,the Taj mahal,and also the birthplace of Yoga 🧘🏾🥻🕌

United States 🇺🇲: One of the dream place. With famous stars,movies,artists,cities,brands and attractions 🗽🌃🎥🦅🍔🎢🏈

Russia🇷🇺: famous for many things but mostly the beautiful iconic landmarks known as The Moscow Kremlins ☃️🥟💈🌨️🎪

Austria🇦🇹: mostly famous for its castles,palaces and buildings 🏰🧭

China🇨🇳: has beautiful culture and most famous for its food, martial arts,and the iconic Great Wall of China ⛩️🐅🐼🍜🏯🥋

South Africa🇿🇦: famous for its history,natural attractions,food and wildlife 🦁🦓🐗🐃🐘🦏🦒🐦🦃🦚🦈🐬🐳🍊🍌🥘

Germany🇩🇪: renowned for multitude of things but mostly the Oktoberfest 🪽🪽🍄

Italy 🇮🇹: famous for having one of the best foods in the world. 🍝🍕🍤🦞

UK 🇬🇧: famous for many things but mostly the royal history and culture,even for many sports. Not to forget tea and fish and chips🍟☕🚌🎡🏰🤴👸

Spain 🇪🇸: known as one of the top wine-producing countries in the world🍸🍷🍾🥂

Australia 🇦🇺: known as one of the most popular tourist destinations with many unique animals and attractions. Like the iconic Great barrier reef ⛰️🐺🦘🐨🕷️

Comment down below if u got more things to add about ur country

[austarliahotelbooking]

Embark on a captivating journey through the diverse and mesmerizing landscapes of Australia, as we explore the best vacation spots that this enchanting continent-country has to offer. From the iconic Sydney Opera House and the vibrant city of Melbourne to the natural wonders of the Great Barrier Reef and the spiritual significance of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, we'll delve into the top tourist attractions that make Australia a dream destination for travellers seeking unforgettable holiday experiences. Join us as we unveil the hidden gems, cultural treasures, and thrilling adventures that await in the land Down Under.

[applejee]

bestie im going to melb and as a local do u have any recommendations for stuff we should do while were there?

FYCK YESSSSSS COME TO MELBOURNE!!!!!!! okay heres my exorbitant mostly food related list (note these places are almost all in the CBD):

coffee/matcha:

if you like coffee, best locations in the CBD are little rogue on drewery lane nearby melbourne central station, and tbh any coffee joint along flinders lane

if you don't like coffee but like matcha or houjicha, drop by little rogue or tori's on niagara lane!! puzzle coffee (there's one on swanston st and in melbourne central station) is also tasty

i've also heard good things about naau's matcha - they're off russell st but i haven't been there myself

breakfast/brunch/bakery:

if you want to try a classic melb brunch, try hardware lane! there's a few places in the laneway and it feels very melbourne

also on drewery lane is bakemono - an adorable little bakery that does amazing melonpan! but they sell out quick and get busy, so you want to get there by 10am at the latest

(can you tell laneways are our culture)

okay i know they opened elsewhere in australia now but LUNE is great... love the croissants....... JC patisserie boulangerie is further north but a quick train ride away - heard great things!

if you want a fun time........ hopetoun tearooms!! SOO CUTE even just the cake window is worth a look. if you want high tea you gotta book out ages in advance, but if you don't mind waiting a little they take walk ins! perfect for an afternoon pot of tea and tasty cake

more lunchy-places:

look, anywhere on degraves st will get you there, and it's also a classic tourist spot! walk down and see the most quintessential melbourne laneway there is!

if you want american-themed fare, bowery to williamsburg FUCKS i had a stunning reuben there.

tbh i rarely actually have lunch, i just get brunch... so all the recommendations above can double

dinner or lunch restaurants:

soooo i love ramen so if you do too, ikkoryu fukuoka ramen is top tier! i love their yuzu ramen. hakata gensuke is good if you like chicken ramen, and shujinko ramen (rip the flinders st store) is good if you're going up elizabeth st and want affordable

mensho tokyo ramen opened recently but uhhhhh the wait has been 3 to 5 hous somedays. ITS POPULAR. ippudo in QV is probably easier and more convenient

outside of ramen, if you want more fancy fancy farmer's daughters is STELLAR. delicious food, great cocktails, mm. nice modern aussie dining. longrain nearby is also very popular!

also vaguely upmarket is chinchin - good curry! the waiters market is a place that my mum hugely recommend before shows but ive never managed to get there myself lmao.

not ramen but still japanese is dohtonbori.. ever wanted to mix and flip your own okonomiyaki? now's the time

I WANT TO GO TO THE NATURAL HISTORY PUBLIC BAR. it's also a restaurant set to look like the american museum of natural history, if you go pls have fun

bubbletea, its own category:

this is just a list.

milksha, the alley lujiaoxiang, machi machi, coco. these are all good. chatime is fine but gongcha is better but theyre the chains so... i really want to go to choulee!! i heard theyre good

desserts:

hokkaido baked cheese tart, black star patisserie, pafu, kurimu, uncle tetsu's, brunetti's for cakes and later nights, sulhwa, and bingsu.

further out or more expensive but fun:

i need to go to milk the cow so BAAAD. there's one in st kilda, which is a short tram ride from flinders st station. if you go lmk

places to visit:

the botanical gardens!! pretty, always a nice time

the NGV likely has some free exhibits going on! always a nice wander

you gotta stop by hozier lane. you gotta. and wander around fed square while you're at it

drewery lane also has some artwork!

a walk down birrarung marr is also nice, sometimes there's night markets going on by the stadiums

the docklands has some alright places, but i know less about it... but they have a ferris wheel rn! check it out!

if you wanna spend thirty or more bucks, go up the eureka tower!! tallest building, and you can get a cool view of the city. the edge experience is a little lift that sticks out the building so you can stare down through glass to the ground below. fun if you aren't afraid of heights

if you like shopping, emporium is fancy and has a MEEQ store where you can buy jellycats

you can go to the queen victoria market if you wanna.... its a classic destination after all

THE LUME is a classic experience here too rn - more exxy but if you want a fun visual experience, do it!

if you want comics - check out all star comics! best LCS in the area.

other specific stores i recommend:

gewürzhaus! there's one in block arcade off collins st, i love it and the spices

not far from gewürzhaus is essensorie - they discon'd my fave handcream SOB but they have some nice things (this is all in the black arcade, same as hopetoun)

and with that, tbh check out all the arcades? they have fun things going on!! there's the block arcade, royal arcade with gog and magog, tivoli arcade... that is to say they're little indoor walkways with shops and stores, as in an arcade you walk through! they're cute

bourke st mall is worth a wander, and you can see the outside of the old post office that's now a H&M...

i know you said "things to do" but... all i do is eat mostly LMAO!!

really, the best thing to do is give yourself a day or two for the CBD. just wander, it's all a grid and easily navigable, and take advantage of the free tram zone!!!! it'll announce when it isn't so you know to touch on your myki or not, i'm not a cop.

you could also wander down to crown at night, southbank has many restaurants and also the flames outside crown fucketh severely

if you're going outside the CBD, its an hours or so drive but healesville sanctuary is soo fun.. and on the way there you can stop by kuranga nursery, it's a gorgeous little place and the paperbark cafe does a bunch of tasty meals with native flavours and bushtucker

if you'll be in the suburbs i have more recommendations too!! but for those just message ma and i'll share so this list isn't crazier than it is xx HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!

[linane-art]

Public Service Announcement

Yes, I'm back! Missed me? :D

I don't know where to start, really. My last year of travels was both an incredible, life-changing, empowering, unforgettable experience, and the hardest, most challenging thing I have ever done (and probably will ever do) in my life.

In the space of a year I have visited 11 countries: New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, New Caledonia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Poland and Greece. Everywhere I went, I have always tried not to be a tourist, but live like a local, stay with the local people and have as many experiences as I could possibly grab a hold of.

I close my eyes and I can re-trace the exact route from Cashmere to the city centre of Christchurch, or I can still taste the Kava drink, or I remember exactly where to put my feet on the ascent to Yunomine Onsen via the Kumano Kodo Pilgrim Trail, or I can tell what Sumatran elephant skin feels like under my fingers, or which of the rice fields around Ubud offer best views without too many tourists.

I got to do everything I ever wanted, fulfilled every dream I ever had and then some, met some amazing people that will stay with me for the rest of my life, and frequently did 8 absolutely impossible things before breakfast. I travelled on local busses, bought my veggies from local bazars, had local supermarket loyalty cards, dealt with visas, made friends with people who didn't speak a word of English... It kinda made me fearless and unstoppable. I've also struggled with depression, seriously questioned my life's choices, missed home insanely, been to paradise and hated it at times, doubted myself, and had a real reality check on what's important to me. And I regret none of it.

How do you pick up the pieces of your life after something like that?

The good news is that my love for this fandom has never left or diminished, and in fact it often provided to be a source of great comfort to me. I wrote stories in my head during my walks, I re-read some excellent old fics, I took Fili and Kili with me to some seriously remote places.

But I think the fandom has changed during my absence. And I have changed too. So as I sit down and re-think how I wanna indulge in my love of FiKi, here's what I've got:

I am seriously attached to three of my Verses (and have been focussing on them for a while), which I'd love to continue with: Silence, Isca and Postcards. There will be more posted, when I'm ready with it. Watch this space. Subscribe, maybe?

I have been writing mainly for myself for a number of years now and I can and I will continue to do so. But it's alwas a delight when someone else comes on a journey with you, so I'll continue posting publically.

GF is my Happy Place and I have missed it hugely, especailly as it hadn't continued to function as I hoped it would during my absence. I want to come back to tending that garden, as it's important to me. And I might take part in some events again, if the gods smile at me again, which will mean any and all verses will be considered.

I can't imagine in what possible universe I would have the time for drawing again. Having said that, I am sitting on some unpublished and unfinished artwork, some of it in collabs, and I know I can be stubborn enough to force their completion. Something to think about.

What else? I guess that's it. How have everyone been? What's new? WHO's new? Did I miss anything important? Come and say hi - I'm always happy to chatter.

[charlesandmartine]

Thursday 14th November 2024

The sun has risen, and the truckstop is in full swing. We sat outside our unit at our sophisticated stainless steel bistro style table inches away from the back of the Ford Ranger. The rear of the truckies kitchen just a few more inches away, but now, with the all pervasive aromas of full Australian breakfast superceding the carbolic; the fat lingering like early morning mist, a new day had begun. Roadtrains are pulling into the yard, so many it began to assume the appearance of a marshalling yard. But this was their business; fill tanks, fill stomachs, and provide shelter. Then all would quiesce with long drives ahead. When sitting within a facade of civilisation, it's easy to overlook the isolation of the outback just a few hundred meters away.

Camooweal was a tiny town, but if it didn't exist, it would be invented. I could imagine those that lived there would say they love it. It was just a small grid of roads, six vertical and three horizontal, but within that was a school, town hall, hotel/ pub, two petrol stations, a couple of historical corrugated iron buildings, post office/ supermarket, and a clinic. The girl next door to us who spent the best part of the evening on the phone, walked past our breakfast this morning wearing some sort of uniform and a lanyard and we figured she maybe was working at the clinic, and sure enough, as we passed the clinic, there was her orange car with the registration, NUTS. You may need to be to work there. She probably tours from small community to small community, and she could have been anything from a neurosurgeon to nail clipper, I don't know.

Now, no longer Territorians, our drive today was a modest 190 kms to Mount Isa; not a tax break or, and for that matter, hardly a mountain at only 356 meters. A gentle start for our trans-Queensland sojourn to the coast. The road between Camooweal and Mount Isa is punishing with little to see along its length. One small respite was a very small, modest and unassuming memorial to David Sering Hall, 1902-1950, Road Engineer. Another stop boasted a WW2 memorial, but which turned out to be a board which mentioned the ground we were standing on, in contrast to the road in front of us being the one they built in 1940 to serve additional war traffic to Darwin. Well, that certainly deserved a big plaque and an applause. (Much bigger display, I might say than poor old David Sering Hall's)

Now, no one could say Mount Isa is pretty or delightful. It is a mining town pure and simple. Copper, lead, zinc and silver mines abound. The nearby lake, possibly the prettiest aspect, used to be a mine. The Enterprise Mine, Australia's deepest copper mine at 1.9km is here. This is serious mining country. Not, you might say, big for tourists? Well, maybe not for conventional tourism, but as an unusual, interesting place, tourism plays its part in the local economy. Were it not for mining, Mount Isa probably wouldn't exist other than perhaps as another truckie stop. The mine is the town; it dominates the skyline as well with its presence. There is wealth in the town, and certainly, if waistlines is a measure of wealth, they are doing quite well. The town bustles. Traffic everywhere. People everywhere. There's a Coles, Woolworths, Kmart, Clubs, Bowling Club even. This is so different from the Top End we have become accustomed to over the past few weeks. Our accommodation is rather nice. Two bedroom, well equipped house. Small back garden to relax in, and even smaller front garden. It's great to have a bit more space before we revert once again to Roadhouses. We have three nights here, so we make the most of it.

Great Northern Beer, when we returned from Coles, then Vindaloo Chicken with SB and a pastry. We shall seek out a tourist information place first thing in the morning.

ps. Temperatures still up there in the early forties. Whilst in Camooweal, my phone weather App said it was 41, feels like 40. Well I thought that. Definitely not 41!

[mywisdomexchange]

Diving into the Deep: A Scuba Enthusiast's Guide to the Best Destinations

As a seasoned scuba diver, I've had the privilege of exploring some of the most breathtaking underwater worlds on Earth. From the vibrant coral reefs of the Caribbean to the mysterious depths of the Pacific Ocean, each dive has been a unique and unforgettable experience. In this blog post, I'll share my top picks for the best scuba diving destinations and offer insights into what makes each location truly special.

The Caribbean: A Coral Reef Paradise

The Caribbean Sea is renowned for its crystal-clear waters, warm temperatures, and diverse marine life. It's a scuba diver's dream come true, with countless islands and atolls offering world-class diving opportunities. Here are a few of my favorite Caribbean destinations:

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia: The world's largest coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a must-visit for any scuba enthusiast. With its vast array of marine life, including sharks, turtles, and colorful fish, it's a truly awe-inspiring experience.

Cozumel, Mexico: Located off the Yucatán Peninsula, Cozumel is a popular diving destination known for its healthy coral reefs and abundant marine life. The island offers a variety of dive sites, suitable for all levels of experience.

Bonaire: This Dutch Caribbean island is a diver's paradise, with pristine reefs and crystal-clear waters. Bonaire is also home to a marine park that protects its underwater environment.

The Pacific Ocean: A World of Wonders

The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth, and it offers a vast array of diving experiences. From the tropical waters of Southeast Asia to the cold, nutrient-rich waters of the Pacific Northwest, there's something for everyone. Here are a few of my favorite Pacific diving destinations:

Raja Ampat, Indonesia: This remote archipelago in Indonesia is considered by many to be the most biodiverse marine ecosystem on Earth. With its pristine reefs, crystal-clear waters, and abundant marine life, Raja Ampat is a must-visit for any serious scuba diver.

Maldives: This island nation in the Indian Ocean is famous for its luxury resorts and stunning beaches. But beneath the surface, the Maldives offers some of the best diving in the world, with vibrant coral reefs and a diverse range of marine life.

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador: The Galapagos Islands are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a natural laboratory for evolution. With its unique marine ecosystem, including sea lions, penguins, and giant tortoises, the Galapagos Islands offer a truly unforgettable diving experience.

The Red Sea: A Hidden Gem

The Red Sea is a relatively small body of water, but it offers some of the most diverse and vibrant diving in the world. With its warm waters, nutrient-rich currents, and unique marine life, the Red Sea is a hidden gem for scuba divers. Here are a few of my favorite Red Sea destinations:

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: This popular tourist destination offers excellent diving opportunities, with a variety of dive sites suitable for all levels of experience. Sharm El Sheikh is also home to the Ras Mohammed National Park, which protects some of the most pristine reefs in the Red Sea.

Hurghada, Egypt: Another popular Red Sea destination, Hurghada offers a wide range of diving experiences, from shallow reefs to deep wrecks. Hurghada is also a great place to learn to scuba dive.

Safaga, Egypt: This quieter Red Sea destination is known for its pristine reefs and abundant marine life. Safaga is also a great place to spot pelagic species, such as tuna, marlin, and sharks.

The Mediterranean Sea: A Classic Destination

The Mediterranean Sea is a classic diving destination, with a long history of maritime exploration. While it may not have the same level of biodiversity as the Caribbean or the Pacific, the Mediterranean still offers some excellent diving opportunities. Here are a few of my favorite Mediterranean destinations:

Gozo, Malta: This small island offers a variety of dive sites, from shallow reefs to deep wrecks. Gozo is also home to the Blue Hole, a famous underwater sinkhole that attracts divers from all over the world.

Croatia: The Croatian coast is home to many beautiful islands and coves, offering a variety of diving experiences. Croatia is also a great place to explore ancient shipwrecks

Cyprus: This island nation in the eastern Mediterranean offers a variety of dive sites, suitable for all levels of experience. Cyprus is also home to the Zenobia wreck, a large cargo ship that sank in 1998 and is now a popular diving destination.

My Personal Experiences

I've had the privilege of diving in many of these destinations, and each one has left a lasting impression. One of my most memorable experiences was diving with manta rays in the Maldives. These majestic creatures are truly awe-inspiring, and it was a privilege to swim alongside them in their natural habitat.

Another unforgettable experience was diving with hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands. These sharks are incredibly graceful and powerful, and it was a thrill to watch them swim through the crystal-clear waters.

Tips for Scuba Divers

If you're planning a scuba diving trip, here are a few tips to help you make the most of your experience:

Get certified: Make sure you have the proper training and certification before diving. There are many reputable organizations that offer scuba diving courses.

Choose the right destination: Consider your experience level, interests, and budget when choosing a diving destination.

Pack the essentials: Make sure you have all the necessary equipment, including your dive computer, mask, snorkel, fins, and wetsuit.

Respect the marine environment: Be mindful of your impact on the marine environment. Avoid touching or disturbing marine life, and be careful not to damage the reefs.

Dive with a buddy: Never dive alone. It's always safer to dive with a buddy who can assist you if necessary.

Enjoy the experience: Most importantly, relax and enjoy the experience. Scuba diving is a fantastic way to connect with nature and explore the underwater world.

Scuba diving is a truly rewarding activity that offers countless opportunities for adventure and exploration. Whether you're a seasoned diver or just starting out, there's a destination out there that's perfect for you. So pack your bags, grab your scuba gear, and get ready to discover the wonders of the underwater world.